First home - Annual Usage and fixing tariff

Firsttimebuyer2021

Hi, Iv been offered the Jul 23V2 tariff however I have difficulty comparing if it’s a good choice or not as I only have 2 months usage (First time home owner). 

March-April usage;
Gas - 727kWh and Elec - 130kWh
April-May usage;
Gas - 439kWH and Elec - 111kWh

Current rates are;
Gas Unit - 7.27p kWh
Gas Standing - 32.03p per day
Elec Unit - 29.32p kWh
Elec Standing - 55.69p per day

New rates are;
Gas Unit - 10.89p kWh
Gas standing - 35.47p per day
Elec Unit - 38.13p kWh
Elec Standing - 61.87p per day 

Any advice please? 

QrizB

Firsttimebuyer2021 said:

Any advice please? 

Your standing charges are unusually high. Are you paying by cash/cheque on receipt of bill rather than by Direct Debit? DD payment is significantly cheaper.

On the face of it, the variable tariff you've been offered works out as £2043/yr for Ofgem's typical user and the fix as £2768/yr, which is an increase of 35.5%. MSE are suggesting that fixed tariffs that are less than 40% above the variable rate are worth considering, and by that measure yours could be worth it.

Firsttimebuyer2021

@QrizB Yes we pay on receipt of the monthly bill and then receive 1% Cash back through Chase. Is there a way I can see the charges for swapping to a DD before doing so? Are the charges also lower if I do a DD for the monthly usage so I only pay for what’s used? Thank you! 

QrizB

Firsttimebuyer2021 said:

@QrizB Yes we pay on receipt of the monthly bill and then receive 1% Cash back through Chase. Is there a way I can see the charges for swapping to a DD before doing so? Are the charges also lower if I do a DD for the monthly usage so I only pay for what’s used? Thank you! 

For Ofgem's average customer the difference between the DD cap and the cash/cheque cap is about £120. It seems unlikely that you will recover this much through Chase cashback.

If you follow this link:
https://www.britishgas.co.uk/GetAQuote/tariff-information

... you can enter your postcode and then look up the cash, DD and prepayment versions of your tariffs.

As far as I know the DD tariff is the same whether you pay the exact billed amount monthly or pay 1/12 of your estimated annual usage monthly, but it's years since I was with BG so there might be some wrinkles.

Firsttimebuyer2021

@QrizB Thank you for the link, Just went on and had a look and we are paying extra. Currently on the online chat and going to ask for the fixed tariff with a variable DD if they would do that. 

Thank you very much! 

Gerry1

Firsttimebuyer2021 said:

@QrizB Thank you for the link, Just went on and had a look and we are paying extra. Currently on the online chat and going to ask for the fixed tariff with a variable DD if they would do that. 

Thank you very much! 

If you're with British Gas it's called Quarterly Variable Direct Debit.  The kWh rates and standing charges will be the same, but you'll get some big bills in the winter.

Send monthly readings and do the sums because quarterly billing means that there's little warning if your usage is much higher than expected, and by then it's probably too late to do much about it.

Firsttimebuyer2021

@Gerry1 We currently have a savings account set up that we are paying £300 a month into as we are on pay on receipt the now anyway. We then pay the bill from the savings account and what ever is left will roll over. I will make sure to check meter readings every month 

Firsttimebuyer2021

@QrizB @Gerry1 Update - The tariff offered was the same as quoted above. I found a tariff through your link under the Direct Debit section and the tariff then looks like; 

Gas unit - 10.498p kWH
Gas standing - 30.645p per day
Elec unit - 36.649p kWh
Elec standing - 55.811p per day

i asked about the difference and was told it shouldn’t matter how it’s paid the units should stay the same. Have I been advised wrong and try again with a different advisor or am I just being daft? 

Gerry1

I think you'll find the kWh and standing charge rates will almost certainly be the same for either flavour of DD, but paying manually on receipt of bill will cost more.

However, I couldn't find plain 'Jul 23V2' in the list.  What's the exact name of the tariff you were offered?

Remember that the rates very regionally so make sure the website and chat agent are referring to the same region.

Firsttimebuyer2021

@Gerry1 Sorry apologies, the tariff name is actually Exclusive Jul 23v2.

When I type in my postcode, select Gas and electric and then Direct Debit the Exclusive 23v2 tariff shows as follows;
Gas unit - 10.498p kWH
Gas standing - 30.645p per day
Elec unit - 36.649p kWh
Elec standing - 55.811p per day

Doing the same but selecting the Quarterly cash or cheque the tariff shows as follows;

Gas Unit - 10.890p kWh
Gas standing - 35.457p per day
Elec Unit - 38.132p kWh
Elec Standing - 61.860p per day 

Gerry1

Yes, that's what I'd expect, paying manually by cash / cheque is usually more expensive with all suppliers.