Energy Cost Trends for 2021?

oldwiring

Shedman said:

oldwiring said:

@Shedman Maybe the emphasis on SCs is also to protect income as .well

Agreed that's also a possibility and if it helps stop so many of the smaller suppliers folding as seems to have happened over last 12-18 months then maybe it's not such a bad thing

Yet, less understandable are widening gaps in the SC rates between gas and electric

UnclaimedEnergy

oldwiring said:

Shedman said:

oldwiring said:

@Shedman Maybe the emphasis on SCs is also to protect income as .well

Agreed that's also a possibility and if it helps stop so many of the smaller suppliers folding as seems to have happened over last 12-18 months then maybe it's not such a bad thing

Yet, less understandable are widening gaps in the SC rates between gas and electric

Elec SC and Gas SC prices are made up of different cost components. Ofgem provide a breakdown of what goes into the cost of Elec and Gas which was last updated in August 2020: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/data-portal/all-charts?search_api_views_fulltext=breakdown

I dont' think that the actual costs that go into the standing charge have risen much in the last 6 months so if the SC's have been getting more expensive then it's likely because suppliers can no longer afford to offer their SC below cost.

In terms of wholesale prices, they have started to fall again, therefore the best advice I can give is to avoid a fixed tariff with exit fees. The wholesale prices decreasing won't trickle through to tariffs yet though and you may not start to see cheaper tariffs until February if wholesale prices continue to drop.