Martin Lewis: Energy price freeze rumours - what it means for you, will it work?

[Deleted User]

One-Eye said:

If the cap for a typical user is set at £2500, and the £400 grant remains to make the effective cap £2100, then it would be a mighty relief, but what happens in April 2023 when the £400 runs out. Will the cap go up to £2500 and be partly "hidden" by the approach of lower energy usage in summer?

Or would it go up to the £4000 or more previously predicted?

What happens at the end of an 18 month freeze if wholesale prices didn't come down?  Does the government keep subsidising energy for everyone forever?

mrsmac59

I am sure Martin will do his very best to fight for all in this uncertain time  I hope he will  be able to air a special programme to explain after the actual details are released onThurs.
I am on a fix with BG  till May 23,as I decided the certainty of price rises was too much to bear.I hope BG will update its customers on options.I do know I can change tariffs within BG and not be penalised, but obviously I wouldn't want to if they were higher than the present one.

JudithF

I’m still concerned about the lack of help for those of us using oil to heat our homes. The £\$ exchange rate affects the oil price as will the OPEC meeting next week. 

The VAT on all fuel should be reduced or removed. 

[Deleted User]

ariarnia said:

NannaH said:

Has some clever MSE’r worked out the kwh rate for gas/electric should the £2500 average price cap freeze come to pass?  

Given that I’ve recently fixed at 57p elec/14p gas,  I will be mightily annoyed if British gas have a financial penalty for dropping back onto svr. 

i asked that and a clever person on the energy board ( @[Deleted User] )posted this (assuming standing charges stay the same as they didn't change much between the april and october caps and before the 400 rebate)

Deleted_User said:

Depends how they cap electricity and gas differently.

If you assume 1250 for each fuel, then minus standing charges you end up with about 1150 for gas and 1075 for electricity.

That makes a unit rate of 1250/12000 for gas and 1075/3100 for electricity.

Or roughly 10.5p per unit gas and 34.7p per unit electricity.

There have been some discussions in the energy board about these figures (and how OFGEM actually calculates things), including how VAT is applied, but I still think these will be within a penny of the final numbers based on what we know now.

Fletchy

I would like to see the help on bills given at different levels of use e.g. say x% off the first 1,000 kWh, y% off the next 1,000 kWh etc with lower reliefs given at higher usage levels. That would help those in need pay for a basic requirement with the highest relief and also give an incentive for us all to reduce energy use where we can.  

Pianist52

Fletchy said:

I would like to see the help on bills given at different levels of use e.g. say x% off the first 1,000 kWh, y% off the next 1,000 kWh etc with lower reliefs given at higher usage levels. That would help those in need pay for a basic requirement with the highest relief and also give an incentive for us all to reduce energy use where we can.  

It sounds sensible until you add in that some high users are in draughty old homes, sometimes with ill children or elderly parent. In other words ' high user ' dissent always mean high earner, or careless.
Rather than these huge loans simply to get us out of a present hole, that will saddle our kids with paying back through tax, I'd rather see it halved, directed at those in desperate need, and the other half used against the future. In providing solar and insulating old properties.

Archie_Duke

I do welcome some level of energy-targeted assistance. I wasn’t keen on the idea of flat tax reductions, but I still think the idea of a basic free “energy allowance” is the better way to go.

Tilona

We are with Octopus and have taken out a fixed deal on the 28th of August as we were worried about the rise of the price cap. We were on the Avro variable rate before. The fixed rate will triple our monthly payments. With the news today we now don't know what to do. We appreciate that nobody does until Thursday but can anyone tell me if a cooling off period applies when one changes tariff with the same provider? And if we were to cancel the fixed tariff would we go back to our previous tariff or would they put us on a new (different) variable tariff and would that actually make us better off? Or would it be more sensible to stay fixed for now? No exit fees apply by the way. We have looked through all the terms but can't find any info. We have also emailed them to raise these questions but don't expect to hear back anytime soon.

These are our old and new charges:

Gas
Old variable tariff per unit 6.93
standing charge 25.92

New fixed - per unit 18.74
standing charge  27.22

Electricity 
Old variable tariff per unit 26.05
standing charge  45.96 

New fixed - per unit 66.92
standing charge 48.26

Thank you! 

chess_010

I am luckily on fixed rate with bt till July 2023 
Is it possible that BT could cancel or change this fix under new regulations and at end of fix will I be able to go on to any fix available from any supplier or am I fixed withBT?

RobSad

Windfall tax the hell out of them.  The profits these companies are making are absolutely eye watering.  Even with these price cap freezes, it is the most expensive it has ever been and 'heating or eating' is not a new thing.

We need huge investment in renewals.  Not only to literally insulate us from the volatility of energy markets but the planet is burning up!