Scottish Power New 1 Year Flexi Price Tariff - Existing Customers Only?

saintscouple

Just noticed this new tariff on my SP account - somewhat confusing as part is fixed, and part is variable. 

Tariff: Help Beat Cancer Green Flexi August 2024 CM3 Online

Electric
Standing charge 49.59p
Primary unit rate 30.757p
Exit fee £100.00

Gas 
Standing charge 29.11p
Primary unit rate 7.719p
Exit fee £100.00

Prices quoted are for Southern.

The charges for our Flexi Price tariffs consist of two parts. The first part is a fixed price, the majority of which is for the energy we supply you, protecting you from any increase in wholesale energy costs. The second part is the variable costs, which are linked to external industry costs such as network, social and environmental obligation costs that may increase or decrease throughout the tariff term. If these variable costs change, the charges payable by you will be updated on a quarterly basis on 1st January, 1st April, 1st July and 1st October until the end of the tariff and these new charges will apply until the next quarterly update.

The quoted price for the tariff will be based on the latest view of energy industry charges at the point we provide a quote and prices will update automatically each quarter based on the latest published energy industry costs. As the quarterly update takes place, customers will be billed automatically on the updated charges based on their chosen payment method. You can find out more about these industry costs and your current prices at scottishpower.co.uk/flexi.

Not convinced this is a good switch for me, so will be staying on the variable tariff, or looking elsewhere. 

CSI_Yorkshire

Massive exit fee and a variable component that means you're not fixed (but likely also not covered the price cap).

No thanks.

Alnat1

Sounds like it means the unit prices are fixed but the daily standing charges can change.

SP have to pay over to the government for every customer whatever standing charge rate Ofgem declare each quarter, they appear to be covering themselves in case of any increases. If you stay on SVT then the standing charges will rise anyway if Ofgem say they must, so that part won't be any different.

The fix would save you money if unit prices go up. SVT will save you money if they drop. Your call on which way you think prices will go.

IIRC Scottish Power don't charge the exit fees unless you switch to another supplier. If you change to their SVT there is no fee.

CSI_Yorkshire

Alnat1 said:

Sounds like it means the unit prices are fixed but the daily standing charges can change.

SP have to pay over to the government for every customer whatever standing charge rate Ofgem declare each quarter, they appear to be covering themselves in case of any increases. If you stay on SVT then the standing charges will rise anyway if Ofgem say they must, so that part won't be any different.

The fix would save you money if unit prices go up. SVT will save you money if they drop. Your call on which way you think prices will go.

IIRC Scottish Power don't charge the exit fees unless you switch to another supplier. If you change to their SVT there is no fee.

If that's true, why don't they just say that?  Even their FAQs and information page, although they seem to agree with you based on the numbers, just say "at the moment, for a typical customer, it's 84% fixed and 16% variable".

Alnat1

CSI_Yorkshire said:

If that's true, why don't they just say that?  Even their FAQs and information page, although they seem to agree with you based on the numbers, just say "at the moment, for a typical customer, it's 84% fixed and 16% variable".

I'm guessing those % show the split of unit costs/standing charges for that mythical person who uses the OFGEM average amounts of gas/electric. 

My dad is a SP customer and I help him with his account. He was on a previous version of this fix earlier this year (with higher prices) and I rang and spoke to them when prices were due to fall in July. They explained about how the fix worked and I asked for him to be moved off it. He was switched to SVT without fees.

I know this is only the answer given by one member of their staff but it does appear to be correct. They just need it to be written more clearly so it's simple to understand by the general public.

saintscouple

Here is a link showing the various components, and who sets the cost.

It does state the unit rate and daily standing charge can change every quarter 

https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/flexi 
 

Scot_39

Welcome to the world of business "fixes".
Where such "pass through" style variable price component charges are not uncommon.
Building leases - including domestic flat leases etc, business power contracts etc can be full of them.

And playing devils advocate.

If you think about an old say 2 year fix ending now - suppliers were often getting sub 30p a day but paying near double to grid operators for electric etc.
Why expect that to continue ?
And if blame anyone don't blame suppliers for protecting themselves -  but Ofgem for their recent and potential future adjustments and govt for renewables method of NET Zero targets for increased electric grid costs.
Suppliers have a 1.9% ebit profit margin allowance soon 2.4% but can expect debt interest at new rates to eat into that change.
2.4% of 2074 cap = c £50.   
Losing 30p a day on SC costs = £110. 
More like £150+ if was a dual fuel fix.

Scot_39

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Massive exit fee and a variable component that means you're not fixed (but likely also not covered the price cap).

No thanks.

SP used to wave their exit fees if transfered to another internal tariff.

SVT or fixed in my experience.

And as I read it above the energy component is fixed - its the policy charges that aren't. 

So basically protection against Ofgem and govt policy swings.

Which of course would be part of any new Ofgem caps anyway.

emerald20

Can any one help, we are with SP, when we are encouraged to use of peak times, why is Economy 7 so expensive, we noticed prices had come down but Economy 7 went up, thank you 

Scot_39

Did both day and night rates go up or just night ?

The impact of EPG discounting - the rules were changed for April on day night balance of discount too - in last 3 quarters and the shifts of MR vs SR electric average unit cap prices - they shifted over 2p in Jan for instance - have led to in some cases very big shifts with some suppliers.
 
And if the SP pricing isn't suited to your mix, E7 day/night rates can vary by supplier for your region - so people have been switching to save on E7 despite nominally fixed £2500 tdcv rate EPG (in fact arguably in some cases because of).

So check - firms like edf on web and Octopus on blog publish their full all region e7 rates. To give an idea of what you might find elsewhere. So see

https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/dm1903_standard_variable_deemed_and_welcome_rate_card._for_customers_with_standard_e7_smart_payg_and_prepayment_meters.pdf

And

https://octopus.energy/blog/energy-price-cap-july-2023/


Others may do so too, but most will give a price based on postcode etc.

And some suppliers - including some of big 6 - operate referral schemes - which could say save you and referrer both upto £50 - so check with family friends or colleagues etc if willing to switch.

emerald20

Scot_39
thank you for your advice, l will certainly look into it