Energy Advice

Euripides19

Hello all,

I'm hoping for some sound advice regarding energy. Just finished a house renovation. Moved in last week. Decided to stay on a standard variable from EDF whilst renovations were taking place, as the house was unoccupied, with the intention of finding a decent fixed, 2 year tariff once we moved in (and we moved in last week). 

I'm finding making the right decision, with the energy crisis, a nightmare and in all honesty have no idea what the best course of action to take is. So, I was wondering if any of you great MSE forum'ers could offer a little advice.

1. What would you recommend doing?
2. How do I find the right information to make sure the decision I make is as best as could be?

Thanks in advance!

QrizB

In brief, the general advice is:

• Stick with the variable for now.
• We will know the new Ofgem cap (applicable from April) early next week.
• Look for a fix then.

If you're particularly risk-averse, there are some fixes available today which are much higher than the current variable but could be lower than the future cap.

Gerry1

Whatever you do will be a gamble to some extent, but you could hedge your bets by fixing at the best rate you can find this week, and then cancelling within the 14-day cooling off period should you find a better tariff after the new cap is announced on 7 February.

wild666

By what I read in the Express yesterday it could be cheaper to go for at least a 1 year fix as the Express said the capped rate for the next 6 months would be £1897 so if you can get a rate of around 26p to 27p per kWh for electric and around 7p for gas I would consider going for it but the story in the Express might be a bit of a scam to get people to fix on higher rates and the capped rates might only total £1500 or less. 

QrizB

wild666 said:

By what I read in the Express yesterday it could be cheaper to go for at least a 1 year fix as the Express said the capped rate for the next 6 months would be £1897 so if you can get a rate of around 26p to 27p per kWh for electric and around 7p for gas I would consider going for it but the story in the Express might be a bit of a scam to get people to fix on higher rates and the capped rates might only total £1500 or less. 

Unless Ofgem gey *very* creative the April cap will be £1900+ (I'm expecting £2100+ but I'm a resolute pessimist).

Euripides19

Thank you all. I very much appreciate the advice and will sit tight as suggested 

spot1034

The problem with jumping to a fix at the moment is that you will lose two months of the present SVT - I'm assuming in saying this that the fix you're going for is with your existing supplier and that they will switch you straight away. So not only do you not yet know what the level of the new SVT will be and how it will compare with what you're switching to, you certainly do know that you will lose in the first two months.

My own thought at present is still that wholesale rates will come down during the spring and summer, and that the best course of action is probably to wait maybe beyond April and then pounce on a good deal if/when it appears during the summer. However this assumes the Ukraine situation will not escalate and that things will have returned to normal on that front within the next couple of months or so. If that's not what happens, it might look very foolish indeed not to have gone for one of the fixes on offer right now. There are so many unknown factors and it really is a bit of a gamble. 

Euripides19

Hi all,

I followed advice and stuck with SVT. With the whole mess of the energy market atm, I thought I'd see what deals current suppliers are offering existing customers.

Current tariff (SVT) is as follows:

Elec: 29.51p p/kWh and 47.9p SC
Gas: 7.735p p/kWh and 32.03p SC

New (fixed until 2014 tariff):

Elec: 42.36p and 42.25p SC
Gas: 12.5552p and 27.22p SC

All things considering, is it worth considering fixing in now? What would you do in this situation?

TIA!

Verdigris

Not at that price, I wouldn't. Have you looked at Octopus? I've just taken a 12 month fix with them for better rates than that.

Janie2008

Definitely not, Very high rates 

Ultrasonic

Not quite sure how a fix to 2014 would work  .

It looks like your 'current' numbers are those that will apply from 1 April and paying by cash/cheque? Switching to paying by Direct Debit would save you money.

I'd be hard-pushed to see taking that fix as a good deal right now personally.