Economy 7 and the Price Cap

kernowalan

As an all electric house (no gas available), the price cap increases by Utility Warehouse have been catastrophic. We use over 80% of units at night and the night unit rate has gone from 7p to 18p approx.. How can this square with the average 54% allowed by OFGEN?
Am I suspecting a conspiracy here for suppliers to cash in on those wealthy enough to buy an electric car and/or a storage battery?
Lack of gas is very common in many regions of rural deprivation and these swinging increases will increase the numbers in fuel poverty, especially as electricity is already about four times more expensive per kwh compared to gas while electric users pay green levies which gas users do not.
Only electricity can be carbon free.Wind and nuclear power supply continues at night yet suppliers will drive consumers away from time of use tariffs and pay generators to not produce. Whatever happened to the Government drive to be carbon neutral!

MattMattMattUK

kernowalan said:

As an all electric house (no gas available), the price cap increases by Utility Warehouse have been catastrophic. We use over 80% of units at night and the night unit rate has gone from 7p to 18p approx.. How can this square with the average 54% allowed by OFGEN?
Am I suspecting a conspiracy here for suppliers to cash in on those wealthy enough to buy an electric car and/or a storage battery?
Lack of gas is very common in many regions of rural deprivation and these swinging increases will increase the numbers in fuel poverty, especially as electricity is already about four times more expensive per kwh compared to gas while electric users pay green levies which gas users do not.
Only electricity can be carbon free.Wind and nuclear power supply continues at night yet suppliers will drive consumers away from time of use tariffs and pay generators to not produce. Whatever happened to the Government drive to be carbon neutral!

There is no conspiracy. The price rises are not defined by a percentage. The rates the energy providers can charge are set by Ofgem, different suppliers use different day/night price splits to arrive at the price cap.

QrizB

kernowalan said:

As an all electric house (no gas available), the price cap increases by Utility Warehouse have been catastrophic. We use over 80% of units at night and the night unit rate has gone from 7p to 18p approx.. How can this square with the average 54% allowed by OFGEN?

For an explanation of how the cap works, see here. You'll also want to read this post which explains its application to E7 and similar multi-rate tariffs.

Utility Warehouse had an unusually low E7 off-peak tariff. It's now closer to the rest of the market (but still cheaper than most).

Am I suspecting a conspiracy here for suppliers to cash in on those wealthy enough to buy an electric car and/or a storage battery?

No conspiracy, you've just enjoyed and unusually-cheap offpeak rate for a while. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Lack of gas is very common in many regions of rural deprivation...

Judging from your user name, you're living in Cornwall. The major towns are all served by mains gas. Have you thought about moving house?

Gerry1

Do the sums for E7 with EDF and Octopus.  They have been accepting new customers on the Standard Variable Tariff but only if you call them.  Seems you may have to try more than once with Octopus.