When to fix?

Cinderella77

I enter my 49 day exit charge free window next Saturday, my actual tariff ends on 13th Nov. I’m currently on a v good rate and even the best I can find on the comparison sites is going to drastically increase my rates - as with everyone.
My question is do I fix again next weekend ahead of October, or do I wait till the tariff ends mid Nov, gaining an extra month and a half of good priced energy until the last day and hope that by mid Nov the fixes will be - at worse - similar to now or chance it on variable checking every day for a good fix? I’m not a risk taker, I much prefer to lock in, but the idea of staying on my current tariff as long as possible is temping .. but am I going to end up in an even worse position?

I’m also struggling to find a 12 month fix, everything is 18 or 24 months with high exit fees, which is a long time to tie into a very high rate.

Advice would be great! I don’t know what to do!

Altior

If you have gas heating, the 49 days is pretty marginal as you wouldn't expect to have much demand for central heating for much of that period.

Thus it boils down to whether you feel contracts will get more expensive over the next couple of months, and obviously how long to fix for.

Probably most of the bearish stuff is already factored in, but there is obviously a budget upcoming that could have an impact.

Portabello

Hi, I'm in almost exactly the same position, I'm on a fixed tariff that ends the end of November, and I'm panicking because I don't know if I should switch now to another fixed tariff (which is a lot more than my current one) or allow myself to slide into whatever my current provider will give me once the fixed rate ends! Single working mum on a budget, please help!

Cinderella77

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82142272#Comment_82142272

Single mum on a budget too! It’s scary isn’t it. I don’t think I have the balls to wait it out, but also hate feeling like I have no option but to suck up 24 months to get lower exit fees :(

Cinderella77

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82142265#Comment_82142265

I guess we can assume the Oct fixes which come out next month are going to be higher. Is there a chance there might be better deals in Nov?

Altior

That seems fairly unlikely to me. Personally, I tend to think better the devil you know. There doesn't seem to be the prospect in the short term of any of the critical factors improving (inflation, interest rates, commodity prices, legislation). As such, I fixed last month for two years, as soon as I could, so sacrificing 40 odd days of my cheaper contract.