British Gas Home Energy Exclusive January 2024 - were we mad to buy into this?

Simon_Daisy

Can't find anything on this site, and our cooling off period ends either today or tomorrow. Like so many people, we're big energy-price losers. We were fixed with People's Energy, who were one of the first to go bust. We were 'migrated' (along with all PE customers) to British Gas, and our bills instantly doubled (yes, in the case of gas it was 100%). We live in a single-glazed Victorian coastal property, which already costs a fortune to heat, so this winter we've simply turned off the heating most of the time. Then in December we got an invitation by British Gas to re-fix with them immediately, even though this would mean immediately paying an extra 30% for our gas, and 20% for our electricity (on top of the increases we are already reeling from), and we've been persuaded to go for it, simply for the security of knowing that the prices will not go up again until January 2024. There is a £40 per fuel exit fee, so we can get out, but at some cost! .. unless we cancel now before the cooling off period ends. Hard to know what to do, as on the news, we hear that, come April, prices could go up by over 50% for everybody when the price cap ends. We felt that a 20-30% increase now, sounded the lesser of evils. What do others think? Thanks, Simon 

Spies

What are your actual unit rates?

Simon_Daisy

My old and new rates attached as picture. 

QrizB

"British Gas Home Energy Exclusive January 2024" in my region is:

• Gas: 5.394p/kWh plus 26.123p/day
• Elec: 24.714p/kWh plus 32.332p/day

A fair bit higher than the current cap but much less than the expected April cap, and who knows what prices will be in October 22?

Gerry1

Simon_Daisy said:

My old and new rates attached as picture. 

Those figures are not rates.

They are the costs of your estimated annual consumption.

It's meaningless without knowing how much you use.

What's needed are the kWh rates and the daily standing charges.

wittynamegoeshere

Is that about 20-30% higher than the capped price?

Perhaps it's a good thing if you're really scared of risk and have a written guarantee from the prime minister that no more energy companies are going to go bust.  You won't get any of the extra that you've paid back if prices go through the roof and BG go bust.

There isn't a risk-free option.  We're all gamblers now, like it or not.

Simon_Daisy

sorry! Here are the old (grey) and new (pale blue) tariffs:

Simon_Daisy

Hi Gerry1, I have now posted the tariffs, in case that helps you give an opinion. 

Interesting tho, that the two others have suggested that maybe it is a good idea to fix, thinking along the same lines, that however bad it was, the hikes in April could be even worse. 

This suggests that the mood has changed since October when MSE was advising  everybody to sit on their hands and NOT to be tempted to fix for now. 

Simon_Daisy

Thanks for replies. Simon

Gerry1

Simon_Daisy said:

Hi Gerry1, I have now posted the tariffs, in case that helps you give an opinion. 

Interesting tho, that the two others have suggested that maybe it is a good idea to fix, thinking along the same lines, that however bad it was, the hikes in April could be even worse. 

This suggests that the mood has changed since October when MSE was advising  everybody to sit on their hands and NOT to be tempted to fix for now. 

It's a gamble either way because nobody really knows what will happen.  BoJo may realise his luck is running out and decide to scrap VAT on electricity and gas together with the Green levies that account for around a quarter of energy bills.  Or there may be a humongous government loan to allow a lower price cap to be set than would otherwise be the case.  And then there's Mr. Putin...

Simon_Daisy

Thanks Gerry1 for your thoughts. Yes, that's why I'm in such a quandary. It's a bit like which checkout to choose... which ever way you jump, you will probably regret it.