Martin Lewis: Energy price cap to rise by 51% on 1 April - should you fix now?

evanowen

QrizB said:

evanowen said:

I didn't know what to do and spent days looking into it, then it vanished...

Yet this is the first time you''ve mentioned it on the forum. If you'd asked here, we'd have said "grab it with both hands".

Yes of course you would, who are you BTW? Martin Lewis?

QrizB

evanowen said:

QrizB said:

evanowen said:

I didn't know what to do and spent days looking into it, then it vanished...

Yet this is the first time you''ve mentioned it on the forum. If you'd asked here, we'd have said "grab it with both hands".

Yes of course you would, who are you BTW? Martin Lewis?

Yes, and so is my wife.

meinnit

evanowen said:

meinnit said:

evanowen said:

Martin's 'advice' has cost me dear, he said we should do nothing and go onto the SVR when our fixed deal ends, well Scottish Power offered me an exclusive deal with 18.8 standing charge and 21.396 unit cost fixed until April 2023. I didn't know what to do and spent days looking into it, then it vanished.... Thanks for nothing Martin Lewis!!! 

When were you offered this?

Early December

That's a good rate for an offer of a fix for December. It's a difficult one.. the general advice was stick to SVT because there were no meaningful fixed rates on offer at the time but your case was an exception to this

evanowen

meinnit said:

evanowen said:

Martin's 'advice' has cost me dear, he said we should do nothing and go onto the SVR when our fixed deal ends, well Scottish Power offered me an exclusive deal with 18.8 standing charge and 21.396 unit cost fixed until April 2023. I didn't know what to do and spent days looking into it, then it vanished.... Thanks for nothing Martin Lewis!!! 

This was the offerWhen were you offered this?

This was the tariff

wild666

jcontest said:
A big fear people should have is moving to the fixed rate deals now as from what I am hearing many are refusing to move people to SVT as an option.  It's a gamble really.  My fix is up 1st of march.

My biggest fear is that people on a tariff coming to an end, that was way below the present rates, is that suppliers might try and move people to another capped rate, instead of the Standard Variable Rate they would drop onto if they don't agree a fix. I know this would be to all intents and purposes illegal but I am waiting to find out if one supplier tries it.

QrizB

evanowen said:

meinnit said:

This was the offerWhen were you offered this?

This was the tariff
(Exclusive Fixed April 2023 B1)

Scottish Power are currently offering "Exclusive Fixed March 2023 B1". This is ~20% more expensive than the April tariff you declined but is only 15% more than the current Ofgem cap and is still cheaper than the April cap is expected to be.

bristolleedsfan

QrizB said:

evanowen said:

I didn't know what to do and spent days looking into it, then it vanished...

  If you'd asked here, we'd have said "grab it with both hands".

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78794387/#Comment_78794387

QrizB

bristolleedsfan said:

QrizB said:

evanowen said:

I didn't know what to do and spent days looking into it, then it vanished...

  If you'd asked here, we'd have said "grab it with both hands".

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78794387/#Comment_78794387

That was a different poster and a different tariff?

Edit to add: Exclusive Fixed March 2023 B1 is still available and is now looking like a reasonable deal.

evanowen

QrizB said:

evanowen said:

meinnit said:

This was the offerWhen were you offered this?

This was the tariff
(Exclusive Fixed April 2023 B1)

Scottish Power are currently offering "Exclusive Fixed March 2023 B1". This is ~20% more expensive than the April tariff you declined but is only 15% more than the current Ofgem cap and is still cheaper than the April cap is expected to be.

They said it isn't available to me

Sea_Shell

The other downside of taking a fixed deal now, is that IF the Government take some action with regards the cap, then you may potentially miss out on any mitigations they implement if you are no longer on the cap.

Although the new cap will be announced in a few weeks, there is still time before it actually comes into force for the gov to do something "last minute" if they choose to.