Predictions for Energy Freeze? Should We Stay on Fixed Tariff or change? More info in post

konn1ch1ha

Hi all,

Look for advice here. We’ve recently (two weeks Thursday) changed to a fixed rate tariff with Utility Warehouse at the costs of:

Electricity: 

Standing charge - 35.246p/day

Unit rate - 58.747p/kWh 

Gas:

Standing charge - 21.37p/day

Unit rate - 13.868p/kWh 

These prices are fixed until August 2023. 

We were on a flexible tariff with Bulb and the prices were:

Electricity: 

Standing charge - 45.32p/day

Unit rate - 28.18p/kWh 

Gas:

Standing charge - 25.92p/day

Unit rate - 7.01p/kWh

Quite obviously Bulb is cheaper but come October and beyond, UW would be the better option. Judging by the potential energy prices being frozen, would it be wise to switch back to Bulb? Or are there any other companies doing fair rates comparatively?

We have until Thursday to not be charged exit fees and want to act quickly on this. 

TIA

Archie_Duke

As you’ve also likely had to tie in to other UW services (mobile, phone/b.band etc) to get their best gas & electric rates you’ll be about to discover the disadvantage of the UW “cat’s cradle” of linked services. When one doesn’t provide the level of service or discount you might wish, it’s tough -because you’ve locked in to the others too (presume there’s a minimum contract period for the tele-services).
If it was me I’d be cancelling and waiting for the announcement before settling on a long period with UW.

Archie_Duke

@konn1ch1ha When you say ‘we have until Thursday’ does that mean you need to cancel today, or can you wait until after the announcement tomorrow?

bristolleedsfan

No apparent good reason to put off until tomorrow what can be done today .....

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6385489/utility-warehouse-refusing-to-allow-14-cooling-off-period-cancellation#latest

[Deleted User]

Everything is a guess right now, because nothing has actually been announced so we don't know how they system will work or what numbers & assumptions will be used.

Roughly speaking, it looks like a £2500 cap, split equally between fuels, with standing charge at the Apr 1 rate (although the Oct 1 rate is basically the same), would come out to a 10p/kWh Gas and 35p/kWh Electricity tariff.

konn1ch1ha

Archie_Duke said:

@konn1ch1ha When you say ‘we have until Thursday’ does that mean you need to cancel today, or can you wait until after the announcement tomorrow?

The contract started on 14:58 Thursday 25th September, leaving us, I believe, until 14:58 tomorrow for the 14 day cooling off period to expire. 

macman

If it's to be £2500, is the assumption that the £400 October-on rebate will still be paid, or not? If so, the 'real' cap will be £2100, so only £129 above the April cap.

pochase

macman said:

If it's to be £2500, is the assumption that the £400 October-on rebate will still be paid, or not? If so, the 'real' cap will be £2100, so only £129 above the April cap.

Depends also on how long the freeze is. If it is really 18 months you would need to split the £400 also onto the 18 months and not 12.

[Deleted User]

macman said:

If it's to be £2500, is the assumption that the £400 October-on rebate will still be paid, or not? If so, the 'real' cap will be £2100, so only £129 above the April cap.

The assumption at the moment is that the cap will be £2500 for up to 18 months (used to set the unit prices) but then the 'cash' rebate of £400 will still happen.

The 'real' cap can't include the rebate because that would affect the unit prices for the rest of the freeze period - unless they change the freeze position after the six months.

macman

18 months takes us to March '24, so through 2 winters. And there will be an election either in May '24, or latest October '24. Could be interesting...

The_Green_Hornet

macman said:

18 months takes us to March '24, so through 2 winters. And there will be an election either in May '24, or latest October '24. Could be interesting...

The latest the next general election can be is January 2025.

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/elections