Energy news in general

Mstty

For those wanting the cap of £2500 to continue from 1st April here are the estimated costs. 

ariarnia

michaels said:

Mstty said:

Ballymoney said:

Does anyone have an estimate for the unit prices associated with a price cap of £2190?

https://www.cornwall-insight.com/press/winter-2023-24-price-cap-forecasts-fall-further-below-2022-23-epg-but-long-term-prospects-remain-uncertain/#:~:text=The latest forecasts for the,-December (Q4 2023).

I assume the Q2 are for the cap not the EPG?

Is there not scope for suppliers to launch a price cap tariff now at say £2500 including Q2 for which they have already hedged at the cap and will get the EPG rebate?  Presumably it would need a hefty break charge as potentially a £2200 fix could be offered starting July.

Would it be popular?  Must say certainty of £2500 compared to 3k April to June followed by unknown but up to 3k thereafter sounds like a good deal to me.

re bib. do i remember people being warned that if they signed up for fixes above the cap after 1 oct they wouldn't be protected by the guarente? so would that mean the supplier wouldn't get the rebate payments on that account?

and i think suppliers only get rebated the difference between what they paid and what the goverment is telling them to sell at so they couldnt buy at 2500 and be paid 3000. 

Mstty

BBC News - Energy firms told to pay out over wrong meter fittings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64712363

So who pays this compensation does this come out of the suppliers profits and not back round into the price cap?

wakeupalarm

How accurate has Cornwall Insight been in the past with their predictions?

michaels

wakeupalarm said:

How accurate has Cornwall Insight been in the past with their predictions?

The cap rules are very specific, the suppliers basically need to purchase energy 3 months ahead.  Cornwall base their predictions on the current price to buy energy to be supplied in the forecast periods, the suppliers can not buy now though as they are then exposed to future price movements and when we do get to the moment they have to buy, prices may be much lower or higher.  SO basically these forecasts whilst being 'best available guess' are in no way accurate and in the past have been way off - for example the same methodology a few months ago was giving prices 3x higher for the same periods.

Personally I think this is a problem and there should be some method to lock in current prices for 6 and 9 months ahead rather than consumers (and the whole country through govt support) being at risk of prices rising sharply again.

Ballymoney

michaels said:

Personally I think this is a problem and there should be some method to lock in current prices for 6 and 9 months ahead rather than consumers (and the whole country through govt support) being at risk of prices rising sharply again.

Didn’t Martin Lewis campaign to remove the 6 month price cap review in favour of every 3 months? A move that was absurd when prices were rising. It probably benefits the consumer when prices are falling but not when they’re predicted to rise through the roof.

[Deleted User]

Ballymoney said:

michaels said:

Personally I think this is a problem and there should be some method to lock in current prices for 6 and 9 months ahead rather than consumers (and the whole country through govt support) being at risk of prices rising sharply again.

Didn’t Martin Lewis campaign to remove the 6 month price cap review in favour of every 3 months? A move that was absurd when prices were rising. It probably benefits the consumer when prices are falling but not when they’re predicted to rise through the roof.

Arguably, the 6 monthly Cap (based on looking back through a rear view mirror) played a significant role in the high number of energy supplier failures that we are all paying for today. Many suppliers were forced to sell energy to their customers at a loss.

The 3 monthly Cap includes an element of backwarding to account for unforeseen circumstances/costs.

ariarnia

Ballymoney said:

michaels said:

Personally I think this is a problem and there should be some method to lock in current prices for 6 and 9 months ahead rather than consumers (and the whole country through govt support) being at risk of prices rising sharply again.

Didn’t Martin Lewis campaign to remove the 6 month price cap review in favour of every 3 months? A move that was absurd when prices were rising. It probably benefits the consumer when prices are falling but not when they’re predicted to rise through the roof.

you say absurd but when prices are rising and the cap is in place thats when energy suppliers go (went) bust. thats not good for the customer either as thats how we ended up with most of the homes not on fixes (so other suppliers couldnt confidently hedge) and such a high standing charge covering the cost of the credit balances. 

i no we all want cheaper and cheaper prices but looking at it from only that side is irrisponsible imo. sometimes we need to accept prices being set at what is realistic and sustainable or we end up with crisis like this. 

brewerdave

Mstty said:

BBC News - Energy firms told to pay out over wrong meter fittings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64712363

So who pays this compensation does this come out of the suppliers profits and not back round into the price cap?

What a ******* mess - some of the customers "wrongly" forced to have prepayment meters ,will already have started to pay back debts via the meters - presume they will expect "compensation" and the "overpayments" back ?? - And ,yes , the long suffering customers in credit will pick up the bill somehow !!

gt94sss2

Some lucky Octopus Energy customers!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/bills-and-utilities/gas-electric/glitch-gives-thousands-energy-customers-free-gas-dont-have/