Dual Fuel Prepayment Customer Needing Advice

MintyCyrmu

Hello all

We moved into our new home at the end of May this year, first time buyers. The home was already set up on E Energy prepayment dual fuel, (Easy Winter-21 Tariff, which is their SVT), we're currently spending an average of £100pcm on energy (we're frugal), sadly, for reasons beyond my control, we never changed to a fixed rate tariff when we should have, and I regret that immensely, but have to look forward and plan as best I can.

Being completely clueless on what good looks like, I've tried using some comparison websites and supplier websites to get a quote and whilst most aren't even quoting right now, the fixed rate deals I've been quoted range from considerably to staggeringly higher than what I'm currently paying (£182 to £387 pcm), although I believe these are based upon 'average household usage' which I know is far higher than I use.
I've looked into the prices based upon kWh units so I can get a handle on how the quotes I've received apply to me, but ended up confusing and frustrating myself.

Given everything that is going on right now, is anyone here able to give me advice on what the best thing to do is?
I've seen advice (from MSE and elsewhere) that the best action is no action, although since I'm on a prepayment SVT tariff I wondered is that still the case?

Thank you for your help.

JJ_Egan

Prices have risen considerably this last few months .

What is your monthly usage ?

I would jump at £100 pm dual fuel as would millions more .

wild666

If you can afford to pay by monthly DD get the prepayment meter changed for a credit meter, if you have smart meters then it should just be a matter of doing something at their end and you giving them your bank details   

QrizB

MintyCyrmu said:

Given everything that is going on right now, is anyone here able to give me advice on what the best thing to do is?
I've seen advice (from MSE and elsewhere) that the best action is no action, although since I'm on a prepayment SVT tariff I wondered is that still the case?

Thank you for your help.

The SVT is almost certainly the cheapest tariff currently available to you.

Prepayment is slightly more expensive than paying a credit account by direct debit. If your financial situation permits, it would save you a few tens of pounds a year to switch to DD. According to this link E Energy only offer prepayment so you'd need to change supplier in order to switch to a credit account. This isn't always straightforward at present.

MintyCyrmu

E Energy only offer prepayment service, so to change to any other (DD, fixed rate) service I would need to change supplier.

My aim is act correctly now; switch or not?

The current rate applied vs usage is:
Gas
21.63p for first kWh
4.1p thereafter
Our household usage for the last 7 days 385.49 kWh (1,630.33 kWh for average winter month)

Electricity
35.4p for first 2.00 kWh
20.83p thereafter
Our household usage for the last 7 days 44.8 kWh (193.98 kWh for average winter month)

...'average winter month' - this last week has included Christmas cooking etc.

QrizB

Those rates are reasonable. Switching is unlikely to save you enough to be worth doing.

MintyCyrmu

QrizB said:

Those rates are reasonable. Switching is unlikely to save you enough to be worth doing.

Indeed, and agreed - I've no concerns about the current situation/costs.

I'm thinking about what's going to happen come April, if I've understood correctly the rate cap will be reviewed (and most likely will be increased). So, without any kind of experience/knowledge to fall upon I'm wondering if it's better to seek a fixed rate deal now (which, admittedly would be more expensive until April) that would be more economical over the next year or two.

QrizB

MintyCyrmu said:

QrizB said:

Those rates are reasonable. Switching is unlikely to save you enough to be worth doing.

Indeed, and agreed - I've no concerns about the current situation/costs.
I'm thinking about what's going to happen come April, if I've understood correctly the rate cap will be reviewed (and most likely will be increased). So, without any kind of experience/knowledge to fall upon I'm wondering if it's better to seek a fixed rate deal now (which, admittedly would be more expensive until April) that would be more economical over the next year or two.

Most (possibly not all) of the fixed rates currently on offer are higher than the expected level of the Ofgem cap in April (8p/kWh for gas and 30p/kWh for electricity are my curent best guess, other guesses are available). The cap will be revised again in October 2022 but no-one really knows what's going to happen then.
You could choose a fixed rate now in the hope of saving money during winter 2022/23, but if you do so now you'll be paying well over the odds for the remaining months of winter 2021/22. Most of us (but by no means all) are planning to look at caps in February once the April cap has been announced.

MintyCyrmu

I'll keep my eye on things, and hopefully learn a bit more as we wait.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond today, appreciated