Energy Prices – To fix or not to fix, that is the question

I fixed for 5 years in June 2019.

13p off peak
16p peak

I thought I was taking a risk at the time, but liked the idea of the certainty.

The luckiest call I have made in a while.

It’s offset by 12 kw of solar and central heating is oil but we still use 3200kwh a year.

Looking for a battery next year.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/07/fuse-energy-launches-electricity-only-deal/

We are starting to see some slightly cheaper deals ahead of competition – I’m still holding off until October’s new cap to see what is launched then.

I’m looking forward to 10p off my rate next month, should save me about £20/mo

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/07/fuse-energy-launches-electricity-only-deal/

We are starting to see some slightly cheaper deals ahead of competition

“Brand new app-only supplier Fuse Energy – the first new supplier to enter the market since the start of the energy crisis”

What could possibly go wrong? We’ve not heard that one before…

I agree – but it’s a sign that for the first time in over a year that deals are likely to return, even if we are never as cheap as before.

Octopus arbitrarily doubled my pence per kWh.

On my export tariff.

My export tariff and my overnight tariff are now much the same and we have a battery.

Including charging an EV we’ve been paying £5 electricity a month before thisincluding standing charges for the last few months.  It’ll go up as the light fades but I’m expecting my electricity bill to be less than £0 across the year.   Including one EV’s worth. 👍

Fuse Energy?
Thanks but…no.

November last year my monthly DD was increased to £241.00/month (dual fuel).

It’s been coming down over the year and this Octobers monthly DD will be down below £150.00/month

That’s just on Shell’s standard variable rate.

I can’t see a reason to move to a fixed tariff just yet.

 It’ll go up as the light fades but I’m expecting my electricity bill to be less than £0 across the year.   Including one EV’s worth. 👍

Sorry, but the point of your post is what exactly in relation to the thread subject?

(Other than to say how you can afford lots of PV and an electric car while others struggle to meet the [still high] costs of basic energy requirements.)

@sharkbait – apologies you’ve made me reread what I wrote and the intention and the words don’t match.

What I was trying to say was simply that different circumstances should lead to different answers.

I’m not on a fixed and that is to my advantage.  In fact I haven’t been on a fixed for a good long time now and it has been to my advantage.

What I didn’t say, but I have on many other threads, is know the rules of the game.  Long term the best way to reduce you bills is use less, make your own if you can and use it at a time when your supplier will sell it to you cheap if you can.

Shopping round for the best tariffs and fixing or not are not daft things to do but are only short term really – still better than nothing.

And beware folk like me.  If as some folk are suggesting the standing charge gets divvied up on the unit charge it will in relative terms benefit those who use less, but it will really benefit those who can self supply – typically middle class folk with a bit of capital and industry knowledge available.

And yes I don’t really like that as a situation but it real.

Octopus have emailed me that they will be doing fixed deals that are slightly lower than what we pay now from October.
What’s the opinion of those that know?

What I was trying to say was simply that different circumstances should lead to different answers.

Thanks for clarifying that! (thought I’d sent this the other day)

What’s the opinion of those that know?

My cynical mind says that they are the ones in the know and that they wouldn’t be offering fixed prices if they thought the price of electricity was going to go up!

I really don’t know though – I have two accounts with Octopus and am wondering the same as you.

Just had an email from Shell to say my dual fuel DD is coming down to £135.00 / month. That’s the cheapest it’s been for years. (was £241.00/month last Nov).

So I’m sticking with SVR for now! 🙂

My British Gas one on the variable rates is now £91 on dual fuel for a 4 bed detached, but only 2 of us living here. Think the highest was £180. Waiting to see if a cheaper Fixed becomes available with them (the only one at present is more).

I’m with my employer and the special fixed rate is £33 cheaper than variable (allegedly, I can’t see it on my options to change). Trouble is if I go variable I get a £48 discount. Oh well.

Nothing to gloat about mind, standing charge is going to more than double.

Email from Octopus yesterday saying energy prices are going to fall 8%, the standing charge is going up slightly and we’re going to put you DD up by 25% so that you meet your target balance!

My response was that we finished the year in credit on the current payment, energy prices are going down and I have enough savings accounts thank you. Maybe they should make good on getting my smart meter readable remotely as promised 6 month ago. Went onto the portal and moved the payment back down. Bloody cheek!

Yeah, I got a 300odd quid refund the other day.

