News: Energy bills to rise by £700/yr for many | Chancellor unveils up to £350 households support

QrizB

Kosmar04 said:

I want to know how I can opt out!

Well, here are a few options:

1. Move to a caravan, canal boat, hotel, care home etc. where you don't pay a conventional electricity bill.
2. Move to Northern Ireland or out of the UK completely.
3. Surrender your electricity connection. You can still have gas (gas lighting has a wonderful ambience, gas fridges & freezers are available).

And you only need to do this for five or six years, until the "loan" has been "repaid".

For maximum moneysaving, only do this after you've received the £200 bill credit but before you've started to repay it.

wrf12345

Better yet, move to Ireland (after five/six years  you can get an Irish passport and move to EU) visa free and enjoy  much lower rates

GingerTim

wrf12345 said:

Better yet, move to Ireland (after five/six years  you can get an Irish passport and move to EU) visa free and enjoy  much lower rates

Irish rates look broadly comparable https://www.electricireland.ie/switch/new-customer/price-plans?priceType=E

But their electric standing charges are higher than ours (c. £236 per year), even taking into account the UK price cap at 42p per day (c. £153 per year).

wrf12345

https://www.electricireland.ie/switch/new-customer/price-plans?priceType=D

Ireland not NI, s/c is circa 20p a day for electric on above

GingerTim

According to that site, the lowest electricity standing charge - which is the same on every plan - is about £175 per year, including VAT.

Astria

QrizB said:

1. Surrender your electricity connection before October. You can still have gas (gas lighting has a wonderful ambience, gas fridges & freezers are available).

And you only need to do this for five or six years, until the "loan" has been "repaid".

For maximum moneysaving, only do this after you've received the £200 bill credit but before you've started to repay it.

It might actually be better to surrender your connection after October to take advantage of the £200. As the loan isn't a personal loan anyway, won't be reported on your credit file as such and so you can just close your energy account.

You can guarantee that after 5 years we'll still be repaying this "loan", it'll just be called something else!

QrizB

Astria said:

It might actually be better to surrender your connection after October...

You're right, I added that later and didn't revise the numbered item. I'll edit it.

VXman

I don't get the hike in standing charge on electric. I thought gas was the reason for all the energy inflation? Also, if they are wanting us to ditch gas and go for 'green' electricity why such a massive increase in electric prices?

(Personally smug that I fixed for 2 years back in october in a deal equivalent to the current cap)

studio_two

mdjuergens said:

Does anyone know where (or when) to find the ACTUAL  costs per kWh and also standing charges. The costs for the mythical "average user" don't actually help me.

Funny that isn't it?

Same as you, I hunted high and low when my fixed tariff ended last summer, but they are not so easy to find. I looked again today (even on the OFGEM site), but all I get is an average price increase.

I have a fixed deal offer from Octopus (with no exit fee), but it is not so easy to weigh this up without all the figures.

QrizB

studio_two said:

mdjuergens said:

Does anyone know where (or when) to find the ACTUAL  costs per kWh and also standing charges. The costs for the mythical "average user" don't actually help me.

Funny that isn't it?

It's not that funny, but it suggests you've not looked in the right places.

The actual rates are posted in several places on this forum including in the "Ofgem April 2022 cap explained" post linked to in my signature - two posts above yours.