NEW GUIDE: Stick, switch or fix your energy tariff - what are your options?

dealyboy

Thanks for the new version Clare ... .

HELENTROY

After a year on a fixed, today I’m on the Eon Next variable. I’ve been trying to work out for ages what I should do and I’m just not getting anywhere. I’m a low user - last year smart meter use Kw Electricity 760, Gas 3000. 50% approximately % of my bill is standing charge. As calculations are always for ‘average use’ I just can’t work out which deal is the possibly the best one for me. Any help/advice very much appreciated. Also if I’m posting in the wrong thread please let me know. Thanks.

koru

The article points out that with the Octopus Agile electric tariff prices spike from 4 to 7pm, as demand goes up then. It is right that this means you are probably paying more than the government price cap rate during those hours, but for the other 21 hours of the day you are likely to be paying a lot lower. Unless most of your usage is in those three hours, the average price over 24 hours is going to be lower than the price cap rate. (At least this would have been the case every month for the last year.)

If you have electric heating (including heat pumps), most of your electric usage is going to be heating, so you can make sure that your electric usage in those three hours is very low, as you can just programme your heating to be off. The temperature shouldn't fall too much in that time.