EDF 24 fix or variable?

1Sparkle

Currently with EDF on June22 deal paying £114 per month but this is ending now. They have said pay £237.93 for standard variable over 100% more or pay £299.21 to transfer to 24 fix. Both are way too much. Worried that variable will then increase to more than the fix but should I stay with this and work hard to reduce my use of electricity and gas? Is it possible to get my consumption right down or should I fix and figure how to earn another £200? 

Alnat1

Have you got actual records of your annual usage for both fuels. If so, post them here with details of the tariffs you've been offered and someone will do the maths and work out what your payments need to be each month.

pochase

Reducing your energy use is not a decision between variable or fixed tariff. Remember fixed does not mean your monthly bill is fixed, it means that just the unit rates are fixed.

It seems you are using more than the average the cap is based on, but just from the estimated usage we cannot say that for sure as it might be different from the real usage.

You can get your usage down a lot if you want to, the question is just how much are you prepared to sacrifice in comfort for the savings. There will be some easy savings to be made by just being more considerate in energy use, but that only goes to a certain point, thereafter it would mean to stop things like using a TV, reduce heating to the point that you will be no longer comfortable. Just being more conscious about the energy use and for example reduce the heating to 18 or 19 degrees will already go a long way. You will find a lot of tips how you can save energy in this forum.

From just the direct debit amounts nobody will be able to tell you anything. You need to give us your energy use for the last 12 months in KWh, and the tariff offered to you for SVT and fixed.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

It would be helpful if you could tell us your typical annual consumption, in kWh, for each of gas and electricity. If you don't have your own records of this, there will be "estimated annual consumption" figures on your latest bill.

It would also be useful to know the details of the EDF fixed-rate tariff, in pence per day and pence per kWh, for each fuel.

1Sparkle said:

Currently with EDF on June22 deal paying £114 per month but this is ending now. They have said pay £237.93 for standard variable over 100% more or pay £299.21 to transfer to 24 fix. Both are way too much.

If both are way too much, you're going to have to look at other ways to reduce your bill.

Worried that variable will then increase to more than the fix but should I stay with this and work hard to reduce my use of electricity and gas?

Variable is expected to increase in October. Ofgem are anticipating a 40% rise, which could turn £237.93 into £333.10.
Reducing your use will definitely help and from the sounds of it you're currently using more than the average household does.

Is it possible to get my consumption right down or should I fix and figure how to earn another £200? 

There are people on this forum with dual-fuel bills under £100 per month, even on the current variable tariffs. You might not want to go quite as far as they have but I would expect there to be plenty of scope for you to reduce your consumption from the current levels.
Could you give a bit more information about you circumstances; which region you live in, basic details of your home (size, age, house/flat/etc) and household (how many adults/kids, working/retired, that sort of thing)?

The_Fat_Controller

I am in exactly the same situation with EDF although my usage is lower.

@1Sparkle your increases look perfectly in line with the ending of your current fix and the move to SV or a 2024 fix.

As the fix is only 26% above a move to SV and a predicted 40% rise in the price cap coming in October 2022, it may be a winner according to the latest Martin Lewis thinking.

However, where prices go beyond the end of 2022 is still a lottery.

EDIT : Please also see this topic.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6360956/edf-existing-customer-offer-fix-total-service-may24v4-should-i-take-it-over-variable#latest

1Sparkle

Thank you. This is what EDF said about the standard variable tariff:
And for the fixed May 24 tariff which has gone up again they said:

QrizB

Two things leap out at me from those screenshots:

1. You're using roughly 2/3rds more electricity, and 1/2 more gas, than the average. Is there a good reason for this? You might be able to reduce it substantially. Those details of your house and household would be helpful.
2. EDF's 2-year fixed tariff, with gas under 10p/kWh and electricity under 34p/kWh, is cheaper than would be expected this winter if Ofgem's anticipated 40% rise happens (which would put gas around 11p/kWh and electricity around 40p/kWh).
   

1Sparkle

Thanks to everyone. I live in County Durham. It’s an extended 1962 semi detached. One bathroom, quite large windows, 3 adults and 1 nearly adult. Have a combo boiler (over 15 years old) that I currently can’t afford to replace. 

Mstty

I concur with @QrizB comments above and would add

As a household we didn't look at energy saving until Symbio went bust as energy was cheap and easily affordable.each month.

As you are coming off a fix you are getting the sort of shock we had with the added shock or a potential massive rise in October if you don't fix.

Energy saving is a household sport it needs everyone in the house to buy in and start saving money. 

Reduce the hot water temp, look at how you heat your water, reduce electrical usage an turn things off at the plug when not in use. Just a few examples and lots.more.thungs you can try. 

QrizB

1Sparkle said:

Thanks to everyone. I live in County Durham. It’s an extended 1962 semi detached. One bathroom, quite large windows, 3 adults and 1 nearly adult. Have a combo boiler (over 15 years old) that I currently can’t afford to replace. 

OK, sounds as though you're all in the age range where "put another jumper on" is likely to work. Also, 15 years isn't ancient for a boiler and (assuming it's not actually broken) you wouldn't gain much by replacing it.

I guess your heating is off now, but when it was on what temperature did you have the thermostat set to?

Do you have a smart meter with a working in-home display? It might make it easier to work out where all your energy is going.

You can try taking regular meter readings, potentially every day for a few days, to see what's what. At this time of year you should be aiming to use less than, I guess, 6kWh of electricity and 1 cubic metre / 11mWh of gas per day.

pochase

Fixed electricity rate is 19.42% and gas is 24.96% higher than the current SVT.

It should benefit you to fix at the current estimates of a 40% cap increase. You will be paying £168 more for the first three month compared to the SVT, that is £56 per month, but going from the latest Cornwall-Insights estimates 




based on your estimated usage you might be in the region of an annual cost of £4600.

Of course nobody knows what will happen between now and October and what the real increase will be.

Edit
Do the estimates match your real usage?