Same email here. And I’m £1k in credit as we were fearful of a huge rise…

It’s hard to get through the language – they’re saying the new tariff offer they’ve made to us as existing customers matches October’s dropped price cap? Or matches the best tariff they will have in October, which will be below the price cap?

Our Octopus email said standing charges are staying the same, unit rates going down, and our monthly payments reducing to £90 (we’re just under £500 in credit which I assume has been taken into account).

Assume standing charge increase/decrease difference is based on region you’re in?

My current octopus electric tariff changes daily based on wholesale prices and it’s been on the down which probably means gas is also on the down at the moment (presumably until we have a cold snap). I seem to be currently paying somewhere between 14p/kwh and 20p/kwh, which is definitely much less than 12 months ago. I’m wanting to switch back onto a previous tariff but standing charges, if you change to another tariff, look to have gone thru the roof. I’m not a big user, so standing charges make an impact.

@B A Nana, why do you want to switch off Tracker pls? I assume because you feel the rates are going to rise and want to lock in a fixed deal?

I want to switch back onto Octopus Agile because I think prices are going down, and more to the point, in the near future I’m thinking of changing my electric car to another deal which means I’ll start charging it at home during the night. It’s a gamble especially as Tracker v1 is 18p standing charge, switching means I’ll be paying something like 50p standing charge, but when you become a big user (charging a car on top of house use), standing charge becomes less of an issue than it would for a low user. Other options are octopus Go and intelligent octopus, but I’m a fan of Agile and have previously been on it. I’m not sure what to do TBH, fag packet maths seem to suggest it’s worth moving tariff if/when I become a big consumer of electric.

Assume standing charge increase/decrease difference is based on region you’re in?

Yes
And the irony is that many of the places which have the highest standing charge and unit rates are where much of the renewable energy is created…north of central belt and islands.

Was going to say the same, just our broken market at work.

Yeah, I got a 300odd quid refund the other day.

British Gas decided to up our direct debit from £250 to £420 the other month…and then drop it back down to £270 or something two days later. **** you very much?

And I’m £1k in credit as we were fearful of a huge rise…

i pull any credit back if it builds up, I’d rather earn the interest myself than give another bonus to the energy companies. At least octopus make it relatively easy to get it back.

Yeah they seem to be using this as an excuse to plump up cash reserves. The most idiotic thing was our direct debit was increased despite being on a 2 year fix!

I’m sure it’s already been legally challenged but it seems rather unfair that they can unilaterally and arbitrarily change contract terms (direct debit amounts) for no reason.

Anymore thoughts on fixing ,what with what’s going on where we can’t mention?
If my sums are correct ,I could get a 3 year fixed for £5 a month more than what I’m currently paying.
I really can’t see prices dropping much with the way things are going.
Your thoughts?

I have fixed my business contract for 3 years from December at 29.2p/kwh (which is half waht I have been paying for the past 11 months!). No idea if it will prove to be the right choice but at least I know where I stand now. 

I locked in with Octopus a few weeks back for a year.

I locked in

Thats interesting, like a drug I’m hooked on the ~30% discount off svr that tracker offers on elec (~20% on gas).

Am I being naive and should be anticipating a high risk of both svr and tracker shooting up this winter? I guess nobody can say

Has anyone got a link to the Octopus fixed?
I can’t find it on their site.

Zippy, I couldn’t find it in my app but logged on via website and it gives an option to change tariff.

Says something about a loyalty tariff and it’s not presented if I’m not logged on so looks like you need to be on Octopus already

…. Not sure if it helps as didn’t clock the fix period but it was 31p/elec and 7.5p/gas, with higher standing charges too that represents around a 30%/50% uplift on what tracker is currently averaging out elec/gas respectively so I’ll stick with tracker and hope I don’t regret it

Our contract is up in the shop soon. Our current supplier can do a fixed for 3 years for cheaper than what we pay now.

Crystal balls out!

@villgeidiotdan

I presume you’re happy that you stuck with Octopus Tracker?

Octopus have now ended all their old legacy smart tariff rates (I was on the original Tracker v1) and are migrating customers onto the latest versions, which I think lasts 12 months until they do the same again. So, my hand was forced a couple of months ago and I’m now on Agile Octopus Dec23 v1.  If I didn’t have an electric car I would have probably stuck with Tracker, for the convenience. If you have a big battery to charge then Agile can definitely make a big difference.