54% increase - Was No to fix before hand the wrong advice ?

Thrugelmir

spot1034 said:

You'll have paid higher prices since, whereas you could have stayed on the lower SVT until April. It is entirely possible that wholesale rates will have fallen by then and cheaper fixes will be available - however it is also possible that this will not be the case. In short, nobody knows.

As energy is a global market. Was never a short term issue. Under investment in dirty energy and going green is going to have to be paid for. Consume less. 

dander

t0rt0ise said:

The only help I'll get is a £200 loan which I don't want. My pension income is low but I have savings so it's my savings that will diminish. It's not what I saved for but it is what it is. But that loan is a pain, I don't do loans and really don't want it.

Yeah, I don't want this loan either. I hope there will be a way to opt out. I can manage the bills as they come and I know where I stand if I just pay now. I don't want to have payment backdated to some uncontrollable date in the future when I have no idea what I'll be doing.

rogerc446

dander said:

I'd be interested to know what other people are planning to do regarding fixed rates. Sign up now and pay extra until April, or keep waiting? I'd rather wait really, because I'd like to maximise my winter months on current tariff and I'll get next winter on the fix (I'm with octopus and my best deal is the 1 year loyalty fix). But are the fixes likely to go up a lot between now and April? Will I regret waiting?

If I crunch the numbers for me personally, the energy prices would have to go up by 41% in October for the 1 year loyalty fix available now to be worthwhile (assuming the 1 year fix kicks in from March and runs until February).  That's without the £200 bribe (which makes it approx 58%) - I can't see that happening unless war breaks out in Ukraine, and who knows what would happen then!  

I'm planning to stay on the flexible tariff, but will keep an eye on the market.  Uswitch mustn't be making much money at the moment, and looks like that'll continue for at least 6 months.

QrizB

Bexie1989 said:

People were scoffing at me when I fixed for 2 years back in September for 23p a unit (electric only for me, but the gas price was decent too).

@Bexie1989 which people, exactly? I don't see any scoffing in this thread?

And congratulations on the well-chosen fix. It's a real shame you couldn't convince your dad too.

QrizB

dander said:

t0rt0ise said:

The only help I'll get is a £200 loan which I don't want. My pension income is low but I have savings so it's my savings that will diminish. It's not what I saved for but it is what it is. But that loan is a pain, I don't do loans and really don't want it.

Yeah, I don't want this loan either. I hope there will be a way to opt out. I can manage the bills as they come and I know where I stand if I just pay now. I don't want to have payment backdated to some uncontrollable date in the future when I have no idea what I'll be doing.

It isn't a loan in the usual sense. There will be a £200 credit to your bill in October then (I'm guessing) an extra 80p/week on your standing charge from April or October 2023.

PennineAcute

Assuming prices say around what they are now, then I am quids in my fixed by elec in December and gas in January.

So far my gamble has paid off.  it would take a drop in SCs to the Oct 21 capped rates and a drop in UP to around 6.5p and 26p for me to break even.  Anything less than that I will be worse off.

ProDave

dander said:

I'd be interested to know what other people are planning to do regarding fixed rates. Sign up now and pay extra until April, or keep waiting? I'd rather wait really, because I'd like to maximise my winter months on current tariff and I'll get next winter on the fix (I'm with octopus and my best deal is the 1 year loyalty fix). But are the fixes likely to go up a lot between now and April? Will I regret waiting?

I posed this question to Octopus and they offered to put me on the Loyal Octopus fix but not starting until the end of February.

dander

rogerc446 said:

dander said:

I'd be interested to know what other people are planning to do regarding fixed rates. Sign up now and pay extra until April, or keep waiting? I'd rather wait really, because I'd like to maximise my winter months on current tariff and I'll get next winter on the fix (I'm with octopus and my best deal is the 1 year loyalty fix). But are the fixes likely to go up a lot between now and April? Will I regret waiting?

If I crunch the numbers for me personally, the energy prices would have to go up by 41% in October for the 1 year loyalty fix available now to be worthwhile (assuming the 1 year fix kicks in from March and runs until February).  That's without the £200 bribe (which makes it approx 58%) - I can't see that happening unless war breaks out in Ukraine, and who knows what would happen then!  

I'm planning to stay on the flexible tariff, but will keep an eye on the market.  Uswitch mustn't be making much money at the moment, and looks like that'll continue for at least 6 months.

I hadn't thought it might be better to just stay on variable anyway. Mine's at 20.3 Elec and Gas 3.83 at the mo, with the fix offered at 33.06 and 8.75 (per unit), so if I understand how this works, I should be the same as you and still be under the fix offered even after the price rise. I checked past emails from Octopus and they said they are planning to start going up gently from April, not in one big sudden rise, so I think I'll just hang on where I am and hope for the best. 

Happy for anyone to correct my assumptions if I've gone crazy but even at the 54% rise that press are talking about today, that should only be 31.3 elec and 5.9 gas, so much less than the fix.