Energy price cap freeze on a fixed tariff

Mrs_F_2017

I understand that taking any fix is a gamble - I weighed it up and took the GEUK fix.

However, into my personal calculations I planned in the £400 support so if that gets cancelled with a replacement scheme introduced, it will be disappointing for me as I’ll have to find another £400 from somewhere this winter. 

So that seems the unfair bit - not only will I be on a (potentially) higher rate fix, I’ll also loose the support that was outlined. 

Also my mid-terrace 3 bedroom house is an E band, so I didn’t get any council tax relief either! Hardly living in a mansion here! 

Mstty

Mrs_F_2017 said:

I understand that taking any fix is a gamble - I weighed it up and took the GEUK fix.

However, into my personal calculations I planned in the £400 support so if that gets cancelled with a replacement scheme introduced, it will be disappointing for me as I’ll have to find another £400 from somewhere this winter. 

So that seems the unfair bit - not only will I be on a (potentially) higher rate fix, I’ll also loose the support that was outlined. 

Also my mid-terrace 3 bedroom house is an E band, so I didn’t get any council tax relief either! Hardly living in a mansion here! 

I do like your attitude to all of this and to be honest none of us know what's going to be announced.

We all took an educated stab at what was best at the time.

We will stay on our two year fix unless the government confirms April 2022 price cap freeze for 2 years.

mmmmikey

Mrs_F_2017 said:

I understand that taking any fix is a gamble - I weighed it up and took the GEUK fix.

However, into my personal calculations I planned in the £400 support so if that gets cancelled with a replacement scheme introduced, it will be disappointing for me as I’ll have to find another £400 from somewhere this winter. 

So that seems the unfair bit - not only will I be on a (potentially) higher rate fix, I’ll also loose the support that was outlined. 

Also my mid-terrace 3 bedroom house is an E band, so I didn’t get any council tax relief either! Hardly living in a mansion here! 

I think your points are valid and it's nice to see them expressed in a calm and reasonable way! A couple of thoughts from me....

If you do find yourself on a higher rate fix, as things stand you will have the option of paying an exit fee and switching to the standing variable rate. You can make a decision on that once the noise and speculation has stopped and we know more about the price freeze which, although still specualtion, seems very likely to happen.

As far as the £400 is concerned, the only reporting I've seen on this is through a link someone posted to a Bloomberg article which suggests that we'll still get that. Keep in mind that the £400 is a payment made to help with energy costs generally and linking this to electricity bills is just an administrative convenience. A lot of people where I live don't have mains gas and will be expecting that money to help with central heating oil or lpg costs and I would expect the government to factor that in when making a decision. I'm in that position, and although if the government fixed electricity and gas prices and scrapped the £400 that would hit me hard, I'm not worrying about it yet as the the suggestion that this will be scrapped is just speculation at this time.

The_Green_Hornet

pedrodelgado said:

The_Green_Hornet said:

pedrodelgado said:

The_Green_Hornet said:

It shouldn't be long now before we start seeing newspaper articles claiming it is a regressive policy where a multimillionaire will get exactly the same level of protection as everybody else.

They won't be wrong.

Why is that wrong? If I were a millionaire I'd expect to be charged the same amount to buy a loaf of bread, as someone earning minimum wage. It's called being fair. Just because you can afford to pay why should you have to pay more? Are we really in a society where just because you've worked hard and made something of your life, you have to subsidize lazy layabouts ? 

I think you are on the wrong site. The Daily Mail is here -> https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

Sorry, didn't realize you could only enter this site by a door on the extreme left. I see the sort of people you highlighted in my post, in my job as a postman. They really are taking the pxxs out of the more hard working (like me) society. 

Accept my apologies. This is the site you need --> https://www.breitbart.com

Mstty

I doubt the £400 wil be touched as the other amounts agreed in that plan have already been paid or going out. 

But what is next will be interesting for all.

xzibit

British Gas customers (and Eon I believe) need not worry. If they freeze the cap, just revert back to the SVT without penalty. 

Granted you would have paid slightly more since you fixed, but that’s all part of the gamble. And it would be far better to pay slightly more for 1 or 2 months and the cap be frozen than have to pay more for the next 2 years. 

Mstty

I do wonder in energy companies will freeze current fixes as they have already hedged that energy at that price. Put everyone on the SVT to take advantage of the price freeze then when that period is up reinstate the fixed period left.Otherwuse they are profiteering out of whatever Government scheme is introduced.

I can hope lol

luckwudaveit

I wonder if this is an option being brought in to encourage competition in the market again? If it is up to energy companies how much they borrow from the government, they can then price how they wish. So this would mean choices for us all and the Tories can shift the focus of prices back to the energy companies? I don't know if that's a good thing or not, and how the pay back of the loan would factor in to all of it.

My biggest gripe is how long the government has spent dithering over this and this is why many, including me, gambled with a fix.

luckwudaveit

michaels said:

It seems any cap on the cap will be paid for by a loan paid back over some as yet defined long term.

What if those on a fix are deemed not to be taking the loan during the period when they are on their fix rather than the subsidised cap so don't have to pay the part they do not drawdown whilst on the fix?

Probably complicated, especially with home movers, but I think pretty fair.

Opt out of the fix and back onto the subsidised cap or the fix ends and back onto the cap and you get the subsidy loan and have to pay it back later.

I thought of that too. It's not dissimilar to the issue with the original £400 loan that had to be paid back next April (which is now a grant, assuming it's kept). If you lived in a multi-occupancy house which received the loan, and then all went your own way, you would all have to pay the loan back. The devil will be in the detail.

Janie2008

If you have a fixed rate for say the next 2 years why should you be paying back over the next 10 to 20 years the money it will cost to freeze the variable rate. Let's say it amounts to £3500. You are effectively having £3500 added to your fixed rate which was supposed to be fixed. 

Those of us on fixed rates need to check the finer detail before we pay exit fees. I have seen one suggestion we will pay the current April price cap once the £400 is taken into account which could make a difference.