Is this a Good Fixed Deal - Scottish Power

SteveW7

Hi Everyone,

My current fixed rate is coming to an end in April 2022, with all the energy costs at the moment, I am trying to decide on whether I stay and drop to the standard tariff (which Scottish Power tell me that they cannot tell me the cost of as they don't have a Standard Tariff, although I will go to that at the end of my contract) or moved the fixed contract that they have offered me which will end April 2023.

Attached is the image of what they have offered, be very grateful for some advice.  I currently pay £175 a month for Gas & Elec and the new Fixed deal is £370, the next fixed offer they have for me is £697!!




Thanks
Steve

SteveW7

NOTE: the expected value changes when I actually view the deal to £370, due to my current usage

Shedman

If you're happy with a one year fix (rather than 2 year and I've no idea of whether SP have offered that option) then if I was in your position I'd snap that up before it disappears.

Your electricity consumption (if thats a correct estimate) is very high...hot tubs or fish tanks??

SteveW7

Thanks, Shedman.  Yeah, the whole house is Electric, Oven, Hob and I work from home and the kids all have PC's etc etc.  Gas is only hot water and heating.  2 year deal is £700 a month so not really an option

Thinking about Solar Panels now too, although I am not sure how much that will save on my bill and whether the savings will offset the cost of the Panels

Shedman

That fix is around the April cap (although SC is a lot lower esp the electric) so you will save a bit over the variable tariff from April to Sept but come October I reckon you would very be pleased you did take it if the cap increases as expected.

Assuming a reasonably big house (4 bedrooms, 1800 sq ft ish) then your gas doesn't look too out of kilter, but I think you need to do some monitoring of electric and try and cut that back.  For example does everyone leave their PCs on when not using them or do they at least put them in sleep mode.  Might be worth investing in an energy monitoring plug and monitor different appliances usage for a few hours or a day ...you might be surprised, I use a energy monitoring smartplug TP Link Kasa KP115 which I think is still available for about £20 or there's TP-Link Tapo P110 for £15.  The advantage of a energy monitoring smart plug is you can view the usage on the app and even remotely (as well as switching the power off on a device should you want you...ummm kids and power usage 🤔😅).  I would also recommend an Ipad/Iphone app called WATT as this will give you real time data (as well as the usage over various periods) so you can see straightaway the difference say when a PC is on or when its in standby.

jimexbox

Looks a good deal. My house is occupied all days, kids with pc's and game consoles. Gas is similar to yours, slightly lower, which hopefully we've reduced usage over the last few months.

Your electricity usage is nearly double mine. I would definitely be looking at savings there. 

EssexHebridean

That's a cracking fix - but I'd still say that's a hugely high amount of electricity you're using! We use electric for everything aside from cooking, and use just over half of your annual consumption per year. I suspect your house is a fair bit bigger than ours, but even then, there's really no logical reason to be using that much in a year! 

If it were me, I'd have their hand off for that fix, and then start really getting to grips with how much of a saving can be made by simply reducing use. 

SteveW7

Shedman said:

That fix is around the April cap (although SC is a lot lower esp the electric) so you will save a bit over the variable tariff from April to Sept but come October I reckon you would very be pleased you did take it if the cap increases as expected.

Assuming a reasonably big house (4 bedrooms, 1800 sq ft ish) then your gas doesn't look too out of kilter, but I think you need to do some monitoring of electric and try and cut that back.  For example does everyone leave their PCs on when not using them or do they at least put them in sleep mode.  Might be worth investing in an energy monitoring plug and monitor different appliances usage for a few hours or a day ...you might be surprised, I use a energy monitoring smartplug TP Link Kasa KP115 which I think is still available for about £20 or there's TP-Link Tapo P110 for £15.  The advantage of a energy monitoring smart plug is you can view the usage on the app and even remotely (as well as switching the power off on a device should you want you...ummm kids and power usage 🤔😅).  I would also recommend an Ipad/Iphone app called WATT as this will give you real time data (as well as the usage over various periods) so you can see straightaway the difference say when a PC is on or when its in standby.

Thanks, will definitely look into the energy monitoring.  We have a 5-bed house and kids from 22 down to 3, so always someone watching TV or playing on a PC, or Working on PC and if not then charging a phone or tablet.  Not sure what we could do tbh but yes would be interesting to find out what are the largest elec consumption points

AAW2233

I too have been offered the Exclusive April 2023 B2, checked about half an hour ago and it’s been withdrawn, you best check if it’s still being offered to you, looks like I’ve missed out as I dillied and dallied to long thinking about it 🥲

SteveW7

Yeah it's gone for me now too!!! - not sure what to do as the next fixed is coming it at £690!!

AAW2233

Not much we can do, I’ll check again in the morning as I had a blip like this last year, thought I’d missed out but then the next day the exclusive tariff was back again, if it’s too late then I’ll just have to go on the SVR from 1/5/2022 then hope things settle down otherwise where knackered come Oct 22😏