Scottish Power fixed -2011 told me to wait !

sconieroany

I am with Scottish Power right now on the "online discount rate" tarrif for gas & electric, as I want to lock in to a long term deal, I called asn was advised by Scottish Power to remain on my cheaper "online discount rate" for the next few months, as this would save me money and the "fixed - 2011" would be around for a few months at least !.

This sounds fine but I don't know if Scottish power have a pulished cut off date to sign up for this, does anyone know if this happens with them, or are they likely to pull the plug one day and I'll miss the boat.

Thanks.

magyar

Well who knows.
The way this works is that SP go into the wholesale market and buy 'future power'. This then tells them how much they've got to sell to customers. When they run out of the amount they've already bought they'll just have to stop offering this product and up their prices.

Personally, I've decided to switch. The recent announcement by British Gas (poss 30% price rises in the winter) will mean lots of people want to fix - and of course Martin suggesting fixing will mean many thousands do too.

I don't think you can guarantee anything in this life and personally think that paying 5% over the odds is worth it.

To put it into perspective, if you pay for six months that you didn't need to, then you've lost around £30. If you miss out and the price goes up then you'll pay a whole load more.

sconieroany

magyar wrote: »

Well who knows.
The way this works is that SP go into the wholesale market and buy 'future power'. This then tells them how much they've got to sell to customers. When they run out of the amount they've already bought they'll just have to stop offering this product and up their prices.

Personally, I've decided to switch. The recent announcement by British Gas (poss 30% price rises in the winter) will mean lots of people want to fix - and of course Martin suggesting fixing will mean many thousands do too.

I don't think you can guarantee anything in this life and personally think that paying 5% over the odds is worth it.

To put it into perspective, if you pay for six months that you didn't need to, then you've lost around £30. If you miss out and the price goes up then you'll pay a whole load more.

Thanks for the reply, I just found it strange that a Scottish Power sales employee would try to convince me to wait a couple of months, I began to think they have alternitive motives for doing this.................maby too many money savers locked in already..LOL.

bill888

The new deals are usually designed to attract new customers imho. Existing customers are usually the last to hear about such deals.

I rang SP this morning for curiosity. The woman I spoke to couldn't tell me when they were going to withdraw FixedPriceEnergy 2011 tariff. She said they would normally be informed a few days before doing so.

My SP PriceFall2008 tariff runs out in October so it seems prudent to switch now rather than second guess what SP may do in next few weeks. My gut feeling is SP will withdraw the FixedPriceEnergy 2011 tariff near end of June if there are going to be price rises in say August. That would be six months after the previous SP price rises. (btw, EDF will be withdrawing their Fixed 2009 tariff at end of June. SP and EDF always seem to raise their prices around the same time)

As 'Magyar' has indicated, I worked out it would cost me an extra £35 to October if I switched now, but the savings next winter should more than make up for it.

loulou41

I am in the same position like you and do not know whether I should wait a bit longer. My price fall tariff will run out in November. Nobody seems to be able to tell us if the fixed price energy 2011 tariff will be withdrawn at short notice? Are you going to switch now or wait a bit longer?

bill888

I will probably switch immediately after I submit my meter readings online at the weekend. I calculated I would only save £9 on my bills if I waited 6 weeks to end of June to switch.

At end of the day, one needs to look at the long term benefits in savings to Feb 2011 over the short term additional cost it will incur by switching early.

Poppycat

I am tempted for a price fix. I am just leaving SP to BG but may return a short while, certainly I will keep a eye on prices and shop around it rarely pays to be a regularly customer

sconieroany

Just to let you know that I jumped on to the fixed deal today, after speaking to another advisor, she confirmed some of the thoughts above, that with the volume of people rushing to get on to this fixed rate, that it may be pulled without warning, so rather than lose out for the sale of £6 or so, I pulled the trigger.

Many thanks to all who posted and good luck in getting a deal.

EliTom

bill888 wrote: »

(btw, EDF will be withdrawing their Fixed 2009 tariff at end of June. SP and EDF always seem to raise their prices around the same time)

I am with EDF at the moment (online v1)called EDF yesterday and they told me they have no fixed price offer at the moment so maybe they have already pulled their Fixed 2009 tariff!

So last night decided to bite the bullet and go to SP fixed 2011 tariff - will cost £60 odd more in the first year but got £75 tracked via Quidco, so at least that covers the first year - after that should be quids in if the price warnings happen.

bill888

EliTom wrote: »

EDF yesterday told me they have no fixed price offer at the moment so maybe they have already pulled their Fixed 2009 tariff!

hmmm.... A friend rang EDF this afternoon. They were told EDF are no longer openly promoting their Fixed Price 2009 tariff due to overwhelming demand, but it is still open to existing EDF customers who specifically ask for the tariff.

EDF customers should perhaps try this special number quoted on their website:
0800 096 9000

Gemmzie

I've just changed to this, it's going to cost us about £15 more a month for now but I'm hoping the long term savings will be worthwhile and if not, I'll switch out again