MSE News: Energy price cap to rise in January – your energy rates could change slightly

markin

dosh37 said:

dosh37 said:

I am baffled by the E7 changes. Yesterday I received this PDF email attachment from Octopus:-

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When I emailed them to ask if I could save money by switching to a non E7 tariff, I received this:-

That doesn't help much because the Flexible Octopus prices quoted do not include the Jan 2023 increase.

It's doubly confusing because the figures do not include the gov support discount.

I can't work out whether I would be better off keeping my existing ex Avro E7 tariff or switching to the Flexible Octopus non-E7 tariff.

As you can see from the Annual Consumption figures above, I use very little nighttime electricity. As a pensioner, I tend to get up late and go to bed early in winter in an attempt to save money and keep warm.

Today I received a reply from Octopus:-

"The Flexible Octopus rates from the 1st January with Government support are 32.07p/kWh and standing charge 48.90p/day."

44.17p - 32.07p = 12.1p. If you don't use much nighttime electricity, that works out 27% cheaper; a massive difference!

If I had been aware of this earlier, I would have changed my tariff as soon as Octopus took over from Avro over a year ago.

On each my bills it states:-

For your electricity
Good to know.
You’re already on our cheapest tariff for
your electricity usage. We’ll let you know if this changes.

This is clearly not the case!

I should have been notified of the cheaper tariff.

Should I consider raising a complaint with OFGEM?

If they adjust the wording to 'cheapest E7 Tariff' would it have changed anything for you? How many years have you been over spending on day? 5 years, 10 years? 

You could ask Octopus to change the wording, But they may need to spend money and months making a new computer program if you expect them to calculate if customers should be on E7 or Single rate, Or time of use, Or a EV Tariff, and on and on.

MattMattMattUK

pensionpawn said:

MattMattMattUK said:

pensionpawn said:

MattMattMattUK said:

pensionpawn said:

In Wiltshire Shell is increasing E7 to 43.013p / 21.426 in January. Has anyone been advised what the single rate is rising to? Thanks.

The single rate is not rising in January, it will be the same until April. The more important thing to look at is the difference between the various supplier rates. EDF's rates for the South West are:
PAYG, 53.3p day, 3.6p night 
Direct Debit, 49.38 day, 11.2p night
Other suppliers will offer different splits so you need to work out what will be the cheapest based on your day/night usage.

Thanks for your feedback. This is what I am doing. Shell are moving the minimum E7 usage up from 28.8% to 40.7% which makes E7 no longer viable for me. I was just clipping 30% at 40.449 and 18.862.
If anyone knows of a supplier with a minimum E7 usage below 30% I would be grateful for the information. Otherwise I'll be moving to single rate, and shifting my load times towards the traditional peaks, which is exactly what the grid doesn't need.

How are you hearing your home, storage heaters or another method? Hot water? Laundry and dishwasher?

Under floor heating across two thirds of the ground floor and gas central heating. Hot water is via solar divert for 9 months of the year and the dishwasher / washing machine run during E7. UFH is set to boost for an hour before E7 ends, however that is usually an hour and a half before we get out of bed.

On that basis I guess your benefit for E7 was always going to be marginal at best. Storage heaters and night water heating are normally required to gain the benefit and you are not using those. 

pensionpawn

pensionpawn said:

MattMattMattUK said:

pensionpawn said:

In Wiltshire Shell is increasing E7 to 43.013p / 21.426 in January. Has anyone been advised what the single rate is rising to? Thanks.

The single rate is not rising in January, it will be the same until April. The more important thing to look at is the difference between the various supplier rates. EDF's rates for the South West are:
PAYG, 53.3p day, 3.6p night 
Direct Debit, 49.38 day, 11.2p night
Other suppliers will offer different splits so you need to work out what will be the cheapest based on your day/night usage.

Thanks for your feedback. This is what I am doing. Shell are moving the minimum E7 usage up from 28.8% to 40.7% which makes E7 no longer viable for me. I was just clipping 30% at 40.449 and 18.862.
If anyone knows of a supplier with a minimum E7 usage below 30% I would be grateful for the information. Otherwise I'll be moving to single rate, and shifting my load times towards the traditional peaks, which is exactly what the grid doesn't need.

https://twitter.com/MartinSLewis/status/1604921080321175552

jonon

markin said:

jonon said:

Until now I've only been saving a few £ by being on a E7 tariff, and that's with trying to max out my night usage, doing all my dishwashing and clothes washing at night. With these changes, it's now more expensive and more effort to be on E7.

Does anyone know the EonNext single rate tariffs from 1st January? thanks

@jonon Do you have night storage heaters and a water tank? If not it may not be the tarrif for you.

Hi Markin, no night storage heater, but I do have a traditional hot water tank heated by gas or an electric immersion heater. I've never heated it from electricity, but with gas at 10.2p kw/h and night electricity at 13.9p kw/h I reckon it's still cheaper to heat it from the gas boiler? I have nothing else I can run over night to add to my night usage, other then getting carried away and rigging a system to charge batteries over night to run certain power circuits in the day, lighting etc. But the hardware expense would probably outweighs any electric savings   

fromdusktilldawn

Eon Next Flexible Tarif in Wiltshire changes as follows:

Standing charge (per day) 44.502p 44.502p

Unit rate - Day (per kWh) 44.061p 46.626p

Unit rate - Night (per kWh) 13.876p 16.441p

I see that as a 5.8% increase on the day rate and a whopping 18.5% increase on the night rate ! 

Bushy3

We have had an E7 meter for many years although we don't have electric heating. We have benefited by using high draw appliances: washing machine, dishwasher and tumble dryer during the low rate hours (We have purchased appliances with timers when replacing them*).

When prices changed in October we realised that the E7 tariff was costing us about 1% more than the equivalent single rate tariff. We needed to use 30.3% of our electricity at night to benefit, we were averaging 28%. I'm fairly certain that the break even point used to be about 25%. We stuck with E7 hoping that by being extra careful we could increase our night time usage.

The changes announced mean that we would need to use 40% of our electricity on night rate to benefit.

In the detailed letter attached to the email Octopus stated: "You are already on our cheapest variable tariff", which was not the case. Octopus quickly moved us to a the equivalent single rate tariff once we had asked, but they ought to be telling us that the single rate tariff would be cheaper.

*Fire services recommend against leaving appliances unattended. We reduce the risk by having a heat alarm in the utility room where our appliances are, networked to the others in house, so that the alarm on the landing, outside bedrooms will sound immediately the one in the utility room is set off.

Bushy3

We are participating in Octopus Saving Sessions. Now that we are on a single rate tariff will we benefit by using appliances during the evening peak on days when there is no Saving Session, increasing the comparison usage against which the 'saving' is measured?

Alnat1

To get the most reward from a Savings Session you need to use as much electricity as you can in the period 1-4 hours before the session starts.

For example, if the Session is 5.30-6.30 use as much as possible 1.30-4.30. Usage on other days counts for very little. It's a "glitch" in the formula provided by the National Grid, that the energy companies have to use

dealyboy

Article in today's (Wed. 28th Dec.) Daily Mail (Money Mail).

boaty12

EDF have advised from Jan 1st my economy 7 tariff will change from 46.59p/kwh to 54.47p/kwh for usage during the day (includes 5% vat). (the night rate falls from 11p to 7p/kwh) the standing charge of 39.02p/day is unchanged. my estimated 2023 usage is now £3100.
I cannot get an answer from EDF why my account is not protected by the government price cap! does anyone have any advice on this matter please!