Energy price cap freeze on a fixed tariff

PennineAcute

lisyloo said:

How much are we taking about for SC?
i mean is it 2p per day fro 365 days? I.e. about £7?

My current SCs are 24.480p and 36.762p for gas and elec respectively.  So around £40 a year saving. Be a bit less, as my tariff finishes at the end of July '23.

MSE_James

Martin's video from yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYH2zeilfZ8 

Inigo_Montoya

Just wondering if anybody has advice about this :

A few days ago I decided to switch from my fix with British Gas to the SVR to benefit from the lower unit rate on the current SVR till the end of september

Then today after realising its likely the standing charge on the fix was likely to remain lower then the standing charge on the SVR even after october I tried to cancel the switch under the 14 day cooling off period (this lower standing charge would save me more money than the extra cost of the higher unit rate I am paying till end of september)

When I tried to do this over the phone the two people I spoke too refused to cancel the switch claiming that my fix isnt "available" anymore and I can only switch back to a "currently available" tariff

As far as I am aware this refusal contradicts their own rules eg 
https://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-support/my-account/cool-off-information

Then when I asked to make a formal complaint about this they said they would just close down the complaint immediately as soon as it had been opened  

Even so I did proceed to open a complaint just so I could get a complaint reference number 

Not quite sure how to proceed now but what the last person I spoke too has done just seems plain wrong to me - I dont get angry that easily nowadays but the person I spoke to managed it









 

mmmmikey

Inigo_Montoya said:

Just wondering if anybody has advice about this :

A few days ago I decided to switch from my fix with British Gas to the SVR to benefit from the lower unit rate on the current SVR till the end of september

Then today after realising its likely the standing charge on the fix was likely to remain lower then the standing charge on the SVR even after october I tried to cancel the switch under the 14 day cooling off period (this lower standing charge would save me more money than the extra cost of the higher unit rate I am paying till end of september)

When I tried to do this over the phone the two people I spoke too refused to cancel the switch claiming that my fix isnt "available" anymore and I can only switch back to a "currently available" tariff

As far as I am aware this refusal contradicts their own rules eg 
https://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-support/my-account/cool-off-information

Then when I asked to make a formal complaint about this they said they would just close down the complaint immediately as soon as it had been opened  

Even so I did proceed to open a complaint just so I could get a complaint reference number 

Not quite sure how to proceed now but what the last person I spoke too has done just seems plain wrong to me - I dont get angry that easily nowadays but the person I spoke to managed it









 

Hi - BG will say that what you have done is 2 things:

1. You have left your existing fixed price contract

2. You have agreed a new tariff

BG are saying that the guarantee gives you a right to back out of the agreement you made as part of point 2, but it doesn't give you the right to rejoin a tariff you left which is no longer available.

What's happened here is that rather and wait for the full information to be published you have jumped the gun in order to save a few quid and that has proved to be a bad decision. Many, many people have been advising everyone to wait and see before doing anything. Best thing to do is put it down to experience and learn from your mistake.

Inigo_Montoya

mmmmikey said:

Inigo_Montoya said:

BG are saying that the guarantee gives you a right to back out of the agreement you made as part of point 2, but it doesn't give you the right to rejoin a tariff you left which is no longer available.

Fair enough I had not considered that could be the case - I had just incorrectly assumed cancelling the switch meant reverting back to the previous tariff as it seemed like the obvious interpretation  

Just wish the person on the phone had explained it in the same way as what made me angry was that I thought they were not following the rules

Luckily I manage 3 different accounts and had only switched one of them as I realised as soon as I did the first switch that the difference in standing charge could be a factor

thankfully the difference in cost on the account I switched is not that significant (only at most £20 or so by my calculation)

BTW just to clarify  I have been following the threads on here so knew about the advice to wait - my fatal mistake was to thing I could use the 14 cooling off period rule to my advantage to revert back to the fixed rate if that ended up being the better option

mmmmikey

Inigo_Montoya said:

mmmmikey said:

Inigo_Montoya said:

BG are saying that the guarantee gives you a right to back out of the agreement you made as part of point 2, but it doesn't give you the right to rejoin a tariff you left which is no longer available.

Fair enough I had not considered that could be the case - I had just assumed cancelling the switch meant reverting back to the previous tariff as it seemed like the obvious interpretation  

Just wish the person on the phone had explained it in the same way

Luckily I manage 3 different accounts and had only switched one of them as I realised as soon as I did the first switch that the difference in standing charge could be a factor

 thankfully the difference in cost on the account I switched is not that significant (only at most £20 or so by my calculation)

Pleased to hear this won't hit you too hard

nekr0mantik

My current electric SC is 11p higher then the price guarantee SC for London from October. Worked out as around 3 a month more so not end of the world lol

Mike360

My fixed rate standing charges - electricity is 1p less than the announced SVR, and gas is 3p more than the announced SVR.  Not a lot in it, a saving of £7 a year for my usage if I moved off the price freeze to the announced SVR as it stands.

What I don't know atm is if my supplier would offer a loyalty fixed rate offer when my fixed rate ends in September 2023 which would be a consideration to stay on the fixed one, or if their hands are tied for 2 years. They may not know themselves 

Astria

Inigo_Montoya said:

mmmmikey said:

Inigo_Montoya said:

BG are saying that the guarantee gives you a right to back out of the agreement you made as part of point 2, but it doesn't give you the right to rejoin a tariff you left which is no longer available.

Fair enough I had not considered that could be the case - I had just incorrectly assumed cancelling the switch meant reverting back to the previous tariff as it seemed like the obvious interpretation 

Going the other way around it would have been the case (variable -> fixed) as the fix has a contract that you must both agree to, so as such there's a 14-day cooling off period. If you had gone fix -> fix you would also have cooling off period on the new fix, but wouldn't be able to go back to the old fix if it was no longer available and would be put on SVR.

PennineAcute

BG have just confirmed my new "fixed tariff" rates for October.  UP reduced and SC stays the same.  The saving in SCs should compensate for the extra I paid from July.