Fixed tariff or not??

stevenelse

Hi all. New on hear, so any help would be appreciated. 
I was offered a 3 year fixed tariff back in July with EDF. Based on what I thought was going to happen from 1st Oct with the prices,  I decided to go with it. Now the decision has been made re price cap/guarantee, I'm not sure what to do.
EDF have offeded;
Gas - standing charge - 25p per day.
         - rate 12.9p per kW
Electricity - standing charge - 25p per day
         Day rate - 34.3p Pkwy
          Night rate - 30.9p pkw
Octopus standard variable tariff(current supplier)
Gas - s/charge 26.8p per day
        Rate - 10.2p Pkwy
Electricity- s/charge - 44.2p per day
           Day rate - 41.1p Pkw
           Night rate 15.4p pkw
Really don't know what deal is best. Confused re price cap/guarantee and which company to go with. Any help would be very much appreciated.  Thanks.

stevenelse

Forgot to mention, the tariff that EDF offered me was a business tariff, as I am a sole trader(painter & decorator) and my home address is the same as business address....not even sure if I should be on a business tariff???

MWT

If Octopus is your current supplier then you didn't take the fix from EDF back in July?

You can't now decide to take the tariff they offered then even if it did make sense.

Right now EDF are not offering any fixed tariffs at all...

[Deleted User]

If I read your post right, you agreed to start a fixed deal with EdF at some point in the future?  As MWT says, you can't have started it in July if your current supplier is Octopus.  What date is the deal due to start?

First thing to remember is that the new Energy Price Guarantee doesn't apply to business tariffs.  Something is being done about business energy prices, but we don't know what yet.  We can't, therefore, sensibly predict what changes might happen to that EdF tariff.

The Octopus rates, if they are the domestic standard variable tariff, will change on 1 Oct to the new cap anyway.

stevenelse

It was all done through a company called Love Energy Savings. I told them my current prices back in July were cheaper than what the fixed deal EDF were offering.  So they advised a 'switch ' date of 27th September,  to EDFs fixed tariff prices...basically this allowed me to have July-September at octopus cheaper rates. Then based on info available around July time, the EDF deal would be considerably cheaper. But then the price cap/ guarantee was introduced...so really not sure what's happening or what to do...

The_Fat_Controller

You should be on a domestic tariff as you do not conduct business at your home address.

[Deleted User]

Did you actually sign any contract agreeing to switch on 27 September?

If it was just a suggestion, and nothing was signed, then it's likely that fixed tariff has vanished and you'll be sticking with the standard variable with Octopus anyway.

stevenelse

Yes an agreement was signed back in July and I've had email correspondence from Octopus saying they have received notification re the switch. 
I've just read on one of martins messages that a number of the big providers are allowing customers to leave any fixed deals without financial penalty???? Just really confused( doesn't take a lot..lol)
I am also confused with this being classed as a business tariff???

stevenelse

The figures I gave in my original post are the new prices that octopus will be charging from October the 1st. I agree with what the fat Controller says, that I shouldn't be on a business tariff as I don't conduct business at this address, this 3rd party company were told this, but still maintained I could go on it???

[Deleted User]

Ignore all the messages you've seen anywhere in the media - none of them apply to business tariffs.

Brokers have sometimes pushed business tariffs towards people who shouldn't really be taking them because historically you could get sometimes cheaper energy with a business contract.

If you cancel the switch (and there could be very big exit fees from a business tariff) - you would pay the new capped rate from Octopus but we don't know exactly what that will be for E7 yet - probably a little bit more than you are paying now.

If you don't cancel, and switch as planned, we don't know what will happen because we don't know what help is around for business tariffs yet.

[Deleted User]

I should add, there's no 'punishment' or anything for having a business tariff at home if you can qualify (which you can) - it just means that you miss out on anything aimed at domestic users like the version of the price cap we know about today.

One effect of this is the £400 rebate - that is being given in stages each month to people with a domestic electricity account - so (AFAIK) you would not be eligible with a business account from 27 Sept.