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

[Deleted User]

mrsmac59 said:

So when will the fixes be lowered to svr.1st October?

Yes.

mrsmac59 said:

Just an afterthought,what if your fix is less than the new svr !!

Nothing happens.

Hummingbird18

Please help I'm in a panic. I fixed last week at a rate above the October price cap. I did this because I am due a baby in January and wanted to avoid the massive increase at the next price cap change. However, with the announcement about freezing the price cap Im now massively overpaying and want to get out of our fix or we will be absolutely screwed. Octopus said it is no exit fees so I thought it would be a win win, but I've just seen something about they can change that now?!! Someone please reassure me. I've emailed octopus but not got a response yet and I can't phone until the morning. Is there a legal cooling off period where I can change my mind? 

Chrysalis

Hummingbird18 said:

Please help I'm in a panic. I fixed last week at a rate above the October price cap. I did this because I am due a baby in January and wanted to avoid the massive increase at the next price cap change. However, with the announcement about freezing the price cap Im now massively overpaying and want to get out of our fix or we will be absolutely screwed. Octopus said it is no exit fees so I thought it would be a win win, but I've just seen something about they can change that now?!! Someone please reassure me. I've emailed octopus but not got a response yet and I can't phone until the morning. Is there a legal cooling off period where I can change my mind? 

Given whats been announced you will be fine, need to sit tight now and wait for announcements from the suppliers.  I expect either your fix to be adjusted, or for you to be able to exit penalty free back to SVR.

[Deleted User]

Hummingbird18 said:

Please help I'm in a panic. I fixed last week at a rate above the October price cap. I did this because I am due a baby in January and wanted to avoid the massive increase at the next price cap change. However, with the announcement about freezing the price cap Im now massively overpaying and want to get out of our fix or we will be absolutely screwed. Octopus said it is no exit fees so I thought it would be a win win, but I've just seen something about they can change that now?!! Someone please reassure me. I've emailed octopus but not got a response yet and I can't phone until the morning. Is there a legal cooling off period where I can change my mind? 

Don't panic.  Waiting a couple of days for things to clear up and get some official information is not going to screw you.  At worst you're going to be paying a little bit more for the energy you are using in those couple of days.

If you have signed a contract with no exit fees, they aren't suddenly going to add one.  The only thing being talked about is if they will remove them for people who have them already.

And yes, it's distance selling so there is a 14 day cooling off period, but that doesn't refund the money spent in the days between signing and 'un-signing'.  

Tilona

Hummingbird18 said:

Please help I'm in a panic. I fixed last week at a rate above the October price cap. I did this because I am due a baby in January and wanted to avoid the massive increase at the next price cap change. However, with the announcement about freezing the price cap Im now massively overpaying and want to get out of our fix or we will be absolutely screwed. Octopus said it is no exit fees so I thought it would be a win win, but I've just seen something about they can change that now?!! Someone please reassure me. I've emailed octopus but not got a response yet and I can't phone until the morning. Is there a legal cooling off period where I can change my mind? 

We did the same thing. Emailed them today and they got back straight away putting us back on the variable rate. However now with this going around I don't know if that was the right thing to do and hope someone can answer this for me as I also have my head in a tizzy over it as I just don't understand what this means for me now... 

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

Chrysalis

Tilona said:

Hummingbird18 said:

Please help I'm in a panic. I fixed last week at a rate above the October price cap. I did this because I am due a baby in January and wanted to avoid the massive increase at the next price cap change. However, with the announcement about freezing the price cap Im now massively overpaying and want to get out of our fix or we will be absolutely screwed. Octopus said it is no exit fees so I thought it would be a win win, but I've just seen something about they can change that now?!! Someone please reassure me. I've emailed octopus but not got a response yet and I can't phone until the morning. Is there a legal cooling off period where I can change my mind? 

We did the same thing. Emailed them today and they got back straight away putting us back on the variable rate. However now with this going around I don't know if that was the right thing to do and hope someone can answer this for me as I also have my head in a tizzy over it as I just don't understand what this means for me now... 

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

Yeah best thing to do at the moment is sit tight.  A few of us are speculating on what might happen but until the supplier explains clearly the exact things we dont know for sure.

[Deleted User]

That's a terrible quote from Martin, and doesn't match anything that either the government or the suppliers are saying.

What probably isn't the best thing to do at the moment is to rush around switching, cancelling and switching back based off a couple of tweets and a newspaper headline.

Let the information get published, let us understand it and see the source and raw tables, then we'll be in a better position to advise.

Is maybe paying a small amount more for a couple of days not worth it to get the certainty?

Hummingbird18

I hate the government for doing this to us. I fixed because I had so much anxiety over the coming rises. Now they have come out with all this new confusing information last minute before 1st October. The government has known this was coming for months and should have decided then to put people minds at ease, but instead they were going on holiday or arguing over who should be prime minister. 

mmmmikey

To put your mind at rest, the Government website says:

"If you’re on a fixed tariff, the Energy Price Guarantee will protect you in the same way that it protects standard variable tariff (SVT) customers."

Your concern is shared by many people and that is giving rise to panic, but everything that is being published by the official sources (and Martin Lewis) say that you will be no worse off on a fix and there is even some speculation that you may be better off. By far the best thing to do now is relax and get ready for the new baby

Chrysalis

Hummingbird18 said:

I hate the government for doing this to us. I fixed because I had so much anxiety over the coming rises. Now they have come out with all this new confusing information last minute before 1st October. The government has known this was coming for months and should have decided then to put people minds at ease, but instead they were going on holiday or arguing over who should be prime minister. 

It's not idea its been left so late,  but at least they have taken people who fixed into consideration, even if Martin's tweet is wrong, the document he published from the secretary of state, the last part of it says all fixes can be exited penalty free.  So you will probably be ok, we just need to wait now to hear the confirmed details from the suppliers.