There are no cheap energy tariffs. Message from Martin Lewis about cheap energy prices

Is that £210.92 the cap price or will it increase monthly?

Your monthly bill will depend on usage.

when it’s clearly cheaper to do nothing…
The price cap will be recalculated and apply from April and then again in October. The new value is determined in February and reports suggest upwards of a 50% rise should be expected.
 
£94 my dual fuel bill came to in Dec. That’s just me (and my cats lol) in a 2 Bed Semi.

When I logged in yesterday (Ovo) and looked at their 2-3 year fixes (im on a floating rate at the mo), the Gas/Elec charges were roughly 3 times higher than what i’m paying now!

Gonna be a big wake up call for many come April. Together with the big NI hike.

Mooted 5% Vat cut on bills is like putting a sticky plaster on a machete wound!

Winding back all the so called green energy taxes would be better. For starters.
 
That’s a long term fix. Irrelevant in the short term.
 
Reducing the demand through properly insulated homes would be better.

Long term yes, but not a huge help in the short term. Even more so on an individual level for those of us who have already done everything we can to insulate our homes and reduce our usage.
 
I was paying £60-70 a month throughout winters until avro went bust. My December bill with eon has come in at £120 😳.

Interestingly it’s not actually the gas that’s hitting me it’s the electricity price. It seems the price of a unit is almost double what I was paying before.
Gas is used to generate electricity in this country.

The following is a live scorecard of what source is being used to generate UK power, right now more than 50% is gas. UK is generally quite good in being about 50% fossil fuel and 50% renewable (which includes nuclear) in summer but as demand goes up in Winter the ratio swings towards fossil fuels.

 
Annoyingly I'd just got the Misses on board with putting on a jumper instead of the heating. Looks like I'm going to have to get her to read by candlelight now and the little one to put on plays for us to watch instead of the TV to lower our electricity usage :laugh:
 
Same story here, just dropped from my fixed rate to a flexible rate, £130 a month to over £180. They are offering me a 2 year fixed rate at £375 :eek: .

Put my postcode into Octopus and even they say stay on your new flexible rate.

Heat or eat is going to become more of a reality for many in our communities
 
I’m not sure exactly how it’s calculated, price caps and whatnot - I know this is set to increase several times over the course of the year.

Am I right in surmising it could/will work out more expensive to sign up to a fixed rate under current circumstances?
 
I’m not sure exactly how it’s calculated, price caps and whatnot - I know this is set to increase several times over the course of the year.

Am I right in surmising it could/will work out more expensive to sign up to a fixed rate under current circumstances?
The calculation is pretty complex but a lot of it is based on wholesale prices in the recent past (last 6 months) among other things. Do not sign up to a fix at the moment as they are way over any forthcoming rise in April’s price cap. The industry is still waiting to hear what if any changes Ofgem might make to the calculation also.
 
Glad I see this thread, we are with Octopus, just done a reading and sent it in to Octopus. Just called them, currently pay £250 a month for Gas/Elec. We are currently in debt £1990. Just upped our monthly payment to £350.

Detached house 4 bedrooms, underfloor heating down stairs that's on from November to March. Hot tub also, god know what it will be come April.
 
Given my example above (from £130 fixed to £180 flex) and a bit of man math suggest if we get a 40% increase in the cap I'm looking at paying around £250, compared to their offer of £375 fixed. Still nearly double my previous fixed but not treble.
 
My Dual Fuel Green Future Mar 2022v2 Tariffs with British Gas ends in late March, so better to just move onto the variable than move supplier or a new Fixed Tariff?
 
My Dual Fuel Green Future Mar 2022v2 Tariffs with British Gas ends in late March, so better to just move onto the variable than move supplier or a new Fixed Tariff?

have a read of this, just posted by Martin Lewis today ...
I've been calling for Government intervention to prevent an energy bill crisis before 1 April, when the price cap - which most bills are now based on - is predicted to rise 51% adding typically £600/yr to bills, a nightmare that'll throw millions into fuel poverty. Unsurprisingly, with this prediction many are asking me if they should now move off the price cap to fix?

