I have no clue about energy tariffs - Can anyone help

klunky12

Hello,

I dont really understand anything about heating tariffs and what I should do with my current situation. 
I have come to the end of a very low  priced 4 year fixed rate service with EDF that my dad told me was a good deal!.

I just moved into a new to me house and need to sort out the energy - Gas and Electric.
I have looked on various comparison sites and I am pretty shocked at how much more expensive things are (I appreciate the global changes that have caused this).

The comparison sites all suggest I go with EDF with a unit rate of (Elec) 22.88p and (gas) 5.39p
with a 1 year fix.

An alternative is also EDF tracker with the same price as above.

I understand the difference between fixed and tracker but where I get confused is what the energy price cap is as I keep getting information about the energy price cap changing tomorrow or something? 

I gather the energy price cap is a sort of max price set by the government but does anyone know if the price cap is supposed to improve after tomorrow? Is this question a bit like asking what the lottery numbers are next week?

Whats the general thought on fixing energy prices just now?

tim_p

Start by finding out who currently supplies the property and make sure you also have meter readings from the day you took ownership. Open an account with existing supplier(s) and provide those meter readings. Then you’re free to switch to supplier of choice. 

FreeBear

klunky12 said: I gather the energy price cap is a sort of max price set by the government but does anyone know if the price cap is supposed to improve after tomorrow? Is this question a bit like asking what the lottery numbers are next week?

Whats the general thought on fixing energy prices just now?

The price cap sets the unit cost and standing charge. It doesn't set a limit on the size of your energy bill, so the more you use, the more you pay.

All suppliers (with a few exceptions) have to offer a price capped tariff (a Standard Variable Rate) which rises/falls in line with the price cap. Fixed deals where the unit rate and standing charge are pegged for 12 months exist, but most of them don't really offer much of a saving (for me at least). To my mind, going for a fixed in the current climate is a bit of a gamble - If you fix, and the SVR drops, you lose. Should the SVR go up and stay up, you'll save. If you fancy a gamble, you could try Octopus Tracker or Agile - Both track wholesale prices (daily for Tracker, hourly for Agile).

Should you decide to stick with SVR or go for a 12 month fixed, I'd suggest picking a supplier with a decent customer support. EDF & British Gas both fail in my opinion. Octopus, Eon.Next, or Outfox the Market would be my choice.

Currently with Octopus on their Tracker, and rates have been creeping up of late. Fell a bit today, so feeling a little happier - Managing to save 15-20% over SVR, so not too concerned about short term blips.

Ayr_Rage

Firstly, make sure you open an account with the incumbent supplier, on the SV tariff, once that is done you can start looking for options.

The price cap which dictates the SV rates (not bills) changes every 3 months and the next change is 1st October wheN rates are predicted to rise,

Brie

Must admit I'm still trying to figure out the energy cap.  I know it's something to do with what an average house might pay in a year.  The problem then is that people think "I'm average" so expect to pay no more than the cap without thinking about their actual energy use and the various tariffs.  

Personally I like fixed tariffs as that way you know where you are with things for a set period.  I tend to look for ones that are as low as possible and as long as possible, balancing out between those 2 things.  And then I check if there are exit fees.  If there are 0 exit fees it doesn't matter if prices drop across the board as you can switch to something cheaper.  If there's a low exit fee you have to figure that in to see if it's worth the hassle and if you'll save enough by switching.  

I was with Eon Next via Sainsburys and had a great fix for a long time.  But then found I wasn't eligible for some of the Eon deals as they said I was a Sainsburys customer, not with them directly.  Who knew?!  I'm now with Outfox because they had the cheapest tariff a while back but frankly their customer service leaves a bit to be desired.  I don't think I've had an email query answered yet in 4 months.  Might try Octopus next!

spot1034

In my view the case to fix is now strong. It is beyond dispute, with less than two weeks of the present assessment period left, that the price cap will increase somewhere around ten per cent on October 1st, yet there are fixes you can go for now which will keep your prices  on or around the level of the current price cap - i.e.at least for three months you will be making a decent saving. The risk is that after the next three month period - that is from January 1st 2025 - the price cap might drop back and make your fix less attractive. Frankly that doesn't look likely given the present state of the market, and the world. In any case you can find fixes which either don't charge an exit fee or will allow you to move to another fix with the same supplier without penalty. If you have the chance to sign up to either of these I'd say that's a no-brainer.

There are some on this board that tell you to go for a time of use tariff, and these would have saved you loads in the past year. This is not likely to be the case again in the coming year. You might still save a bit, you might not, but it'll be a much closer call and you might not want to have this dominating your life.

bob2302

Brie said:

Must admit I'm still trying to figure out the energy cap.  I know it's something to do with what an average house might pay in a year. 

It's a limit on per kWh rates and standing charges. The calculation for a typical family is just an illustration. 

BarelySentientAI

bob2302 said:

Brie said:

Must admit I'm still trying to figure out the energy cap.  I know it's something to do with what an average house might pay in a year. 

It's a limit on per kWh rates and standing charges. The calculation for a typical family is just an illustration. 

Other way around. 

It's a limit on the total bill for a particular typical usage pattern. 

From that you can work out what the equivalent unit rates and standing charges are.

The price cap is an annual £ figure.

Ayr_Rage

BarelySentientAI said:

bob2302 said:

Brie said:

Must admit I'm still trying to figure out the energy cap.  I know it's something to do with what an average house might pay in a year. 

It's a limit on per kWh rates and standing charges. The calculation for a typical family is just an illustration. 

Other way around. 

It's a limit on the total bill for a particular typical usage pattern. 

From that you can work out what the equivalent unit rates and standing charges are.

The price cap is an annual £ figure.

Incorrect.

The price cap determines the rates and standing charges, forget about actual bills, they vary from household to household.

BarelySentientAI

Ayr_Rage said:

BarelySentientAI said:

bob2302 said:

Brie said:

Must admit I'm still trying to figure out the energy cap.  I know it's something to do with what an average house might pay in a year. 

It's a limit on per kWh rates and standing charges. The calculation for a typical family is just an illustration. 

Other way around. 

It's a limit on the total bill for a particular typical usage pattern. 

From that you can work out what the equivalent unit rates and standing charges are.

The price cap is an annual £ figure.

Incorrect.

The price cap determines the rates and standing charges, forget about actual bills, they vary from household to household.

Very bold for someone who is completely wrong.  I'll say it again - go and read the official price cap details if you want.  

The price cap is a particular £ figure for a specific amount of usage.  Two actually, 0 kWh and 12000 kWh for gas, 0 kWh and 3100 kWh for single rate electricity, and 0 kWh and 4200 kWh for multi-register (think E7).

From that, we calculate what the rates and standing charges are.  The price cap does not specify unit rates or standing charges.

In fact, I'll post a screenshot of one here to save the disagreements.  This is the official publication of the price cap for 1 July to 30 September 2024, directly from the OFGEM database.



Please, if you are so certain that I am incorrect, point out where on this official publication - which is the only official source of the price cap - you find the rates and standing charge.  It might be semantics, but if you're going to call someone out on a public forum, at least try to be right about it.

Whilst in practice the only thing that matters to an individual's bill is the rates and standing charge, that is not how the cap is set or officially described.

Eldi_Dos

Interesting, so a philadelphia lawyer could argue there is no price cap on consumption over 3100 kWh on a single meter arrangement.