Compare fixed energy plan with price cap

Britsmiles

Hi, i am wondering whether now is the time to  consider a fixed price energy plan.  I have all the figures for what we are currently paying with no plan ; electric, gas and standing charges. Do I use all those figures as a total when comparing with a fixed plan? Thank you!

Mstty

Welcome to the forum,

kWh you use a year is the figure you need and the ability to use a spreadsheet or calculator 👍

Britsmiles

Thank you. I don't have a full year of accurate figures.  Can't I just compare the gas and electricity tariff rates (... and standing charges?)

Mstty

What have you got what was your start day readings(and date) and what are they today. 👍

QrizB

Britsmiles said:

Thank you. I don't have a full year of accurate figures.  Can't I just compare the gas and electricity tariff rates (... and standing charges?)

The problem is that you have two standing charges and two (or three, or more) unit rates, and they all change independently. Without a reasonable idea of your household consumption it's hard to model the effect of any changes.

Which supplier are you with? Do they have a tariff listed on MSE's page here?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/-are-there-any-cheap--fixed-energy-deals-currently-worth-it--/

Britsmiles

We are with OVO.  I have got a rough idea now,  I think,  of what our annual consumption will be.  Now what do I do with all the figures?  Thank you.  I've not had to deal with this before.

QrizB

Energy bills are made up of two parts; a daily standing charge and a price per kWh for the energy itself.

Your annual bill is 365 times the daily charge plus however-many-times the kWh cost.

Made-up example: you have a tariff that's 50p/day plus 30p/kWh, and you use 2000kWh per year. The annual cost will be (365 x 50) + (2000 x 30) which equals 78250 pence - or £782.50.

Do that same calculation for your current tariff, and for the one you have been offered, for each fuel. Then compare the results.

victor2

Britsmiles said:

We are with OVO.  I have got a rough idea now,  I think,  of what our annual consumption will be.  Now what do I do with all the figures?  Thank you.  I've not had to deal with this before.

Once you've got as good an idea as you can get of your previous annual usage of each utility in kWh (not gas usage in m3 or HCF), you have to do a bit of arithmetic...

Get the standing charge and rate per kWh for each fuel from each tariff you want to compare.

For each fuel:

Multiply the daily standing charge by 365

Multiply the annual kWH by the rate.

Add the results together (for both fuels).

Divide by 100 to get it to pounds.

If VAT is NOT included in the rates, multiply the answer by 1.05 to add 5% VAT.

Divide by 12 to get what the monthly cost (your DD) would be if the rates don't change and your usage is the same as your history shows.

Obviously this will not work for the standard variable rate, which will increase in October, but it's a start.

You can then look at what a general percentage increase in costs would do to your direct debit.

With a gas centrally heated house, electricity usage doesn't tend to vary a lot betweem summer and winter, but the gas usage is obviously very seasonal. With the rates going up in October, that will coincide with people using gas heating more, so the financial impact will be higher than the percentage increase in tariffs may suggest.

Britsmiles

Thank you so much.  I really appreciate the help.

Cookiemonster57

Hi, I am currently with EDF on SVT (transferred when Utility Point went bust) I was paying £99 per month for dual fuel but I've increased the payments to £150 per month. EDF estimate my payments would be £137 monthly.
Annual usage
electric 2871  28.02p per kwh standing 42.25p
Gas 15,788  7.343p per kwh standing 27.22p
I had an email this morning from the energy saving club suggesting the following fix

Working out at 
Electric 39.51p per kwh
Gas 11.587p per kwh
Is it best to fix for the 2 years? I'm a bit wary of the £300 exit fee. Can someone please advise. Thank you.

pochase

@Cookiemonster57

Somehow the estimate from EDF does not match the calculated average monthly cost from your annual usage, which requires a payment of £185 not £137. Are the usage figures correct or are they estimates, and if estimates are they the same ones EDF used for their calculation? Same for fixed rate.

From your usage figure:



Increase is 45% so very much borderline and depends how much you would be paying more in the next months, and how important it is for you to know what you will be paying.

Fact is that if your usage figures are correct you will be paying a lot more than EDF has in their quote.