New Price Cap 1 April 2026 Octopus Fixed

bigg

I'm on the Octopus Fixed Tariff until 3 June 2026, 24.08p per kWh, 47.28p per day and pay via DD £204 per month. No gas. I'm a bit confused as to what to do for the best.

Do I just stick with it, until the tariff expires on 3 June or change to a new tariff, on 1 April. There is no penalty for changing tariffs.

QrizB

If you can switch to a cheaper tariff, switch.

If not, don't.

There's no point over-thinking it.

Kim_13

Octopus have committed to passing on the savings in full come April, so you can expect the charges on your current tariff or any Octopus fixed tariff you switch to ahead of Apri to be reduced. Some other suppliers have made similar commitments but not all of them, so it is important to check before switching to another supplier that may be cheaper now, but end up more expensive in April - especially if the tariff you switch to would have an exit fee.

In terms of Octopus, we have just switched Electricity tariff today to high 24's, so it is more expensive than yours on unit rate but about 3p cheaper on the standing charge. Check what is available in your region to see how much of a difference there is and weigh up whether to move now or stick with what you have hoping that tariffs won't start heading upwards again by June. Since we can expect the visible adjustments to current tariffs, time will tell whether - and if so, how quickly - the policy cost savings will be absorbed by an uptick in the tariffs on offer after April.

Octopus (usually) take the exit fee gamble out of the equation, but unless a tariff is available that works out cheaper for your usage, there is still a gamble over whether to jump before you have to in order to have price certainty for another winter, or to stay until the end and hope the prices on offer then are no worse than they are now.

MikeJXE

I'm on an Octopus 12M fix so I checked for a better one today, we can save £10 a month they say, I'm a very low user and the new fix is more expensive.

Telegraph_Sam

I am still trying to work out if there is a prospect for improvement in a fixed tariff (in my case Fixed 14 M) come April. It still has a few weeks to run. When is fixed not fixed?

Scot_39

The Apr svt cap announcement on Wed morning had £66 extra in network costs and £17 extra for supply management added into wholesale cost lines. £88 inc vat.

luckioy for duel fuel customers gas price savings offset those extra costs - just as tgey did in Jan dedpite a c5% electricity unat rste increase on svt cap.

if not for wholesale gas price dropping - the not the promised - £117 cap more likely to have been an even lower c£77 - around half the £154 treasury average estimatd built into taxation plansl

the real quedtion is if fixes have to pass on one set of govt changes - do they also pass on the others - and if so not just tge ones in April but the recent ones in Say Oct and Jan if say the fix taken from July to Sep etc.?

Judhing by ml clip he seems to think not - as his clip on bbc site was talking about fixes saving more - he clearly thinks those on fixes should have their cake qnd est it. hardly seems fair to me.

Scot_39

unless its one of the rare instances when Octopus did have exit fees - their fixes are only notional fixes in some respect as no ties anyway.

with no exit fee your free to swap at anytime - or stay - if rates better.

ML was suggesting if stay they could be better.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2lpl9lxw2o

around 48 sec in when uses the phrase "potentially more than" svt saving - the £117 df dd cap announced by ofgem.

Telegraph_Sam

I find this confusing. Unless it is simply a case of suck it and see come April. Rather than switch to a different fix now in anticipation of worse to come.

EssexHebridean

It still doesn't feel clear to me whether anything actually IS going to be passed on now, allowing that it seems that the way this "saving" is being implemented has changed since it was first discussed. The conversation about suppliers making reductions to existing fixes centred around the original narrative that this was going to be managed via some sort of effective "rebate" - which isn't now the case.

IOWJJBTM2025

You are on a fix until 3rd June and assume there is a penalty if you leave now. I would guess that the penalty is more than what you can save.

Sometimes a supplier may allow you to swap tariff early without penalty - maybe Octopus will offer you something cheaper - try talking to them. Currently Octopus is not the cheapest but they have a zero penalty so you can swap again if you find a cheaper option in the near future.

If you wait until 15th April you can leave penalty free 49 days early. At this point you can look at every supplier.

Are you worried that if you wait until after 1st April you may not get the discount?

Is the question around : -

• Swapping now and then getting the government discount added post April 1st

or

• wait until after 1st April and hope the rate will include the full government discount.

There are enough people including MSE watching the energy companies to make sure that the government discount is not swallowed up into their profits and so would guess that the difference would be negligible..

QrizB

You are on a fix until 3rd June and assume there is a penalty if you leave now. I would guess that the penalty is more than what you can save.

Octopus mostly don't have exit fees on their fixed tariffs. A few of their fixes do, but it's rare.