Energy Price Guarantee (announced 8 Sep): initial reaction & questions

tomg35

From the information supplied so far, and naturally I may have misread, I'm trying to find out what happens to those who have signed up for a fixed term contract? Does this £2,500 level apply to them as well?.
I did read, I thought that the level was for variable terms and if you were on a fixed price you could switch back at no penalty. Naturally I can't find the article now and there's nothing on my providers website.

Mstty

wrf12345 said:

"So - to follow my last - Martin has tweeted that he understands standing charges to be fixed at the October 2022 level."
Very high, in other words, but covered by the £400 handout and almost covered by the winter fuel allowance which I will get next year (it will probably go up). I have lower s/c on my BG fix until March so will probably stay on it, but at least the transition to the new unit rates won't be too horrendous. I am an ultra low user of electric and have the gas turned off at the mains. Keeping the standing charges does show the govn is in the energy co's pockets and they will let them keep ripping off consumers, though. I have decided not to pay any silly money to the energy companies even though my income is increasing nicely.

Have you not mentioned this before...constantly...on lots of threads?

Including the upcoming £400 how much in total have you received as cost of living/energy support payments? Let's start there and see who's doing well out of this?

[Deleted User]

tomg35 said:

From the information supplied so far, and naturally I may have misread, I'm trying to find out what happens to those who have signed up for a fixed term contract? Does this £2,500 level apply to them as well?.
I did read, I thought that the level was for variable terms and if you were on a fixed price you could switch back at no penalty. Naturally I can't find the article now and there's nothing on my providers website.

You've pretty much got it - the capped unit costs will only apply to the Standard Variable Tariff, but it is expected that anyone will be able to switch back to that tariff at no penalty.

[Deleted User]

wrf12345 said:

"So - to follow my last - Martin has tweeted that he understands standing charges to be fixed at the October 2022 level."
Very high, in other words, but covered by the £400 handout and almost covered by the winter fuel allowance which I will get next year (it will probably go up). I have lower s/c on my BG fix until March so will probably stay on it, but at least the transition to the new unit rates won't be too horrendous. I am an ultra low user of electric and have the gas turned off at the mains. Keeping the standing charges does show the govn is in the energy co's pockets and they will let them keep ripping off consumers, though. I have decided not to pay any silly money to the energy companies even though my income is increasing nicely.

Less than 75p per day isn't a massive bill for having national gas and electricity networks, but that's a discussion for another thread (and several such threads are available through the search function).

wrf12345

Only getting the £400 freebie this year, next year will have the winter fuel allowance, my main saving is being on a BG tariff with lower (not low!) s/c and having taken my consumption of electricity right down (1-2kw a day) without lowering my standard of living. Down south so heating is only needed for a few months but will try without for as long as possible.

bristolleedsfan

https://twitter.com/MartinSLewis/status/1567867158201339904

IMPORTANT FIXED TARIFF INFO: I'm hearing fixed tariffs will have the same unit rate reduction as variable tariffs (ie roughly 30% off). So it looks like, unless you fixed at over the new Oct price cap level, your fix will be cheaper than moving to variable. More to check on this

xzibit

Paolas said:

Any help is good BUT the rebate should at least be means tested so big earners or rich pensioners get less or none. Price cap for everybody? If I spend 25% of my monthly wage in energy bills I feel I am being laughed at by other people who spend (even by using more) a lot smaller percentage of their monthly income on bills.Why is the UK so averse to means testing? Why do we all become the same sometimes but we are not the same?

I'm by no means a high earner or well off, however why should people that have worked hard and managed to get to a position where they earn well be penalised for it? Even if someone earns £70k a year they should receive the same assistance as someone who earns £20k a year. IMHO. Otherwise where is the incentive to work hard if you can just rely on the state. Sorry if it's off topic. 

One-Eye

One-Eye said:

If the green levies are being temporarily scrapped, I believe that this means a reduction in standing charges, and there will be a corresponding higher increase than expected in unit costs to take the typical bill to £2500. This would mean a low user would receive a lower than average increase, and a high user's bills would go up by a higher than average percentage.

Standing charges from October were expected to be approx £285/year, and if we estimate green levies to be about £150, so standing charges could go down to £135/year. This means that the variable rates for 12000 kWh gas and 2900kWh electricity will add up to £2365. If we make the assumption that the price per kWh of electricity remains at 3.4x the price of gas then this gives unit rates of 10.8p for gas and 36.8p for electricity so:

For an average user, (2900x0.368)+(12000x0.108)+135 = £2498.20

My estimate of unit rates: Gas 10.8 p/kWh, Electricity 36.8 p/kWh

(with a standing charge of £135)

As Martin has tweeted he believes the standing charges will not be reduced from the previously announced rates for October, then I would estimate the rates will be 10.1p for gas and 34.6p for electricity.

(2900x0.346)+(12000x0.101)+285 = £2500.40

My estimate of unit rates: Gas 10.1 p/kWh, Electricity 34.6 p/kWh

(with a standing charge of £285)

Mstty

He went on to clarify

spot1034

vienna28 said:

Too few posts to quote links but i doubt that would apply to me because i fixed in June last year (all electric premises) on a 2 year fix at 22p day rate, 8p night rate, 22p standing charge, my bill was a very low £446 these past 12 months.  Even paying £68 standing charge i am going to be around £350 in credit at the end of my fix.  Plus today the government said they will still give me an additional £400 over 6 months, so after my direct debit is paid that £400 will likely be all paid in my bank account. 

So i would be surprised if they knocked an additional 30% off my already low fixed rate.

You never know. There have been one or two posters here who are very low users who have said their energy will be almost free, even just from the old announcements of help earlier n the year.