Fixed rate deal

BERK90882X

Hi, Im new to this Please bear with me.
yesterday British Gas offered me a fixed rate deal "fix july 23 v1"
gas unit price 10.57p per kWh and standing charge 31.329p per day.
electric 36.762p per kWh and standing charge 55.662p per day.
exit fees £75 each energy.
British Gas agent quoted me an approximate increase on the dual fuel monthly increase as £103 per month on what we pay now which is £132.
Do you think this deal is inkeeping with Martin's 32%.

pochase

Welcome to the forum.

If you pay currently £132 and the new deal is £103 more expensive that would be almost 80% increase of your monthly DD.

Are you currently still on a fixed tariff?

BERK90882X

Thanks for the reply, No now on standard variable since April 1st 

pochase

Sorry, but than this makes no sense at all, the numbers are completely wrong. I understand you that your current DD is £132 and the fixed rate would increase to £237 (by £105)?

What is your annual use in KWh for gas and electricity?

FiestaRed

Following this too. I had the same 'Offer' from British Gas this morning. 

Some time ago, MSE issued the message: "British Gas customers should DO NOTHING and ignore messages to one click switch to fixed tariffs" Does this still apply in today's market?

QrizB

FiestaRed said:

Some time ago, MSE issued the message: "British Gas customers should DO NOTHING and ignore messages to one click switch to fixed tariffs" Does this still apply in today's market?

No, there are BG tariffs that MSE recommend you think about taking. See this page for details (it's updated regularly):
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/-are-there-any-cheap--fixed-energy-deals-currently-worth-it--/

BERK90882X

Pochase,
B.G have predicted that we will use £1615 gas and £1211 electric for the year. This is what they have based our DD on. Im going to check what we used last year.
since this am i have calculated that based on the unit rates predicted the gas will be about 43% more and the electric will be about 32% more. Standing changes 16% extra. Any thoughts?

pochase

When you just calculate the unit rate increases the increases expected for October would be around 11.8p (60%) for gas and 42p (45%) for electricity with no or minimal increase to standing  charges.

That are very generic rates and don't cater for the difference in the regions, payment methods and the fact that nobody really knows what is going to happen.

Now we get to the problem of how is your energy use made up. Are you a low or a high energy user? Are you use a lot of gas or little electricity or the other way around.

Lets look at the following example using the an rate increase for gas of 60%, an annual standing charge of £100 with no increase.

For somebody who used gas for £100, he will now use gas for £160 (60% increase). His total gas bill will go from £200 to £260, that is an increase of 30%. Now take somebody who uses £400 of gas, which increases to £640. The increase for the used KWh is still 60%, but the total gas bill will increase from £500 to £740. That is now an increase of 48%.

So just based on the amount of KWh used the increase for gas is 30% or 48%. And the amount is calculated just usage in KWh by rate, I just kept it simple by just using a fixed amount that would normally be calculated.

That is why we always ask for the usage over the last 12 month for gas and electricity. Unfortunately there are no fixed percentages that you can easily compare. In theory what I have done here is what is done by comparing the direct debit amounts by the suppliers. Problem is that their estimates are far off the reality so you cannot really trust them in many cases.

BERK90882X

Thank you. I would say we are high usage, more gas than electric.
I have spoken to BG again today, after checking our 12months usage, i couldnt understand where they had the gas figures from. The electric i agreed with but i couldnt get the gas to their figure. Today agent checked and the usage prediction is now 12,000kWh for the year, equating to £1382. The electric still £1211, based on predicted use 2700kWh. This will make the DD monthly £211 for the deal fuel. This was the only tariff they could offer me. I think i will probably stay with it because octobers increase could mean more cost.

pochase

Here is the calculation with your usage.



The rates for the SVT will be slightly off as I don't know your region.

BERK90882X

Hi, Thank you for taking the trouble working all that out for me, much appreciated.
Since my last post, I've done a price comparison on U switch. There was only one provider that came in cheaper than the fix offered to me. It was a company I've never heard of, Utility Warehouse. I've decided that best to stay put with the fix offered, partly better the devil you know and partly, feel happier with the moderate certainty of knowing what energy payments are likely to be for the year. Thanks again.