Price cap is meaningless and confusing

Flight3287462

SPOWER said:

Am I missing something?

Yes of course you are.  If you know the maximum then you know what you have to try and beat with any other competing quotes.  Which is unlikely just now..

However it will get more interesting when we get closer to April as to whether to lock in a fixed deal or not or stick with the capped price.  

Ultrasonic

Streaky_Bacon said:

It is pointlessly confusing.

The standing charge should be the maximum that you are allowed to charge for costs not directly linked to a unit of energy and the unit cost should be the maximum that you can charge for costs directly related to the unit of energy.

Easier to understand and calculate and immune to supplier manipulation.

Obviously Ofgem disagree, so there you go.

I guess the point is to still allow differentiation between tariffs/suppliers, so there is technically some form of competition and one provider can be cheaper than another based on individual usage. It's only for people who use exactly the the usage that defines the cap who will get the same bill from all providers. 

SPOWER

Flight3287462 said:

SPOWER said:

Am I missing something?

Yes of course you are.  If you know the maximum then you know what you have to try and beat with any other competing quotes.  Which is unlikely just now..

However it will get more interesting when we get closer to April as to whether to lock in a fixed deal or not or stick with the capped price.  

What are you on about, if you know the maximum?  You take your tariff and see if anyone can beat it.  The maximum they can charge has nothing to do with what you are getting charged right now.  The maximum they can charge is nothing to do with it.  I said it twice.  Odd post.

[Deleted User]

SPOWER said:

What are you on about, if you know the maximum?  You take your tariff and see if anyone can beat it.  The maximum they can charge has nothing to do with what you are getting charged right now.  The maximum they can charge is nothing to do with it.  I said it twice.  Odd post.

As it happens, imo, the OP has a valid point. As does Flight3287462.

Odd post.

jimjames

P-J-D_2 said:

Likely not doable as even though the cap is set national (AFAIK), price structure (eg standing charge vs unit rate) can vary by region and by provider.

As per the post by @QrizB it is doable, you just need to know your region and estimated usage to calculate your price

energy.jj99.co.uk

Flight3287462

SPOWER said:

Flight3287462 said:

SPOWER said:

Am I missing something?

Yes of course you are.  If you know the maximum then you know what you have to try and beat with any other competing quotes.  Which is unlikely just now..

However it will get more interesting when we get closer to April as to whether to lock in a fixed deal or not or stick with the capped price.  

What are you on about, if you know the maximum?  You take your tariff and see if anyone can beat it.  The maximum they can charge has nothing to do with what you are getting charged right now.  The maximum they can charge is nothing to do with it.  I said it twice.  Odd post.

Odd person.

You seemingly are struggling to understand how the energy market works or more importantly how that has changed in the last month or so.