Energy price cap to rise to £2,800 in October: OFGEM Chief Exec

Mstty

@Effician 2.3-2.5kWh a day? Yes I can understand why you would increase your usage should their be no SC

Ultrasonic

Effician said:

Ultrasonic said:

Effician said:

Undisputedtruth said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Outlawing standing charges would be idiotic as it would mean that the network costs would need to be recouped elsewhere, so additional unit rates, it would also mean that medium and higher users would be subsiding lower users which makes no sense either. 

Outlawing standing charges will give the consumer the incentive to become more energy efficient while standing charge act as a disincentive.

As a very low user i would use extra electric if there was no standing charge,  i've actually become more efficient with my energy because of it.

Sorry, I don't follow. Why would you use extra electricity if there was no standing charge?

I work to a budget , not a kwh limit.  at the current svr  the aim is for £36/ month ( electric only) , whilst this is not too restricting an extra bit of electric would allow some extra options.

Edited to add, we do use a log burner for free heating .

With you now. Unit prices are higher with low/no standing charge to complicate the comparison but I can see you could use more energy if are working to a limit. 

Effician

Mstty said:

@Effician 2.3-2.5kWh a day? Yes I can understand why you would increase your usage should their be no SC

We're on E7 so we average out at about 2.8- 3kwh / day , it's amazing though how much you can do with that little energy.

Benny2020

Got my usage from the grid down to 1.6 kwh a day currently but i do have solar panels.

Mstty

Not really relevent then, as most that are going to struggle with the October price cap won't be able to afford Solar panels and reduce their usage like you do in the summer months.

Ultrasonic

Effician said:

Mstty said:

@Effician 2.3-2.5kWh a day? Yes I can understand why you would increase your usage should their be no SC

We're on E7 so we average out at about 2.8- 3kwh / day , it's amazing though how much you can do with that little energy.

Right now or averaged over the year and including heating? The latter would seem a bit hard to believe...

Chrysalis

So they still quoting this average usage nonsense.

Given the live cost graphs I have looked at, most havent shown a 50% rise since April.

I think the question is going to eventually be raised, which is more important, keeping the companies happy, protecting them, or making sure consumers can eat and heat at the same time? The two are clashing.

Effician

Ultrasonic said:

Effician said:

Mstty said:

@Effician 2.3-2.5kWh a day? Yes I can understand why you would increase your usage should their be no SC

We're on E7 so we average out at about 2.8- 3kwh / day , it's amazing though how much you can do with that little energy.

Right now or averaged over the year and including heating? The latter would seem a bit hard to believe...

As i mentioned earlier the log burner provides all the free heating we need, yes the 3kwh per day is achievable in winter , all the hot water we need ( not the average person) is free due to the stove , also cook meals on the stove if we feel inclined, the 15' poly tunnel allows us to air dry washing in winter, all led lighting,  efficient newish tv's  fridge & chest freezer,  induction hob is cheap to run etc etc.

So many tweaks to usage patterns & very low baseload all make a difference .

Ultrasonic

Chrysalis said:

I think the question is going to eventually be raised, which is more important, keeping the companies happy, protecting them, or making sure consumers can eat and heat at the same time? The two are clashing.

We need to be careful to distinguish between companies going bust and 'being happy'. The former matters to consumers and needs to be considered.

Some consumers are being pushed to the extreme of the eat/heat nightmare that the benefits system needs to support. For huge numbers of people I think it's much more a question of focusing on cutting energy use (good for the environment too!) and reducing other expenditure. 

QrizB

This is an interesting video where the presenter makes the case that we should be paying less for our gas at this moment in time.

Some of us *are* paying less for our gas.
People who want a tariff that tracks the wholesale price up and down can join Octopus and choose their Tracker tariffs. Most people however seem to prefer paying the same price every day.

I have tenants that can afford to put on £15 a week. One example is a single mum that has been regularly beaten by her previous boyfriend and she has two children. Living on benefits. No parents to turn to for help.
So what do we do for her?

You could reduce her rent, it's entirely in your gift to do so.

(I have tenants and I waived their rent for three months during 2020 when they couldn't work due to lockdown.)

Does appendix A give you any clues as to why the Ofgem prediction is so different from yours?

Ofgem seem to think wholesale prices for May/June.July will continue to be as high as they were in April. The figures I'm using suggest otherwise. We won't know until the October cap is published in August.

However the statement in the letter:

... forward prices for this winter, which the level of the next price cap is based upon, have continued to be exceptionally high and volatile.

... seems, if taken at at face value, to be at odds with the declared method of calculating the cap which is that it relates to prices that applied during February to July. Prices for the coming winter shouldn't really come into it, at least not in October. (When the new January cap is announced, of course, that's another matter, and next April could be unpleasant too.)