Just bought a house - should we fix before Oct 1st?

dc124

Hi all,

We've just bought a house in the last week or so, and I'm unclear what to do in terms of the energy rise.

We haven't yet moved in while we do some renovation work, so we have no idea what our usage is going to be — and currently living with parents so we don't accurately know what our usage is at all.

The gas is with British Gas, and electricity OVO — not sure wether moving both to one would also save money, but would probably fix us into a contract. The property doesn't have smart meters and we have no direct debits set up as yet.

What would you advise? I'm thinking of just leaving it to see what happens but I'm really worried that it's going to be way worse than what we expected, then it'll be too late to do anything about it!

Thanks

[Deleted User]

There are no sensible fixed tariffs on offer.

There are no dual fuel discounts.

Have you already taken photographs of the meters and sent the readings to BG/OVO?

dc124

[Deleted User] said:

There are no sensible fixed tariffs on offer.

There are no dual fuel discounts.

Have you already taken photographs of the meters and sent the readings to BG/OVO?

Thank you. Yes, we've sent off the readings and we've setup account with both suppliers.

Just having lived with parents for a little while whilst saving for and buying this property, we're a little behind on what to do for the best in terms of cost savings on our energy.

[Deleted User]

Everyone is pretty much charging the same price for everything at the moment - it's all at the government capped rate.

The only realistic differences are on the day/night split for Economy 7 (which I doubt you have).

The only thing to do for cost savings?  Use less.

Astria

To be honest you are best just signing up with the existing provider (which you have to do anyway) and just staying on the standard tariff for now - it's better than any current fixed deals.

You've done the sensible things like submitting meter readings, so you'll get the £400 discount in October.

dc124

Deleted_User said:

Everyone is pretty much charging the same price for everything at the moment - it's all at the government capped rate.

The only realistic differences are on the day/night split for Economy 7 (which I doubt you have).

The only thing to do for cost savings?  Use less.

Thank you, appreciate the advice. I didn't know if fixing would be cheaper in the long run that's all.

dc124

Astria said:

To be honest you are best just signing up with the existing provider (which you have to do anyway) and just staying on the standard tariff for now - it's better than any current fixed deals.

You've done the sensible things like submitting meter readings, so you'll get the £400 discount in October.

Thanks for the reassurance. So much anxiety at the moment!

[Deleted User]

dc124 said:

Deleted_User said:

Everyone is pretty much charging the same price for everything at the moment - it's all at the government capped rate.

The only realistic differences are on the day/night split for Economy 7 (which I doubt you have).

The only thing to do for cost savings?  Use less.

Thank you, appreciate the advice. I didn't know if fixing would be cheaper in the long run that's all.

I don't even think anyone is offering fixes at the moment.  That might change in future, but I haven't seen any new fixes for several weeks.

dc124

[Deleted User] said:

dc124 said:

Deleted_User said:

Everyone is pretty much charging the same price for everything at the moment - it's all at the government capped rate.

The only realistic differences are on the day/night split for Economy 7 (which I doubt you have).

The only thing to do for cost savings?  Use less.

Thank you, appreciate the advice. I didn't know if fixing would be cheaper in the long run that's all.

I don't even think anyone is offering fixes at the moment.  That might change in future, but I haven't seen any new fixes for several weeks.

oh ok! I hadn't realised this. I haven't checked for a little while (house purchase has taken up most of my time) so I didn't realise fixes weren't on offer anymore.

Ryan_Holden

dc124 said:

[Deleted User] said:

dc124 said:

Deleted_User said:

Everyone is pretty much charging the same price for everything at the moment - it's all at the government capped rate.

The only realistic differences are on the day/night split for Economy 7 (which I doubt you have).

The only thing to do for cost savings?  Use less.

Thank you, appreciate the advice. I didn't know if fixing would be cheaper in the long run that's all.

I don't even think anyone is offering fixes at the moment.  That might change in future, but I haven't seen any new fixes for several weeks.

oh ok! I hadn't realised this. I haven't checked for a little while (house purchase has taken up most of my time) so I didn't realise fixes weren't on offer anymore.

Yep, second this. Sit tight and go straight onto the variable standard rate. With the government's usage cap in place you're not going to find a deal that's better. 

I fixed the other week and have since been put back onto the variable because it's so much cheaper. So you join the market at a time when basically everyone is paying the same.

macman

Any fix, even if you could find one, would be more than the SVT under the EPG. 
SVT does not lock you in, there is no minimum term.