Safeguard Tariff

Checkinglaw

I have an ongoing conversation with British Gas in regard to the Safeguard Tariff, but both sides need to confirm what the cap value is?


I know this applies to Pre-Paid Meters and those in receipt of the Warm Home Discount, but the Ofgem website is not clear what the cap value has been set at.


The closest information I have is a cap of no more than £1,136 (froma BBC article), which mean a monthly sum of £94.67, but we need to know if we can confirm this as the true and legal cap limit.


I also need to be clear that this applies as a cap for both Electric and Gas, rather than a cap per source.


I am trying to get the number from Ofgem, but they are slow, so anyone that can show evidence of the correct figure would be much appreciated.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.


Surely all the safeguard tariff does is cap the price per kWh not cap the total expenditure regardless of energy consumed.


https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/what-energy-safeguard-tariff-or-price-cap

Checkinglaw

Not according to the information I have seen.


Anyway, it seems this is not the place to find the answer, so I'm asking Ofgem directly.

System

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2018/08/aug_2018_-_cap_levels_for_publication.pdf

I agree with Cardew: this is not an all you can eat tariff and the tariff varies by region.

molerat

The figure quoted in the press will be for an "average" user. It should be obvious to anyone that it is not all you can use for £x. Hengus has given a correct link and it comes out, region dependant, at around £1150 for 3200 kWh electric and 13500 kWh gas, OFGEM average UK use. A 10 second Google search came up with an OFGEM page explaining what the safeguard tariff is and one of the early quotes in that page is

The safeguard tariff limits how much a supplier can charge you per kWH (this is the ‘unit’ measure which your bill is calculated from)

Checkinglaw

All the comments so far are stating the per KWh, which I already know, but repeating this doesn't answer the question based on the article.


It has nothing to do with 'all you can eat' or any other such flippant response, it is about specifics in addition to the per KWh cap.


The information I have does have the addition of a set annual figure and also a further cap based on annual income.


This is rather important for a low income pensioner being assisted, and being ripped off terribly by British Gas, so as I say, rather than the guessing going on here, I have contacted Ofgem to find the answer.

molerat

I am a bit confused as to what your question actually is.

As previously stated the £1136, which is only an illustrative indication of the average area cap and not the actual cap, is the maximum a customer will pay for dual fuel if they use the average amounts of energy as quoted by OFGEM. The chart linked to by Hengus gives the actual regional cap prices. There is not an overall cap on how much a customer will be charged if they use over that average amount and that is clearly stated in the OFGEM guidance. As long as at that average usage figure a customer is charged no more tan the maximum amount then the supplier is free to vary the unit cost and standing charge however it sees fit.

Another complication is the E7 cap which is based on 4600 kWh split to average use ( 58% peak / 42% off peak ?) and not a separate day / night price cap so anyone using different from that average split will be paying more or less than the cap even if using exactly 4600 kWh.

System

Sorry - but without actually seeing the article it is not easy to understand your concerns. I am sorry that you thought my ‘all you can eat’ comment was flippant. It was based on the fact that many posters believe fixed and capped tariffs have no usage limits.

System

Hengus wrote: »

Sorry - but without actually seeing the article it is not easy to understand your concerns. I am sorry that you thought my ‘all you can eat’ comment was flippant. It was based on the fact that many posters believe fixed and capped tariffs have no usage limits.

I am guessing here that you might be referring to a BBC article dated 5 Aug which quotes a tariff limit in £ which I accept isn’t very helpful.

This paragraph from the Ofgem website explains more about how the limits are applied:

Quote: We publish the safeguard levels for a customer that does not use any energy, and for a customer that uses an assumed amount of energy. The assumed value works in a similar way to typical domestic consumption values you may see on price comparison websites, where they are used to calculate the cost of a typical energy bill. We can then get a level for all other possible consumption levels using these values. Unquote

The ‘assumed’ total cap is therefore the simple edition of the two quoted figures (electricity and gas) for your postcode. These figures, I believe, include both the cost per kWH and daily standing charge. As a consumer, you can compare the capped figure (based on the assumptions) with the cost of uncapped energy. This should give you confidence that you are on a safeguarded tariff.