Martin's WARNING: Your energy bill's about to JUMP by £100s - here are my 11 need-to-knows

Former_MSE_James_F

The cheapest deals cost 40% more than a year ago, and are still rising. Fail to act & you'll face a huge bill SHOCK. This autumn's signature noise will be a deep thud... the sound of jaws hitting the floor, as people finally see the practical evidence of the energy bill catastrophe laid bare.

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'Martin's WARNING: Your energy bill's about to JUMP by £100s - here are my 11 need-to-knows'

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[Deleted User]

The spot price for electricity from 7.30 to 8.00 pm tonight is a staggering £2132.20 per MWh or £2.132/kWh. I suggest this, and extraordinarily  high gas prices, are the reason why Ofgem has brought two coal-fired generating stations back online. I wouldn't want to be a small and struggling energy supplier at this moment in time.

greenguppie

^
I've seen it's been over £4k per MWh in recent days.
I don't really understand it, as it can also be frequently as low as £90 per MWh (9p/kWh)

I hope that suppliers, whatever their size, are securing their energy supplies in advance for their customers, especially for those on fixed term contracts, rather than paying spot prices.

QrizB

There are a couple of different prices in play here. The Nordpool prices are the day-ahead spot prices but there's also the balancing mechanism price. There's a correlation but they aren't the same, and the balancing price (or seems to be) is the most volatile.

https://www.elexon.co.uk/operations-settlement/balancing-and-settlement/imbalance-pricing/ for a description.

https://www.bmreports.com/bmrs/?q=eds/main for the data.

QrizB

Also, I see we've now lost four suppliers in seven days. I wonder if there will be more?

[Deleted User]

greenguppie said:

^
I've seen it's been over £4k per MWh in recent days.
I don't really understand it, as it can also be frequently as low as £90 per MWh (9p/kWh)

I hope that suppliers, whatever their size, are securing their energy supplies in advance for their customers, especially for those on fixed term contracts, rather than paying spot prices.

New record tonight: £2500/MWh or £2.50/kWh. Eek.

[Deleted User]

This blog explains what is going on in the UK energy market.

https://www.lcp.uk.com/our-viewpoint/2021/09/what-is-causing-the-record-prices-in-the-gb-power-market/

JJ_Egan

Thread title is untrue .

Your energy bill's about to JUMP by £100s

No its not .

tghe-retford

Going to be an interesting few months. I wonder if there will be pressure on Ofgem to abolish the cap and allow the premature ending of fixed-term contracts in order to become profitable again. Early forecast of weather models suggest a colder than normal winter. How will people react with an eye-watering rise in prices that will require them to make sacrifices in either energy use or other things such as food to keep warm? Inflation is going to escalate as fuel and energy prices rise, so will the price of goods and services.

We're going to see the clearing out of a lot of smaller suppliers with only the established, most expensive suppliers surviving. Those on the cheaper fixed-rate tariffs at the moment are in for a massive shock when the suppliers fold, as I've already seen several times in the relevant threads.

QrizB

tghe-retford said:

Going to be an interesting few months. I wonder if there will be pressure on Ofgem to abolish the cap and allow the premature ending of fixed-term contracts in order to become profitable again.

The cap is largely in Ofgem's hands, but to "allow the premature ending of fixed-term contracts" would require legislation to vary contract law. I think that's unlikely, to say the least.

Sea_Shell

Is there any legislation in place that says that any one supplier MUST offer at least one tariff for both Gas and Electricity?

Or can they all just "no quote" like a car insurer? - effectively withdraw from "new" customers.

Reason I ask, after reading about what happened yesterday, I went on to U-switch and was surprised to see only 15 dual fuel offers available (by only 6 suppliers).  All about £400 more pa than that which I'm currently paying.

Usually there are pages and pages of varying offers.

What if we try and switch, and there is literally no one offering to "quote"?


Also, if you are a currently on a fixed tariff, can the energy company break this contract and move you to a variable, if they give you notice and, say, waive the exit fee or pay a little compensation?