Changing supplier

Cheryl79

Hi everyone. I’m hoping you can give me some advice. 

I’m currently with edf for both gas and electric but my tariff comes to an end in June. I’m currently paying £185 and they’re saying I can get a fixed rate of 224 until 2024. If I don’t do anything they’ll put me on an expensive standard rate. If I leave it’s £150 per fuel to end my contract. 

I’m a single income family with 3 dependents so I need the security of my bills not going up. But I don’t know what to do!!! Am I better if sticking to standard tariff, moving to fixed or risk another £300 and find another company?
im currently contemplating candles and bbqs for eternity to be honest!

Gerry1

If you do nothing you'll be put on the Standard Variable Tariff, the rates and daily charges for which are capped.  Most people think that's the best option at the moment although nobody knows what will happen in October.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/-are-there-any-cheap--fixed-energy-deals-currently-worth-it--/

BTW, don't compare DD rates because they can be misleading: always compare annual costs based on actual kWh usage derived from actual meter readings, never estimated ones.

pochase

Cheryl79 said:

Hi everyone. I’m hoping you can give me some advice. 

I’m currently with edf for both gas and electric but my tariff comes to an end in June. I’m currently paying £185 and they’re saying I can get a fixed rate of 224 until 2024. If I don’t do anything they’ll put me on an expensive standard rate. If I leave it’s £150 per fuel to end my contract. 

I’m a single income family with 3 dependents so I need the security of my bills not going up. But I don’t know what to do!!! Am I better if sticking to standard tariff, moving to fixed or risk another £300 and find another company?
im currently contemplating candles and bbqs for eternity to be honest!

You got that wrong, the standard tariff is not the most expensive one, it will currently be the cheapest you can get, but yes it is very expensive, especially coming off a cheap fixed tariff.

You don't get a fixed rate of £224, you get fixed unit rates and you are paying for however much energy you use.

For most people coming off a good fix electricity cost will double, gas will treble. So without getting more information from you, you are more looking at your cost doubling if you are lucky on SVT.

If the 185 would have been the old SVT, you would already be looking at £270 plus based on the "54%" increase.

This sounds like they are giving you an direct debit quote based on an estimate well below your real use.

What are your current rates and what was your energy use for the last 12 months in KWh? What is the the rate that has been offered you on the fixed rate. And are you you currently in credit or debt?

Changing supplier is not an option, the only two companies currently taking on new customers on SVT are Octopus and EDF, and the prices are the same everywhere anyway.

The two year fixed rate should be in the region of almost 34p for electricity and 9.4p for gas from information a user gave today.. SVT will be in 28p to 29p depending on region and 7.3p for gas.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

Cheryl79 said:

I’m currently with edf for both gas and electric but my tariff comes to an end in June. I’m currently paying £185 and they’re saying I can get a fixed rate of 224 until 2024. If I don’t do anything they’ll put me on an expensive standard rate. If I leave it’s £150 per fuel to end my contract.

To the best of my knowledge (and the rest of the forum's), EDF do not currently have a fixed tariff on offer that is cheaper than their standard variable one. I'm a little confused by your reference to an "expensive standard rate".

What is the name of the new fixed-rate tariff they have offered you? Do you know the actual prices per kilowatt-hour and per day for each fuel, and can you share them with us here?

Cheryl79

Thank you. 

“Our Standard (Variable) tariff is the cheapest we can offer. Although prices for this are almost certain to go up again in October.

You'll move to Standard (Variable) on 1 July 2022.

Or you can fix your prices up to 31 May 2024

If you'd prefer to fix your prices, we have an exclusive tariff just for you.It's the cheapest fixed deal we have at this time, if you want the certainty that comes with a long-term fixed tariff.

See how costs compare in the table below. If you're happy to move to Fix Total Service May24v4, click below and you're all done.

There's a £150 exit fee per fuel. We'll send you everything you need to know on your new tariff. If it's not right for you, there's a 14-day cooling off period.“

My tariff would be 38.14p/kWh electric and 9.075p for gas for fixed rate or 31.56p electric and 7.280p gas for standard so I must have miss read and that standard was higher price than fixed. 

QrizB

Cheryl79 said:

My tariff would be 38.14p/kWh electric and 9.075p for gas for fixed rate or 31.56p electric and 7.280p gas for standard so I must have miss read and that standard was higher price than fixed. 

It's easily done!

If the daily standing charges are the same for each fuel on both tariffs, the fixed rate they've offered is almost 21% higher for electricity and almost 25% higher for gas.

While there's always the chance of something unexpected happening (an alien invasion, a zombie uprising, the UK winning Eurovision) I would be surprised if this winter's variable prices were high enough to make it worth taking that fix.

The fix is all the way to May 2024 but I don't think anyone is willing to stick their neck out and say what might happen to energy prices next year.

pochase

31.56p for electric on SVT is to high.

The fixed rate is to high, stay with the SVT, There is no sense in changing the supplier if you stick with the SVT.

You did not say what you current rate is, From the old DD of £185 you are a high energy user and will need to look out for ways to reduce your usage.

If you want more details you will need to give the usage figures I asked about and if you are currently in debt or credit.

bristolleedsfan

pochase said:

31.56p for electric on SVT is to high.

Might be cash/cheque method of payment rate even though E/G figures combination mentioned do not match any region
https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/r505_deemed_rate_card.pdf

Gerry1

bristolleedsfan said:

pochase said:

31.56p for electric on SVT is to high.

Might be cash/cheque method of payment rate even though E/G figures combination mentioned do not match any region
https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/r505_deemed_rate_card.pdf

The rates match up for Yorkshire on Direct Debit for E7 but the OP hasn't mentioned the E7 night rate.  E7 may not be the best choice because the OP has gas.

pochase

Gerry1 said:

bristolleedsfan said:

pochase said:

31.56p for electric on SVT is to high.

Might be cash/cheque method of payment rate even though E/G figures combination mentioned do not match any region
https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/r505_deemed_rate_card.pdf

The rates match up for Yorkshire on Direct Debit for E7 but the OP hasn't mentioned the E7 night rate.  E7 may not be the best choice because the OP has gas.

This might be one of the reasons for the high energy cost on a fixed rate.

@Cheryl79 can you please give the additional details I asked for and confirm if you have a E7 tariff with different rates for day and night. As @Gerry1 is saying it is very likely you are paying to much if you are heating with gas and still have E7. There are very few scenarios where it would be beneficial, e.g. an EV.

Cheryl79

Ok, so I was paying £65 a month and it went up to £165 because of the rises, not because of using too much. And my March bill says I’m £540 in credit but this includes the warmer Home discount of £133.33

I currently pay 16.14p day rate and 9.29p night rate electric and 2.455p gas. 

I think that’s everything.