Martin's price-cap percentage formula

hueygeorge

Hi All
I'm currently trying to sort out my tariff - existing one ends on 26th Sept.   I've been offered a fix of £171 per month and at present I pay £58 - what an increase!!  
Martin says on his main post that if you value security - which I do - and if you're offered a fix of no more that 96% then that may be worth looking at - my question is how do I work out this percentage?   My maths isn't great at the  best of times and I'm getting more and more confused and wound up trying to figure it out.   In my head £171 is over 96% of £58 but like I say,  I'm getting wound up with it!   So I thought I would ask for help please - thank you

[Deleted User]

You need to do the maths on the rates and your actual usage, not the DD amounts.

If you post the details here, someone will offer some help.

AlexLS

It's about comparing to your supplier's standard variable (i.e. the tariff you'll end up on when your current fix ends), not your existing tariff.
To work out a 96% mark-up, multiply your supplier's current SVR by 1.96.

pochase

Using just one percentage figure is better than nothing, but it is not very accurate.

The percentage increases for electricity and gas are very different, so depending on your split the single percentage might be correct, to low or to high. For example the predicted gas price is already more than 100% more expensive. 

If you give us real usage figures over a 12 months period and the unit rates that have been offered we will be able to look into it.

hueygeorge

Thanks all - so I was on the wrong track anyway!   Always best to ask for help.....
My current rates are - Gas 3.77 pkw/h Stand Ch 19.27p
                                   Elec 19.2 pkw/h Stand Ch 19.97p

The rates on the cheapest tariff I've been offered are - Gas 13.26 pkw/h Stand Ch 27.2p
                                                                                       Elec 52.12pkw/h Stand Ch 48.53p

This is with Sainsbury's Energy/Eon and the DD would be £171 per month.  This is a fixed tariff with no exit fees.

hueygeorge

Meant to add as well - my usage over a year is Elec 1613kwh and Gas 7122kwh

QrizB

hueygeorge said:

The rates on the cheapest tariff I've been offered are - Gas 13.26 pkw/h Stand Ch 27.2p
                                                                                       Elec 52.12pkw/h Stand Ch 48.53p

This is with Sainsbury's Energy/Eon and the DD would be £171 per month.  This is a fixed tariff with no exit fees.

By this week's standards, those rates seem pretty good. You should consider accepting that tariff, but don't wait too long.

Some people recommend accepting the offer then (if you have doubts) making use of the 14-day cooling off period.

AlexLS

QrizB said:

hueygeorge said:

The rates on the cheapest tariff I've been offered are - Gas 13.26 pkw/h Stand Ch 27.2p
                                                                                       Elec 52.12pkw/h Stand Ch 48.53p

This is with Sainsbury's Energy/Eon and the DD would be £171 per month.  This is a fixed tariff with no exit fees.

By this week's standards, those gates seem pretty good. You should consider accepting that tariff, but don't wait too long.

Some people recommend accepting the offer then (if you have doubts) making use of the 14-day cooling off period.

Will most probably do this. The fix rate is lower than the SVR + 82%, and we'll know within 14 days (26 Aug) what the actual cap will be. In any case, Sainsbury's fix rate has no exit fee and so I believe the 14 days is moot.

pochase

Looks like a good fix by current predictions. Gas under October predictions and electricity on same level.

Try if you can move the start date as near to the 1st of October as possible to maximise the savings. Otherwise you are paying for 1.5 months already the expensive rates now.

pochase

Here is the increase based on the current SVT, not you cheap fix you still have.

As you can see the percentage increase is much lower for the percentage. Reason is that we don't believe that the standing charge will increase, so if you have a low usage this will decrease the percentage by quite a lot. 

This shows why the xx% increase needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

xzibit

It seems to be a reasonable tariff based upon current predictions.

I've taken a fix from BG and am currently using the cooling off period to make sure I'm happy, however BG have advised that I can revert to the SVT at any point. I didn't act quickly on a fixed offer in June because it was below Martin's recommended threshold and if I had, I would have been saving over £1,000 a year based on the predictions. So I'm definitely not dismissing this offer. 

My fix is 89% above my current SVT prices (the unit rates are 110/120% higher but lower standing charges offset some of this).

Current - based on 2120 for Electric and 8200 for Gas
7.88p/kWh Gas with a 32.03p S/C
29.97p/kWh Elec with a 49.10p S/C
£1,577.73 annually

Offer - based upon same figures
17.4p/kWh Gas with a 29.3p S/C
63.2p/kWh Elec with a 31.3p S/C
£2,987.84 annually (plus 89.3%)