Energy Price Guarantee No Longer 2 years just 6 months at current level

QrizB

Having caught up with this thread (and added another name to my ignore list) the salient points seem to be:

• The EPG will see us all through this winter.
• People who have stuck with their fixes seem to have been vindicated.
• @Ryan_Holden claims Octopus kicked them off their fix, this is the only report like this that I've seen and I'd welcome more details regarding exactly what happened.
• The assumption is that from April we'll be back to the usual Ofgem cap arrangement, albeit with some sort of "targeted support" for those who are targeted.
• Cornwall Insight have moderated their forecasts since August; Q2 2023 (April) was £5341, now £4348; Q3 was £4768 now £3697; Q4 was £4807 now £3722. That's still higher than now but around £1000/year less than their previous forecasts.

I guess we stick with the EPG until spring, wait and see whether suppliers begin offering fixed tariffs again, and find out what the "targeted support" actually is.

(There's also the political risk that we could have a change of PM / General Election at almost any time until some sort of stability is achieved. And there's still a land war in Europe. Interesting times.)

Chrysalis

Good summary, but just want to add we shouldnt assume its only winter months that are a problem and the EPG in itself fixed things, the poorest in this country cannot afford even the April rates, which is why they were targeted so heavily in the first place.

We need to wait now (probably some months) to see what the new plan is, I got my speculative predictions but will refrain from saying them here.

Spoonie_Turtle

Chrysalis said:

Good summary, but just want to add we shouldnt assume its only winter months that are a problem and the EPG in itself fixed things, the poorest in this country cannot afford even the April rates, which is why they were targeted so heavily in the first place.

Plus, many disabled people in particular but also elderly need extra energy to keep cool in the heatwaves - and there are a not insignificant number of people with dysautonomia who need to keep cool once the temperature goes above ~20℃ otherwise their body struggles to function.  And I don't just mean feeling a bit blah, I mean, to the point of even struggling to digest food.  Probably more now than in previous years with the prevalance of Long Covid (apparently a mass disabling event can be expensive, who'da thought?! 🙄).

SarahB16

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Plus, many disabled people in particular but also elderly need extra energy to keep cool in the heatwaves ....

I am genuinely asking a serious question here how do elderly people keep cool in the heat during the heatwaves we experienced this summer?  

Yes, you can keep curtains closed, open the loft hatch to let the heat rise, open windows if it's cooler outside but I'm sure many people's bedrooms were nearly 30c despite doing all of this.  An electric fan in a bedroom is not going to cool a bedroom when the upstairs of your house is approximately 28c at night time.    

Do you think over the next few years we will see more people getting air conditioning in their homes or at least in one bedroom in order that they have somewhere to go that is cooler? 

Chrysalis

Sterlingtimes said:

Chrysalis said:

Sterlingtimes said:

Those here who oppose profiteering may think that the answer to all of our ills is to raise corporation tax to 100%.

Do you think everyone only thinks in blank and white?

I think that some people who oppose the making of profit may also complain when the value of their pension fund falls by 50%.

I dont know of anyone who is opposed to profit, been opposed to profit and windfall excess profit (that in turn causes hardship on millions) are two very different things.

ariarnia

SarahB16 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Plus, many disabled people in particular but also elderly need extra energy to keep cool in the heatwaves ....

I am genuinely asking a serious question here how do elderly people keep cool in the heat during the heatwaves we experienced this summer?  

nearly 3000 of them died

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/07/england-excess-deaths-during-2022-heatwave

Spoonie_Turtle

SarahB16 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Plus, many disabled people in particular but also elderly need extra energy to keep cool in the heatwaves ....

I am genuinely asking a serious question here how do elderly people keep cool in the heat during the heatwaves we experienced this summer?  

Yes, you can keep curtains closed, open the loft hatch to let the heat rise, open windows if it's cooler outside but I'm sure many people's bedrooms were nearly 30c despite doing all of this.  An electric fan in a bedroom is not going to cool a bedroom when the upstairs of your house is approximately 28c at night time.    

Do you think over the next few years we will see more people getting air conditioning in their homes or at least in one bedroom in order that they have somewhere to go that is cooler? 

With great difficulty, and because of the problems you describe, a lot of people elderly don't do very well.  The most effective options are portable AC units if they can afford to buy and run them, or by using frozen / chilled water (which also uses electricity to cool).  Cool showers are something people try as well (not actually all that effective but do provide the sensation of relief) - which is fine in terms of energy unless you have an electric or power shower.  And for anyone on a water meter, yikes.

Younger disabled people tend to be able to crowdsource effective tips, although whether they can afford to implement them is another matter.  E.g. phase-change cooling vests are fab for lots of people with POTS, but expensive and need to cool the ice packs (incidentally if they have a combination of POTS and Reynaud's you might find them wearing the apparently contradictory combination of a cooling vest along with arm and wrist warmers).  Elderly people are less likely to ask for help or think creatively about routine living - not to disparage or underestimate them, it's simply that disabled people have to adapt and solve all sorts of problems in all areas of our lives, whereas the elderly people who don't ask for help also tend to just stick with what they know.

Yawn

Had a fix just above the original October price cap, which I cancelled after the original price cap announcement so I didn't have to overpay for two weeks. What fool I was. I may well be paying much more for six months now. 🙃

Mstty

Yawn said:

Had a fix just above the original October price cap, which I cancelled after the original price cap announcement so I didn't have to overpay for two weeks. What fool I was. I may well be paying much more for six months now. 🙃

Not a fool just overly reactive given those two weeks won't have been expensive energy weeks at that time of the year so the overpay would have been minimal.

The energy market was already confusing to most, add in the EPG, the appearance of a two year guarantee and the utterly rubbish government information on the EPG at the time and I suspect a lot are in the same boat.

tghe-retford

There was also an assumption by mainstream media outlets that the income tax cut of 1p from 20p to 19p would merely be delayed. They were all wrong.

Do not assume that the Ofgem price cap is safe from abolition. Laws can be amended, implemented or removed to make it happen by then.