Opposition proposals to freeze the price cap - fair for people who have fixed?

Mstty

Here is our scenario

We will use about £1963 worth of electricity with our energy reduction exercise (6150kwh at out current SVT rate which also happens to be our fixed rate)

We will be under this £1971 cap so unless there is an option to opt out of this crazy 6 month have now pay later scheme I guess we better pop back onto the SVT and whack the heating up to 25oC 🤣

I joke I think it means whatever you use you still pay the April price cap rates so 7+ p for gas and 28+p for electricity.

What_time_is_it

They will (and in any case probably would have) wait for the OfGem price cap announcement before doing anything. Until that figure is known making any financial commitments is a mistake because the help needed will be very different if the cap is £3,000 or £4,000.

If that is the case, then the government, the Prime Minister, should announce this. Clarity of messaging during a crisis is crucial.
The silence is deafening.

pochase

I could also say not making arrangements now is a mistake.

All reasonable deals will be gone once the cap is announced.

There is no real risk, fixing today will give you a cool off period to the 30th of August, so you can see what the cap is and make your decision.

Worse is de talk about  the frozen cap, that might really punish you, if you fix.

wittynamegoeshere

Dolor said:

All we can all do is see how this plays out. At the end of the day, you might have the last laugh.

There isn't any laughing involved, whatever the outcome.

Previous form was that the cap was set in stone, and fixed subsidies were paid per household.  This seemed pretty sensible, as it also benefits low-usage users - either because they have modest homes or because they've actually invested in eco measures.

There hasn't been a general election, so it seems reasonable not to expect any 180 shift in policy.

Hopefully the fact that Starmer has suggested it means that the govt won't do it, even if they were going to.  This seems to be the daft level at which decisions are made.

The worst case outcome would be that the cap is frozen.  In which case I could end up paying 39% more than necessary, with no other supplier allowing me to switch to them.

If they do change course significantly, then they do need to look at compensating for some of the weird decisions that I, among lots of others, have been forced into making, entirely as a result of their previous policies.

What_time_is_it

There isn't any laughing involved, whatever the outcome.

This is the one thing we call all agree on.
Shambles.

MattMattMattUK

What_time_is_it said:

They will (and in any case probably would have) wait for the OfGem price cap announcement before doing anything. Until that figure is known making any financial commitments is a mistake because the help needed will be very different if the cap is £3,000 or £4,000.

If that is the case, then the government, the Prime Minister, should announce this. Clarity of messaging during a crisis is crucial.
The silence is deafening.

The current PM has lost all authority, both morally and politically, he could not force through major policy announcements now even if he wanted to and he would rather go on holiday. The to prospective PMs have very differing views of how to tackle the increases in the cost of living so it is unlikely that they would be able to come to any sort of agreement.

The further increase in the price cap does not kick in until October, the new PM will be anointed on 5th September so there will be time to take action should they wish, or announce that no further handouts will be forthcoming. 

MattMattMattUK

pochase said:

I could also say not making arrangements now is a mistake.

All reasonable deals will be gone once the cap is announced.

They went as just before the last round of Cornwall Insights predictions were announced, two weeks before the prediction increased significantly EDF were offering a 36.6p per kWh electricity fix, it was withdrawn with no fixes offered for two weeks, then, post the announcement they launched a new one at 65.9p per kWh.

pochase said:

There is no real risk, fixing today will give you a cool off period to the 30th of August, so you can see what the cap is and make your decision.

I agree, for those that can find something that is not significantly above the predictions, but in reality all of the current fixes (excluding EV tariffs) seem to be 15% or more above the worst predictions. 

pochase said:

Worse is de talk about  the frozen cap, that might really punish you, if you fix.

I just cannot see that happening, even with Sunak it would be unlikely, but with Truss there is zero chance and she appears all but guaranteed to win.

Mike360

wittynamegoeshere said:

If the govt deviates from its previously well-defined and published cap formula then they need to also...

• Remove all exit fees for those already on a capped rate.  People grudgingly signed up to these contracts as it was the worst of the possible options after weighing up against what the govt had previously said would be the case.
• Require that all energy suppliers provide a capped tariff, including the "green" ones that are currently exempt from providing one
• Alternatively, ensure that all customers that are currently with non-capped suppliers have the ability to move to a capped one.

My personal situation is that I was previously on a capped tariff, and last month volunteered to pay 39% more to move to GEUK.  I didn't do this out of generosity, I did it because this would be lower than the capped tariff from October onwards.  If they're changing the rules at the last moment then they've just turned my good choice into a bad one, I'll have wasted money effectively paying to insure myself against the rises that they were threatening me with.

Perhaps I'd be expecting too much to get a refund of the 39% extra I'll have paid for 2 months, but at the least they definitely need to provide a way for me to get out of the situation that their threats somewhat unwillingly pushed me into.

I'm in the same boat as you regarding taking a price fix. I may message my MP (who is a Tory) and ask that they take people like us into consideration, whatever decision gets made.

The_Green_Hornet

What_time_is_it said:

They will (and in any case probably would have) wait for the OfGem price cap announcement before doing anything. Until that figure is known making any financial commitments is a mistake because the help needed will be very different if the cap is £3,000 or £4,000.

If that is the case, then the government, the Prime Minister, should announce this. Clarity of messaging during a crisis is crucial.
The silence is deafening.

The problem is that all the noise is coming from opposition politicians, charities and energy suppliers. None of them have a mandate to change anything.

Existing measures already announced by the Government are being implemented, or will be implemented from October, and if these are to be changed then the new PM has plenty of time to do so.

There is no need to panic.

savers_united

wittynamegoeshere said:

Dolor said:

All we can all do is see how this plays out. At the end of the day, you might have the last laugh.

There isn't any laughing involved, whatever the outcome.

Previous form was that the cap was set in stone, and fixed subsidies were paid per household.  This seemed pretty sensible, as it also benefits low-usage users - either because they have modest homes or because they've actually invested in eco measures.

There hasn't been a general election, so it seems reasonable not to expect any 180 shift in policy.

Hopefully the fact that Starmer has suggested it means that the govt won't do it, even if they were going to.  This seems to be the daft level at which decisions are made.

The worst case outcome would be that the cap is frozen.  In which case I could end up paying 39% more than necessary, with no other supplier allowing me to switch to them.

If they do change course significantly, then they do need to look at compensating for some of the weird decisions that I, among lots of others, have been forced into making, entirely as a result of their previous policies.

If you have fixed and it works out ok for you do you feel you are one of those who should be receiving the £400 Gov't grant that was intended to counter the October rise or any further support that may come as a result of the revised cap predictions.

I just don't get that when it does not work you see that you should somehow be compensated, obviously by signing up to the fix you must have calculated the costs and felt you could afford them (even if it meant cutting back). I really don't see why they should, you took your fix, if there are changes to the SVT and its frozen then it should always be made available to you I agree even if the Gov't force a supplier to take you but exit fees from an existing fix are part of that contract you signed up to,. Some do not have exit fees, some do.