BG People's Tariff

Haddenham35

Like many people on here, I'm really worried about energy tariffs and potential impact on monthly bills. And any steer from this community on what factors to consider would be great.

Our old energy supplier went bust last year and we were moved to the British Gas People's Energy Tariff:

Electricity:

Unit rate - 20.871p per kWh

Standing charge - 24.017p per day

Gas: 

Standard unit rate 4.056p per kWh

Standing charge 26.123p per day

This is a variable tariff that ends on 30 June 2022, so concerned about spikes caused by the variability, or by increasing prices meaning that the deals come June are significantly worse.

Does anyone have any experience with this tariff, and moving to a new tariff? or a sense of sensible next steps?

Thanks in advance

emmajones1976

Sorry to break it to you but they can raise the price before 30th June too, its a variable tarriff. Its likely to go up in April once the new cap comes in.

MWT

emmajones1976 said:

Sorry to break it to you but they can raise the price before 30th June too, its a variable tarriff. Its likely to go up in April once the new cap comes in.

Generally, SoLR tariffs have to remain unchanged for 6 months, it will be interesting to see if any of the current batch of SoLR decide to push against that point...

Haddenham35

emmajones1976 said:

Sorry to break it to you but they can raise the price before 30th June too, its a variable tarriff. Its likely to go up in April once the new cap comes in.

Yep so that's why I'm concerned with the spikes caused the variability - so is it best to try and fix now? even though it's going to be about 100% increase on what I pay now?

bagand96

MWT said:

emmajones1976 said:

Sorry to break it to you but they can raise the price before 30th June too, its a variable tarriff. Its likely to go up in April once the new cap comes in.

Generally, SoLR tariffs have to remain unchanged for 6 months, it will be interesting to see if any of the current batch of SoLR decide to push against that point...

People's Energy SoLR appointment was 19th September, so 6 months only covers until March in PE case.  I would expect BG to increase The People's Tariff inline with the April price cap.

Haddenham35 said:

emmajones1976 said:

Sorry to break it to you but they can raise the price before 30th June too, its a variable tarriff. Its likely to go up in April once the new cap comes in.

Yep so that's why I'm concerned with the spikes caused the variability - so is it best to try and fix now? even though it's going to be about 100% increase on what I pay now?

The People's Tariff is a variable and is at the current Ofgem price cap.  It may well increase in April in line with the new Ofgem cap.  The question is whether you think the fixes available today are more or less what the new cap in April will be.  You might want to take a look at this thread What should the unit prices be to cover wholesale prices? - Page 12 — MoneySavingExpert Forum where people have been making predictions for the April cap.  One advantage of not fixing now is you enjoy the cheaper energy until April.

MWT

bagand96 said:

The People's Tariff is a variable and is at the current Ofgem price cap.  It may well increase in April in line with the new Ofgem cap.

It wouldn't be the first time that BG have fixed a variable SoLR tariff for longer than the required 6 months, and that does seem to be what they have done here...

Price is guaranteed until 30th June.

emmajones1976

How can a variable tariff have a price guarantee until such a date, in this case a whole year? Its a contradiction in terms.

I had a variable mortgage rate for 8 years, I didnt expect payments to start the same if interest rates changed, and they never did.

MWT

emmajones1976 said:

How can a variable tariff have a price guarantee until such a date, in this case a whole year? Its a contradiction in terms.

Just over 9 months in this case, but BG have done this before.

There really isn't much wiggle room on this and in the past they have done exactly what it says on the label.

bagand96

MWT said:

bagand96 said:

The People's Tariff is a variable and is at the current Ofgem price cap.  It may well increase in April in line with the new Ofgem cap.

It wouldn't be the first time that BG have fixed a variable SoLR tariff for longer than the required 6 months, and that does seem to be what they have done here...

Price is guaranteed until 30th June.

Interesting.  The PFP SoLR tariff "Price Promise April 2022" and indeed gives an end date of 30th April 22.  The PE SoLR appointment was 8 days later and yet they appear to have given them another 2 months of cheap energy.  

MWT

bagand96 said:

Interesting.  The PFP SoLR tariff "Price Promise April 2022" and indeed gives an end date of 30th April 22.  The PE SoLR appointment was 8 days later and yet they appear to have given them another 2 months of cheap energy.  

In each case the exact tariff is part of the competitive negotiation with Ofgem to 'win' the SoLR status.

You might perhaps infer that they had to bid a little higher to get the PE customers than they did for the PFP customers...

Haddenham35

Thanks all - is it worth me picking up the phone to BG to discuss options, or will they palm me off with some ridiculous fixed cap prices?