Fixed Tariff or Flex?

LuciaStar

Hi all. I'm upset, worried and confused. Our SO tariff ends 1 April. They have us moving to their SO Flex tariff, with Elect 18.59p/kWh day 12.24p/kWh night with 22.05 standing charge going to 23.36/p/kWh day 16.49/p/kWh night 23.59 standing charge. Gas going from 2.81./kWh with standing charge 22.05p/day to 4.06p/kWh standing charge 26.11 per day.  I'm not sure I understand what a Flex tariff is and I'm worried it could increase a huge amount. I compared on MSE Energy Club (I always compare and switch with them) and they gave me best is SO Fixed for 2 years at Elec 39.52998p/kWh 23.58 standing charge, and gas 8.64p/p/kWh standing charge 26.11. The standing charges don't seem to be going up that much but the Fixed tariff looks to be a huge increase. We're older, both retired on very limited income, husband still working part time and I'm on military pension. Should we go with fixed or flex? Should we just segue over to the Flex and keep our eyes on the ball constantly and move to Fixed when we can? We will not be able to sustain this and we already cut to the bone by turning stuff off and only heating a few rooms. Help!

razord

The Flex tariff you're being quoted is actually the current price cap - so on the day your fix comes to an end, it will actually be significantly more than that.

But, yes - sticking with that increased price flex tariff (you're probably looking more like 29-30p per kwh day, for example) is likely your best bet

LuciaStar

Hi razord, thanks for your reply. There's no switch penalty on that flex tariff so I should just keep a close eye on what's available? Their 24 month fixed is about twice plus a bit more what we pay now, would it be better to go with that and be safe?

LuciaStar

Sorry to be a pest, I'm just really terrified by all this.

Phlik

Unfortunately none of us know which is the best option. When the cap is reviewed again in October the situation could be far worse or it could be better but none of us truly no which way it'll go.

razord

LuciaStar said:

Hi razord, thanks for your reply. There's no switch penalty on that flex tariff so I should just keep a close eye on what's available? Their 24 month fixed is about twice plus a bit more what we pay now, would it be better to go with that and be safe?

No worries - Martin said on twitter he's going to update his advice on this today with what prices you should be considering a fix, but I've not seen any publicly available fixes (apart from Octopus, but that was only for a few hours one day last week!) that were worth it.

For the vast majority of people - whilst it's going to be tough regardless - they're better off staying on the flex.

The only difference to this advice seems to be some providers offering special loyalty tariffs to existing customers.

One thing that would be useful would be for you to let us know how much electricity and gas you use a year in kwh. That 2 year fix has a low standing charge, so if you're a very low user energy it might become more viable for you to take that 2 year fix, but rough guess maths you'd need to use about 4 units a day max for that to be true - and that's probably unlikely!

bristolleedsfan

So Energy advice

razord

Also just FYI: I found the price for the SO Flex tariff from 1st April, you should be using this for all your comparisons: https://www.so.energy/so-out-of-contract-tariff/

Depending on your region, it will be around 30-31p day, 21-22p night and 45-50p standing charge.

Based on the rates you gave, you're in the Mersey/North Wales Region, so your actual pricing from 1st April will be:

Electricity - 47.64p DSC, 31.65p Day, 22.23p Night
Gas - 27.21p DSC, 7.36p/kWh