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

Astria

Luna29412 said:

Hi  I am currently with EON Next at a rate of Elec - 17.14 k Wh Gas- 3.20 kWh.  Standing rates of 8.40 for E and G.  This is due to end mid Feb.

EON have offered a 1 year fix with no exit fees at a rate of E 26.70 and G 5.52 with standing charges of 42.3 per day.

The direct debit will go up by £50 per month is still a big hike but is this likely to be less than post April.  Not sure whether to fix now or not.

Any advice gratefully received.

That could be a very good deal depending on how much energy you use.

Personally I'd take it considering no exit fees and then you can always leave once the cap is announced.

wittynamegoeshere

Astria said:

Luna29412 said:

Hi  I am currently with EON Next at a rate of Elec - 17.14 k Wh Gas- 3.20 kWh.  Standing rates of 8.40 for E and G.  This is due to end mid Feb.

EON have offered a 1 year fix with no exit fees at a rate of E 26.70 and G 5.52 with standing charges of 42.3 per day.

The direct debit will go up by £50 per month is still a big hike but is this likely to be less than post April.  Not sure whether to fix now or not.

Any advice gratefully received.

That could be a very good deal depending on how much energy you use.

Personally I'd take it considering no exit fees and then you can always leave once the cap is announced.

It's at least a 30% premium, and I think it takes immediate effect, so you'll be paying a lot extra for 2.5 months before the capped rate would have risen, during the peak of heaviest usage for the year.  I reckon we probably use around half of our annual power during the coldest 3 months (around now), so paying extra at this time means paying a higher premium than it appears.

I'm really not sure what is and isn't a good deal, we're all comparing against a complete unknown.  It's starting to look very unlikely that 50% rises are really going to happen, and absolutely nobody knows what October's price might look like.

worrywart_3

The current warm home discount hadn’t risen for ten years so it definitely needs to be increased but it’s already been paid to the majority already so the most vulnerable can’t wait 12 mths for the next one ? 

donny-gal

Thanks All, as we are fortunate not to fall in the lower paid, but certainly not the higher paid, think it's worth the gamble of fixing. DG

TriathNanEilean

Damn. Double damn. [my real shouts are much stronger of course]

Looks like Scottish Power have pulled the 'existing customer' good deals overnight on 17th-18th Jan - last night. The deals that Martin Lewis mentioned might be worth switching to.

Got a Scottish Power fixed rate quote yesterday from my account. Looked good: Apr 2022 - Apr 2024, Day rate ~+25%, night rate ~+45% on current Economy 7 SVR, no exit fees.

Did more research, checked with spouse this morning, logged in ... deal gone, replaced by a May 2022 - May 2024 one with Day rate ~+50%, night rate ~+90%. Cleared cookies in desperation, tried again, same.   $^#*%))#!!!

Oh well, at least no decision needed; no point in signing up to those prices. Where is that time machine when you need it to save you hundreds of pounds because you wanted to sleep on a decision?  *sigh*

MWT

TriathNanEilean said:

... Where is that time machine when you need it to save you hundreds of pounds because you wanted to sleep on a decision?  *sigh*

The time for sleep is after you have accepted and while you are sitting comfortably in the 14 day cooling-off period...

spot1034

TriathNanEilean said:

Damn. Double damn. [my real shouts are much stronger of course]

Looks like Scottish Power have pulled the 'existing customer' good deals overnight on 17th-18th Jan - last night. The deals that Martin Lewis mentioned might be worth switching to.

Got a Scottish Power fixed rate quote yesterday from my account. Looked good: Apr 2022 - Apr 2024, Day rate ~+25%, night rate ~+45% on current Economy 7 SVR, no exit fees.

Did more research, checked with spouse this morning, logged in ... deal gone, replaced by a May 2022 - May 2024 one with Day rate ~+50%, night rate ~+90%. Cleared cookies in desperation, tried again, same.   $^#*%))#!!!

Oh well, at least no decision needed; no point in signing up to those prices. Where is that time machine when you need it to save you hundreds of pounds because you wanted to sleep on a decision?  *sigh*

If you could get hold of that time machine and go forward a few months, you might find much more reasonably priced fixes as wholesale prices may have dropped significantly. Or you might not, but it's entirely possible. Sitting on the variable rate, even beyond April, and then looking to jump to a fix later in the year might well be a better option than signing up to one now in a blind panic, which is what I'm afraid some posters here might now be doing and will regret later. (But I don't know that for sure.)  As I have just said in another thread, do not make the assumption that prices can only ever go up.

wittynamegoeshere

I'm really not comfortable with voluntarily paying what's going to amount to many £100s of additional money to a company that may go bankrupt at any time, in which case all this extra paid for supposed peace of mind just vanishes and you're on whatever the capped tariff is along with everyone else who didn't pay extra.

If it went into some kind of secure ring-fenced account then it really would give genuine peace of mind, but these fixed tariffs are just selling a false sense of security.

If wholesale prices fall, you're wasting your money.  If they rise much further then at some point all of the suppliers will become insolvent.  Nothing is impossible.

pensioner2

The only prices which matter are the cost per KW of gas and electricity plus daily charge [why is the meaningless price cap still used?] Why is good news such as the recent halving of the wholesale price of gas not reported in the media?  Why is more attention not given to the extra cost that so called green energy is adding to bills?

Cardew

pensioner2 said:

The only prices which matter are the cost per KW of gas and electricity plus daily charge [why is the meaningless price cap still used?] Why is good news such as the recent halving of the wholesale price of gas not reported in the media?  Why is more attention not given to the extra cost that so called green energy is adding to bills?

Agree that the 'green levy' should get more publicity.

However the price cap is not meaningless as it a cap set at £1277 for 12,000kWh gas and 2,900kWh electricity.

'What is the current energy price cap?

Since 1 October 2021, the price cap has been set at £1,277. This figure is based on the amount of energy that Ofgem believes an average household uses in the UK. You could pay more than £1,277 per year if you use more energy than the average household.

This works out at around 21p per kWh for electricity and 4p per kWh for gas1. Your supplier’s quote might vary.'