Shall I fix

mikewill34

In the past 12 months I have used 6,820 kWh of electricity and 11,691 kWh of gas with payments of £154/month
My current fix ends mid september.

I have estimated my bills with the current price cap to be £3,133 per year (£261/month)
Then from october with an increase in the fuel price cap by 70% to be £5,326 per year (£443/month) .

If my calculations are correct the fixes I am being offered by OVO are taking the micky.

• 2 year fixed loyaly bundle £533/month (inc boiler cover)
• 1 year fixed smart £608/month
• 1 year fixed £530/month
• 2 year fixed - economy 7 £609/month
• Standard variable rate (SVR) £263/month

The last three fixes are "available for everyone"
The SVR matches my calculations for the current price cap.

Martin said "If you're offered a year's fix at no more than 70% above your current price-capped tariff, or 75% more if you very strongly value budgeting certainty, it's worth considering."
So I think my best bet is to go onto the standard variable rate and hope prices don't go up by more than the predcted 70%

Thoughts anyone.

Edit: Corrected fron 42% to 70% predicted increase in cap.

John_Philip_Howarth

mikewill34 said:

In the past 12 months I have used 6,820 kWh of electricity and 11,691 kWh of gas with payments of £154/month
My current fix ends mid september.

I have estimated my bills with the current price cap to be £3,133 (£261/month) and from october with an increase in the fuel price cap by 42% to be £4,448 (£370) per year.

If my calculations are correct the fixes I am being offered by OVO are taking the micky.

• 2 year fixed loyaly bundle £533/month (inc boiler cover)
• 1 year fixed smart £608/month
• 1 year fixed £530/month
• 2 year fixed - economy 7 £609/month
• Standard variable rate (SVR) £263/month

The last three fixes are "available for everyone"
The SVR matches my calculations for the current price cap.

Martin said "If you're offered a year's fix at no more than 70% above your current price-capped tariff"
So I think my best bet is to go onto the standard variable rate and hope prices don't go up by more than the predcted 42%

Thoughts anyone

I am intigried by your usage. We have used 1825 KWh of electricity and 18360 KWh of gas in the past 12 months. Either your electric is very high or my gas is very high
 We only use a gas fire in the Winter months and rarely have the central heating on although we are home all the time (retired)

mikewill34

Screenshot from my online account, just to prove it's not a typo

pochase

What unit rates are offered on the fixed tariff? What are the unit rates for the SVT in your area?

I am getting slightly different figures, for the current SVT due to unit rates and for the predicted SVT mainly due to the fact that the increases for gas and electricity are very different (almost 100% for gas).


So your monthly cost will be much higher than you calculated, going up in January and April even more, but still the DD for the fixed tariff seems to be much higher.

Please give the rates offered so we can have a closer look.

pochase

John_Philip_Howarth said:

mikewill34 said:

In the past 12 months I have used 6,820 kWh of electricity and 11,691 kWh of gas with payments of £154/month
My current fix ends mid september.

I have estimated my bills with the current price cap to be £3,133 (£261/month) and from october with an increase in the fuel price cap by 42% to be £4,448 (£370) per year.

If my calculations are correct the fixes I am being offered by OVO are taking the micky.

• 2 year fixed loyaly bundle £533/month (inc boiler cover)
• 1 year fixed smart £608/month
• 1 year fixed £530/month
• 2 year fixed - economy 7 £609/month
• Standard variable rate (SVR) £263/month

The last three fixes are "available for everyone"
The SVR matches my calculations for the current price cap.

Martin said "If you're offered a year's fix at no more than 70% above your current price-capped tariff"
So I think my best bet is to go onto the standard variable rate and hope prices don't go up by more than the predcted 42%

Thoughts anyone

I am intigried by your usage. We have used 1825 KWh of electricity and 18360 KWh of gas in the past 12 months. Either your electric is very high or my gas is very high
 We only use a gas fire in the Winter months and rarely have the central heating on although we are home all the time (retired)

18360KWh of gas is more than 50% higher than the 12000KWh used by Ofgem for their average. Especially if you don't heat using the CH this is very high, but it depends also on how well your house is insulated, or type of home, for example a bungalow is usually much more expensive to heat.

Electricity is a different matter, much of it is a life style choice if the heating is done by gas. High energy use can result from having for example several fridge/freezer or freezers, a hot tub, garden pumps or a hot tub.

mikewill34

John_Philip_Howarth said:

I am intigried by your usage. We have used 1825 KWh of electricity and 18360 KWh of gas in the past 12 months. Either your electric is very high or my gas is very high
 We only use a gas fire in the Winter months and rarely have the central heating on although we are home all the time (retired)

kWh over the years
2017 E:12,591 G:5,032 (10 months)
2018 E:15,562 G:4,268
2019 E:8,042 G:13,590
2020 E:7,205 G:13,570
2021 E:7,467 G:13,955
2022 E:4,348 G:7,106 (7 months)

There have been no changes to our system since our SMART meter was installed in early 2017
There is a definate swap that can be seen from 2019 onwards ???

mikewill34

pochase said:

What unit rates are offered on the fixed tariff? What are the unit rates for the SVT in your area?

Please give the rates offered so we can have a closer look.

This is my exclusive deal

These are the open to all plans I am offered.

pochase

Ok, so you are on an E7 tariff, but not heating with electricity I assume.

What is your day and night usage? If you are not using enough electricity at night E7 will be more expensive than a single rate.

From the unit rates for gas the two £600 fixed tariffs would be out for me, even the third one is extreme expensive with 16.74p, the current predictions see gas below 16p even after April 2023.

mikewill34

pochase said:

Ok, so you are on an E7 tariff, but not heating with electricity I assume.

What is your day and night usage? If you are not using enough electricity at night E7 will be more expensive than a single rate.

From the unit rates for gas the two £600 fixed tariffs would be out for me, even the third one is extreme expensive with 16.74p, the current predictions see gas below 16p even after April 2023.

Not sure what the %age of night useage is since I had the SMART meter fitted.
Before then it was approx 20% used at night, which I know is/was a little bit on the low side.
I am guessing it's still at arround that level.

With OVO I have access to a program which will allow me to download my 1/2 hourly readings I just have not had the time to tranform the output it gives into a format which I can easily calculate my day vs night useage.

pochase

it will be on you bill.

Latest meter read for night and day.

mikewill34

pochase said:

Ok, so you are on an E7 tariff, but not heating with electricity I assume.

What is your day and night usage? If you are not using enough electricity at night E7 will be more expensive than a single rate.

From the unit rates for gas the two £600 fixed tariffs would be out for me, even the third one is extreme expensive with 16.74p, the current predictions see gas below 16p even after April 2023.

Correct not heating by electric.
Dishwaher and washing machine are the ones we use the built in timer to run them on E7