2 year fix coming to an end - what now?

VXman

What do people reckon is the best plan of action regarding current energy prices. Just go onto basic capped rate and see what happens, fix, tracker etc?

Gerry1

Unfortunately there's no right answer.  What's best for me might not suit you, and all bets are off if Russia, China or North Korea throw a wobbly.

Basically you have to decide whether you want the security of a fixed price that may end up costing a bit more or save a bit by riding the SVT dodgems or the tracker roller coaster but at the risk of being stung by unexpected events.

Bigphil1474

I'm nearly in the same boat - 2 year fix ends in October. I think we'll go for a 1 year fix so we know what we are paying for the year. Hopefully it won't be too costly, but equally hopefully prices will start to come down.

Mstty

Octopus agile (elec) or tracker (elec and gas) depending on your lifestyle looks good if you are willing to monitor prices.

As an example working out at 17.2p kWh for the time I have been on tracker just for electricity.(no gas here)

VXman

I've done a few comparison quotes and the only one that comes up is SO energy 12 month fix. It's about 40% up on my current tariff but that was fixed nearly 2 years ago - so probably reasonable given the rises? It's roughly around the same price as the current price cap.

Gerry1

Exit fees?

Dolor

Bigphil1474 said:

I'm nearly in the same boat - 2 year fix ends in October. I think we'll go for a 1 year fix so we know what we are paying for the year. Hopefully it won't be too costly, but equally hopefully prices will start to come down.

What makes you think that? The UK gets a lot of its gas via LNG tankers. China’s industries are opening up and they are looking for increased LNG supply.  Market pundits are not predicting that the market will fall anytime soon. We are living in a very volatile World when it comes to energy.

bristolleedsfan

Dolor said:

Bigphil1474 said:

I'm nearly in the same boat - 2 year fix ends in October. I think we'll go for a 1 year fix so we know what we are paying for the year. Hopefully it won't be too costly, but equally hopefully prices will start to come down.

What makes you think that? The UK gets a lot of its gas via LNG tankers. China’s industries are opening up and they are looking for increased LNG supply.  Market pundits are not predicting that the market will fall anytime soon. We are living in a very volatile World when it comes to energy.

3 days ago ................

Dolor

bristolleedsfan said:

Dolor said:

Bigphil1474 said:

I'm nearly in the same boat - 2 year fix ends in October. I think we'll go for a 1 year fix so we know what we are paying for the year. Hopefully it won't be too costly, but equally hopefully prices will start to come down.

What makes you think that? The UK gets a lot of its gas via LNG tankers. China’s industries are opening up and they are looking for increased LNG supply.  Market pundits are not predicting that the market will fall anytime soon. We are living in a very volatile World when it comes to energy.

3 days ago ................

Short term price changes are to be expected when supply exceeds demand and suppliers jockey for market position. No one appears to suggesting that we will see major falls in energy prices that people are hoping for. Given that the Ofgem Cap is based primarily on looking in the rear view mirror, then I would expect the Cap to be lower in October. 

The worry for January is the present LNG crisis. I see that LNG prices have risen today in the USA. That said,  I am stilling waiting before fixing given the high exit fees on most fixed tariffs. Also, I don’t see fixed prices going much below the predicted October Cap. 

In making any predictions, I could of course be totally wrong as a single event such as a sabotaged interconnector; a very cold Winter or high Chinese demand for LNG could cause gas prices to rocket.

spot1034

The assessment period for the price cap starting Oct 1st ends today, and whilst we will probably still see a fall I suspect that it will not be as much as Cornwall Insight's most recent prediction, as wholesale prices have been sharply higher during the past week and a half. Prices for the longer term are also higher than they were at the time of the last CI update. We may hear more from them tomorrow or early next week, before the Ofgem announcement. 

VXman

Gerry1 said:

Exit fees?

£75 per fuel. Not sure I'd need to exit within 12 month.