Octopus energy fixed tariff

Bronia80

My fixed deal ends on the 7th February, the date I believe we will know more about the price cap in April, so I’m totally confused on what to do, do I do nothing and move onto the SVT or fix?
here is what I have been offered. 

savers_united

If you are looking to fix you might want to get in quick, Octopus have raised the pricing on their loyal tariff. 

RegForme

savers_united said:

If you are looking to fix you might want to get in quick, Octopus have raised the pricing on their loyal tariff. 

Wow, I just signed up for their "Loyal Octopus 12M Fixed December 2021 v3" yesterday. That tariff has today been replaced with "Loyal Octopus 12M Fixed January 2022 v1" which has the gas kWh price 5% higher, and the electricity price 18% higher!!!

facade

I went for the Octopus loyalty fix yesterday, and today it has increased. Todays increase would have put £266 on my projected bill!

My rationale is I have nothing to lose as I can cancel the switch within 14 days and drop to the SVT if the April cap would make the SVT cheaper- I don't think it will though, and looks like Octopus agree, as they are ramping up the fix prices.

You would have had near enough 2 months on the SVT though before the April cap starts, will you save enough by not overpaying on the fixed deal- February is usually a high consumption month.

There is no exit fee on the fix, but whether you can exit to Octopus SVT, or change supplier to SVT in October when we hope the cap will come down remains to be seen.

RegForme

facade said:

I went for the Octopus loyalty fix yesterday, and today it has increased. Todays increase would have put £266 on my projected bill!

My rationale is I have nothing to lose as I can cancel the switch within 14 days and drop to the SVT if the April cap would make the SVT cheaper- I don't think it will though, and looks like Octopus agree, as they are ramping up the fix prices.

You would have had near enough 2 months on the SVT though before the April cap starts, will you save enough by not overpaying on the fixed deal- February is usually a high consumption month.

There is no exit fee on the fix, but whether you can exit to Octopus SVT, or change supplier to SVT in October when we hope the cap will come down remains to be seen.

Wow, it looks like you are in the same situation as me. I finally bottled it and signed up for the fix yesterday, with similar reasoning.

I've got pretty good figures for my typical monthly consumption for each month through the year. February is a heavy usage month, but March is thankfully pretty low. If the April cap matches Martin Lewis' estimated £1925, then going with the fix will only start to save me money if the October cap is the same or greater than April (which I'm assuming it will be).  TBF, I'd got to the point where I was willing to pay a little bit extra just reduce the uncertainty. However I think that now Octopus have made the loyal fix more expensive, that it won't be worthwhile for anyone to try fixing now, and sticking with the SVT will again be the cheapest option.

spot1034

The price of fixed deals has almost certainly gone up to reflect the recent rise in wholesale prices - after a very significant fall. If these start to fall again there will presumably be another revision, this time to the downside. Who knows, the heightened political tension with respect to Ukraine we are seeing at present might continue for months, or it might subside very quickly. It is just one of several factors affecting our bills at this time.

MWT

The good thing with Octopus is no exit fees and easy movement to any currently available tariff, so if prices fall you just move to a new tariff, including the standard variable tariff.

RegForme

MWT said:

The good thing with Octopus is no exit fees and easy movement to any currently available tariff, so if prices fall you just move to a new tariff, including the standard variable tariff.

Ah, that's great to know you can switch onto to the standard variable. I assumed that you would only be able to exit onto another fixed tariff.

Bronia80

Yes it has definitely increased, so going off Martin Lewis advice he’s saying not to fix if your new quote is more than 40% so surely I would be better off sticking to variable? 

RegForme

Bronia80 said:

Yes it has definitely increased, so going off Martin Lewis advice he’s saying not to fix if your new quote is more than 40% so surely I would be better off sticking to variable? 

Yes, if I was in your situation I would stick with Martin's advice, i.e. go onto the variable when your fix ends.

In my case I was already on the variable, so the increase from my variable to my new fix was nowhere near as high as yours would be (2.82p to 9.94p for a gas kWh, wow!)

PennineAcute

Bronia80 said:

Yes it has definitely increased, so going off Martin Lewis advice he’s saying not to fix if your new quote is more than 40% so surely I would be better off sticking to variable? 

Those prices will probably be higher than the estimated April cap prices that have been thrown around.  I would definately stick to the SVT.

Trouble is, without a crystal ball, no one knows what the OCT 22 cap will be. 

I fixed my electricity for 18 months in December, with the same SC as the current SVT and just under 2p increase in the UP, compared to the current SVT.

I also fixed my gas, for the same period, at the beginning of this month for the same SC as the current SVT and around 1.5p increase in UP, compared to the current SVT.

Each time I see these horrific prices, I am glad I did so.