After number-crunching, for most, it's still a 'no', but for the first time in many months fixing may be worth it for a few. Below I take you through it, or you can watch my five-minute video explanation. (BELOW ↓)

From his ITV show last Thursday ...
(usually broadcast live at 8.30-9.00pm every Thursday)

 
Given my example above (from £130 fixed to £180 flex) and a bit of man math suggest if we get a 40% increase in the cap I'm looking at paying around £250, compared to their offer of £375 fixed. Still nearly double my previous fixed but not treble.
The current estimate is for a 50% increase in the price cap in April unless the government step in to give a temporary cut VAT and/or subsidies on bills.
 
Gloomy prediction ...
Chris O'Shea, chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica, said there was "no reason" to expect gas prices would come down "any time soon".

He said hopes that bills rising by more than 50% to about £2,000 a year would be short-lived may be misplaced.

Rising energy bills have raised concerns over the cost of living.

"The market suggests the high gas prices will be here for the next 18 months to two years," Mr O'Shea told the BBC.
 
It's an absolute disgrace that so many are going to be pushed into poverty over this. The cap rise is coming in at least in the spring, but I dread to think what's going to happen next winter when people can't afford to heat their homes. The elderly in particular.
 
Chris O’Shea will be OK


Profits at the UK’s biggest energy supplier rose to £172m for the first six months of the year, from £78m in the same period last year, even after losing 114,000 home energy customers since the end of last year.

Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of the British Gas owner, Centrica, said the unusually cold start to the year, compared with an unusually mild spring in 2020, helped to boost its first-half profits by about £50m.

British Gas also benefited from a hike in the energy regulator’s price cap, which rose by an average of £96 a year for 11m homes using a standard dual-fuel energy tariff.
 
Just had out renew come in, £25 more a month on the Flexi one and £150 more a month on the Fixed one.....

I assume like everyone else it's best to stay on the Flexi one, we would certainly struggle coming up with £150 more a month at the moment. We could obviously but we would have to cut out a fair few things.
 
Just had out renew come in, £25 more a month on the Flexi one and £150 more a month on the Fixed one.....

I assume like everyone else it's best to stay on the Flexi one, we would certainly struggle coming up with £150 more a month at the moment. We could obviously but we would have to cut out a fair few things.

Which supplier are you with (if you don’t mind me asking)?
 
Switched to the Octopus Loyalty tariff.

I have three tariff windows: before April, after April and the potential October rise. Anything above 35.3% in April and no change in October makes the Loyalty tariff a better deal, assuming like-for-like usage. No exit fees, so worth the gamble.

After referral discounts, the loyalty DD is about an 84% rise.
 
Hopping onto this as mine is up with Shell at the end of Feb.

4 bed detached. New build, 2 adults, 3 kids, fruggle use so quite low users in relative terms.

Current annual dual (Shell V5 Feb 2022) - £929 - £77pcm
Best 1 year fixed - £1,927 - 107% more - £160pcm
Best 1 year fixed - £1,988 - 114% more - £165pcm
Variance to April - £1,357 - 46% more - £113pcm
Expected after April with a 45% increase from there - £1,873 - 111% increase - £156pcm
Expected after April with a 50% increase from there - £2,053 - 119% increase - £171pcm

So, based on that usage, I'm going to be paying £36 more per month for 2 months then potentially £94 more a month from April until October. Real terms, that's about £1,500 a year.
Where will this money come from? The impact to the old of those on a low to medium income is massive.

The rich will get richer, the normal people will get poorer or die. No avoiding it. There will be deaths. Fuel poverty will be here until something is done.
 
Too late for the short term.

5% VAT cut. Meh. Scrap the ridiculous green charges on bills would save a chunk more than the VAT. More Gas generation and less on imports.

A future leader could make a real change but they need to be brave and spell it out.

Killing off a load of old people in fuel poverty is probably seen as acceptable as though, as long as our Green credentials are doing ok. :rolleyes:

Edit. The NI tax is coming along at the same time.

Gonna be a bloodbath in the media (both left and right) in the coming months.
 
can energy companies break a fixed tariff?

I'm on a 24 month fixed with octopus until october 2023 and its nice and low at the moment. Comparing what I could get if I had to switch and it doubles so i'm hoping that I can sit tight on this fixed rate for at least the next couple of years
 

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