Is it worth trying to fix electricity now? 27 January at 11:49PM in Energy 6 replies 804 views

H3MCM

Hi, 
Any advice welcome 🤗 
I was with EDF Energy until they went bust and was transferred to British Gas. We are out of contract - on the price cap.
Is it worth trying to move or get a fix? Or is the best advice to wait on the price cap and see what happens?
Thanks

Mobtr

EDF haven’t gone bust & you’ll be very lucky to find a fix at the moment, don’t think anyone is doing them 

Dolor

mortgageFTB said:

No. Wholesale prices are much lower, don’t fix.

Move to octopus tracker, todays prices are 24p kWh for elec and 6.7p kWh for gas 👍🏻 for Yorkshire http://mysmartenergy.uk/Tracker/Yorkshire 

Octopus are allowing online signups/switches again! Get £50 credit for your switch xxxxxxxx.      

Naughty. Referral codes are in breach of forum rules.

pochase

mortgageFTB said:

No. Wholesale prices are much lower, don’t fix.

Move to octopus tracker, todays prices are 24p kWh for elec and 6.7p kWh for gas 👍🏻 for Yorkshire http://mysmartenergy.uk/Tracker/Yorkshire 

Apart from posting a referral code which is not allowed by forum rules this is also not really a good advice.

While the old trackers had a cap at about the same price as the Ofgem cap, the new caps for tracker are much higher, latest I know was at £1 for electricity minus 18p EPG.

So if the prices go up again somebody on tracker might just pay 2.5 times the SVT rate. For somebody who does not follow the prices every day and reacts immediately this could be a very expensive exercise.

For example, an electricity unit rate of 120p / kWh is capped at 100p / kWh, then reduced to 82p / kWh. A gas unit rate of 35p / kWh is capped at 30p / kWh, then reduced to 23.3p / kWh.

mortgageFTB

pochase said:

mortgageFTB said:

No. Wholesale prices are much lower, don’t fix.

Move to octopus tracker, todays prices are 24p kWh for elec and 6.7p kWh for gas 👍🏻 for Yorkshire http://mysmartenergy.uk/Tracker/Yorkshire 

Apart from posting a referral code which is not allowed by forum rules this is also not really a good advice.

While the old trackers had a cap at about the same price as the Ofgem cap, the new caps for tracker are much higher, latest I know was at £1 for electricity minus 18p EPG.

So if the prices go up again somebody on tracker might just pay 2.5 times the SVT rate. For somebody who does not follow the prices every day and reacts immediately this could be a very expensive exercise.

For example, an electricity unit rate of 120p / kWh is capped at 100p / kWh, then reduced to 82p / kWh. A gas unit rate of 35p / kWh is capped at 30p / kWh, then reduced to 23.3p / kWh.

While the top of the cap is high, if you look back at the data over the past month or so, it’s never even been close. 

Additionally, Octopus will move you off the tariff, effective on the date you requested it. So even if I request to be moved off on Monday, and they don’t reply until Tuesday, they honour the Monday request. I have this in writing from them.

So all in all, that’s actually virtually no risk. It’s a no brainer.

Yes, you have to keep an eye on the daily rate - but it’s 2 seconds to check in the app.

H3MCM

Mobtr said:

EDF haven’t gone bust & you’ll be very lucky to find a fix at the moment, don’t think anyone is doing them 

Sorry my mistake, I meant PFP Energy 🤦🏻‍♀️

ariarnia

mortgageFTB said:

pochase said:

mortgageFTB said:

No. Wholesale prices are much lower, don’t fix.

Move to octopus tracker, todays prices are 24p kWh for elec and 6.7p kWh for gas 👍🏻 for Yorkshire http://mysmartenergy.uk/Tracker/Yorkshire 

Apart from posting a referral code which is not allowed by forum rules this is also not really a good advice.

While the old trackers had a cap at about the same price as the Ofgem cap, the new caps for tracker are much higher, latest I know was at £1 for electricity minus 18p EPG.

So if the prices go up again somebody on tracker might just pay 2.5 times the SVT rate. For somebody who does not follow the prices every day and reacts immediately this could be a very expensive exercise.

For example, an electricity unit rate of 120p / kWh is capped at 100p / kWh, then reduced to 82p / kWh. A gas unit rate of 35p / kWh is capped at 30p / kWh, then reduced to 23.3p / kWh.

While the top of the cap is high, if you look back at the data over the past month or so, it’s never even been close. 

Additionally, Octopus will move you off the tariff, effective on the date you requested it. So even if I request to be moved off on Monday, and they don’t reply until Tuesday, they honour the Monday request. I have this in writing from them.

So all in all, that’s actually virtually no risk. It’s a no brainer.

Yes, you have to keep an eye on the daily rate - but it’s 2 seconds to check in the app.

with respect to the op. someone who thinks edf went bust and doesn't know there arent any open market fixes at the moment maybe isnt someone who will check the daily rate on their energy?

not knocking it. theres a reason we're not on the tracker as we wouldn't either.

its a great tarrif for some people but not good general advice for everyone without a proper explanation of the risks and how to make it work (which you didn't give).