Moving to fix, but not sure it's worth it...

woody200

Hi all,

First time posting on here so sorry if its not written so well, and thanks for any help in advance.

We're currently with edf and up until yesterday were on the price cap (26.49 p/kwh 45.68p sc electricity and 7.86 p/kwh 29.81p sc gas). Our usage is 4200kwh electricity and 11800kwh gas.

When I did a comparison about a month ago the prices for fixes were not much cheaper than what we were paying and didn't get round to dealing with it, now they've shot up.

Now we've fixed the electricity with edf Freephase for 24 months. This tariff has 3 prices, cheaper (18.39p), normal (26.76p), and very expensive (47.2p), because I think we can reduce our electricity consumption between 4-7pm to less than 5% of our usage.

The question really is, is our switch to a fix for gas worth it? The fix is also with edf 9.77 p/kwh 35.06p sc for 2 years. My calculations suggest compared to doing nothing, using edf forecasting data we'll be £58.80 worse off on the fix for October to December, but £61 and £21 better off January to March, and April to July respectively.

Now, obviously any forecast well into the future is not so reliable, but the immediate effect is being almost £60 worse off and now I've got to worry about a £100 exit fee.

At the moment I'm still in edf 14 day 'cooling off period', so some advice would be appreciated.

StevieP21

Factor in the £100 from the budget if you are house band A-D

The decisions depends on your attitude to risk and ability to pay if gas shoots up massively in Jan.

Arunmor

Factoring in the £100 has no bearing at all, you either get it or you don't.

Below is a chart for the December UK Gas future that will give you a clue as to why the quotes are so high. Early-mid June was the optimum time to fix. We don't have gas but I managed to fix my electricity at 20.56p (no VAT) I fixed at the end of June and the prices were already moving upwards.

Personally I woud probably only fix for 12 months (as I did) in the current climate, in the vague hope the Iran war will be over and things will calm down. Having said that I'm still a bit twitchy and now I would probably ride it out until next spring/summer and cross my fingers. Damned if you do damned if you don't. You have to bet on geopolitical events

Newbie_John

Nobody knows.

If all the wars end soon - gas prices will go down a lot and those who fixed for 24 months will lose.

If they remain in current state / escalate - then those who havent fixed will be at loss.

If you want security and not worry about these outcomes - fix.

Scot_39

Exactly - fixes used to be about stability - not savings.

In past - pre Ukraine - in more stable times fixes usually carried a small premium - 2 yrs almost always - not a saving - even often only the odd percent or two per year for normal inflation - at many of big 6.

And you fixed for stability - to know you would be paying the same tomorrow as you did today.

And for my parents on low fixed incomes - thats what I used to do when running their accounts under POA -long term fixes for stability.

pete-20-11

I think Martin Lewis said prices could go up 27% in January (in his show yesterday).

The price cap runs on historic data and gas prices have not been good recently.

Presumably January to March is when we use the most gas too.

But as others have said, fix if you need the certainty. If you're a risk taker in life, then maybe look at alternatives like staying over the standard variable tariff or a tracker.