Have I made a mistake?

Cynthia_12

Hoping for some feedback/advice please.
I'm with British gas, standard variable, a low user Electric 858kWh Gas 1958kWh per annum.


Pre 31/3/24
Electric 35.68p/day unit 15.57/night unit SC 54.34/day
Gas 7.34/unit SC 29.6/day

DD £60.10 
/month
Account in credit by £75.00 Bill 1/4/24

1/4/24 New Standard variable rate 
Electric 28.45p/day unit 14.70/night unit SC 62.82/day

Gas 6.0/unit SC 31.45/day

My maths was isn't brilliant. Unit costs will reduce (£??)
SC increase electric £31 ish Gas £6.75 ish annually 

DD £60.10 They don't offer a reduction, you have to argue the toss, possibly £5-10 less.

Have decided to ditch Economy 7. It's not worth it to me as I have tried to reduce energy usage as much as possible.

Today changed tariff to BG 1 Year fix

Electric 23.41p/ unit SC 50.88/day
Gas 5.84/unit SC 24.50/day
DD £45/month (taking into account £75 credit)

Have a 14 day cooling off period. Have I made a mistake ? TIA

MattMattMattUK

If you can give us your day and night split then we can work out the exact costs of the options. 

Cynthia_12

Thank you Matt

1 Jan - 31 March Day 165 kWh Night 79kWh 

MattMattMattUK

Cynthia_12 said:

Thank you Matt

1 Jan - 31 March Day 165 kWh Night 79kWh 

Can you supply the full year figures? Night usage (if charging storage heaters) is normally higher in winter, where as in summer that would eb close to zero.

Scot_39

1)  E7 vs SR

Price comparison comes down almost entirely to off-peak share of total use - not the total itself - and easiest comparison is to work out your average unit price.

If you have reduced usage by cuting more energy usage at night rate than day rate - and might want to revert as price pressures have eased a little - influencing that mix - that's another issue.

And its pretty diffucult to give a comparison of variable E7 vs SR on fix - were you given the variable SR rate as an altenrative - I am going to guess your in Midlands supply region based on the E7 SC and gas prices - so SVT a slightly higher 23.84p cf fix at 23.4p.

79 / (79+165) = 32% electric - and an average unit rate of 24.1p on the April pricing  VS the single rate on fix of 23.4p.

If you use the night rate for heating and hot water - that balance can be very seasonal (for me - on E10 not E7 - 90% deep winter - when heating dominates off peak to 50% summer HW tank dominates off peak) .  If just HW or just normal power - a lot less so.  Hence request for annual mix above if you have it.

It's not screaming a big saving or a big loss on those unit rate numbers alone rate wise - but theirs also that c19p a day saving on SC.  Which as a low user - is a non trivial impact - see below (*).

2)  Night Rate Specific Kit - HW Immersion and Heaters (mainly Night Storage Heaters)

Some homes - like mine (built late 90s - so not that old ) - rely on e7 (or other multirate meters) to switch on / off high demand devices - HW immersion and NSH - at the off peak times.  

Many others have e7 metering - the meter is only switching the charge rate based on time of day.

Many will leave the meter alone - when billing at SR on an E7 meter anyway.  But it's an area you might not have thought about when making the decision.

So can you confirm how your home / HW is heated  ? And if electric - do you know how they are controlled  ?

3) Fix or Variable

Rates are currently expected to fall in July and climb again in Oct and next Jan (although note CI's predicted pricing for Q3 and Q4 have been revised up for those based on Mar pricing - vs those predictions just a month ealier based on Feb pricing - and could change again - but already - forecast more expensive than current April pricing next winter for SR electric - and closer on gas).

https://www.cornwall-insight.com/predictions-and-insights-into-the-default-tariff-cap/

vs averages at

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/get-energy-price-cap-standing-charges-and-unit-rates-region

But it's all crystal ball - even July pricing not finalised - let alone Oct or Jan next year caps - your fix will cover.

And as you will see from the number of posts here - fix vs variable opinions are mixed either way - and the offers have been changing regualrly too.

(*) But given your low use the 19p saving you have locked in on SC for the year 

- will pay for quite a few pence variation in unit rates - in any case.  

12p over 2.3kWh electric = 5.3p, 

7p over c5.3kWh gas=1.3p.  

Or another way -

-  c£70 on SC - would pay for quite a few units of energy - at c23.4 electric = c300kWh or at c5.8p gas = 1200 kWh ( or a mix of the two).  

Maybe making life that little more comfortable - no one likes scrimping every hour of the day every day - or just cheaper if continue.

So if you can give more info on heating - and perhaps then annual off peak / peak mix if electric - that would help ?

Cynthia_12

Scot_39

Thank you so much for your response. Apologies for not replying earlier.

I have decided to go with the one year fix, primarily on the savings to be made on the SC's as a low user.

The only savings I made on E7, were running the washing machine and dishwasher overnight.

This may change after 12 months when I may need to replace my combi gas boiler or consider electric heating.

This confirmed it for me 

But given your low use the 19p saving you have locked in on SC for the year 

- will pay for quite a few pence variation in unit rates - in any case.  

12p over 2.3kWh electric = 5.3p, 

7p over c5.3kWh gas=1.3p.  

Or another way -

-  c£70 on SC - would pay for quite a few units of energy - at c23.4 electric = c300kWh or at c5.8p gas = 1200 kWh ( or a mix of the two).  

Maybe making life that little more comfortable - no one likes scrimping every hour of the day every day - or just cheaper if continue.

Sincerely, many thanks. 

bristolleedsfan

Fixed Lighter 12M v2 very recently introduced seems to have lower SC at least for Gas than v1

North West Region

Unit rate

5.98p per kWh

Standing charge

14.33p per day

Fixed Tariff 12M v3 - also very recently introduced - Cheaper SC/Unit rate than v2

Unit rate

5.61p per kWh

Standing charge

26.14p per day


SVR

Unit rate

5.96p per kWh

Standing charge

31.62p per day