Do I fix now or not ? - British Gas electric only

myozone

I've just had an email from British Gas offering a fix tariff for a year. I use oil for heating so no option for gas. I use around 2100 kWh PA from meter readings 

The offer is :- 

Standing charge: 58.475p per day 

Unit rate: 33.236p per kWh 

I currently pay :- 

Standing charge: 51.626p per day 

Unit rate: 28.408p per kWh 

Do I fix for a year or not ? ?

Thanks

Dave.

brewerdave

If you think that the Oct. increase is going to be more than 22% AND the prices are going to increase further next April, then it's (just about) worth doing ! I'm in the same quandary albeit with higher usage.

Alnat1

How much if you want to get out of it?

OldScientist

No doubt a lot of calculator/spreadsheet action after this email arrived (well, there was on my computer). For me the breakeven point between my current tariff and the offered tariff was a rise of 38% in October (I'm assuming prices stay the same in April - the current prediction by the moneysavingexpert team appears to suggest a slight drop), so, since the best guess is a rise of just over 30% in October, then I'm probably not going to take BG up on their offer. Hopefully, I won't come to regret that decision!

pinkteapot

I have the same question with Eon! Fix ending, been paying £41/month and account is about right (no major credit/debit). Being offered £69/month variable or £90/month to fix for 12 months. No idea what's best. 

Annual cost of variable at its current price = £838. 
Annual cost of fixed = £1091. 

So £838 plus 30% is about the same as the fixed, and on the variable the first few months would be cheaper till October... So I guess by the same logic as OldScientist variable is better? But it depends what happens in October. 

Mstty

pinkteapot said:

I have the same question with Eon! Fix ending, been paying £41/month and account is about right (no major credit/debit). Being offered £69/month variable or £90/month to fix for 12 months. No idea what's best. 

Annual cost of variable at its current price = £838. 
Annual cost of fixed = £1091. 

So £838 plus 30% is about the same as the fixed, and on the variable the first few months would be cheaper till October... So I guess by the same logic as OldScientist variable is better? But it depends what happens in October. 

Hi there, the thing is direct debit amounts don't actually give a clear picture it is your kWh usage for the year and the price they are offering per kWh and standing charges.

[Deleted User]

myozone said:

I've just had an email from British Gas offering a fix tariff for a year. I use oil for heating so no option for gas. I use around 2100 kWh PA from meter readings 

The offer is :- 

Standing charge: 58.475p per day 

Unit rate: 33.236p per kWh 

I currently pay :- 

Standing charge: 51.626p per day 

Unit rate: 28.408p per kWh

Hi,

I currently pay :- 

Standing charge: 51.626p per day x 365 = £188.44

Unit rate: 28.408p per kWh x 2100 = £596.57

                                                             Total £785.01

The offer is :- 

Standing charge: 58.475p per day X 365 = £213.43

Unit rate: 33.236p per kWh X 2100 = £697.96

                                                              Total £911.39

So if usage stays the same an increase of £126.38 or £10.53 a month.

Monthly DD on £911.39 should be £76.00

CRISPIANNE3

frugalmacdugal said:

myozone said:

I've just had an email from British Gas offering a fix tariff for a year. I use oil for heating so no option for gas. I use around 2100 kWh PA from meter readings 

The offer is :- 

Standing charge: 58.475p per day 

Unit rate: 33.236p per kWh 

I currently pay :- 

Standing charge: 51.626p per day 

Unit rate: 28.408p per kWh

Hi,

I currently pay :- 

Standing charge: 51.626p per day x 365 = £188.44

Unit rate: 28.408p per kWh x 2100 = £596.57

                                                             Total £785.01

The offer is :- 

Standing charge: 58.475p per day X 365 = £213.43

Unit rate: 33.236p per kWh X 2100 = £697.96

                                                              Total £911.39

So if usage stays the same an increase of £126.38 or £10.53 a month.

Monthly DD on £911.39 should be £76.00

I had the same offer and this would make a difference of about £12.00 a month. Also I pay by variable dd and that way I have more control over the amounts going out each month. 

myozone

Sorry folks I should have checked in sooner. There's a £75 exit fee BG charge on this one year fix. 

Martin mentioned about fixing if the difference was less than 25%, the above is around 16% but only for one fuel, electricity. I think I'll see what happens in the next few days.

I'm not too worried about the DD amounts just the price per kWh and standing charge. I read my meter weekly and also it's read by Node-red counting the LED flashing on the meter, that's graphed etc.

It's really annoying having to keep a very close eye on wholesale prices all the time.

myozone

I've just decided to switch to the British Gas Exclusive May 23v1 fixed one year tariff above. I have 14 days to change my mind !

Sounds like it might be a wise idea given the news again today - but who knows for sure though ...

What are other people doing ? have you switched if so, who to ?

locky123

I think the BG May23v1 fixed electric offer to those who moved to them as SOLR at about 32.2p per kWh seems reasonable based on current info and I have also just signed up,