The Advice Thread

[jlo]

The Price Cap is designed to protect those who never switch / move off variable rates. During cost of living crisis, suppliers couldn't afford to offer better rates than price cap so everyone was de facto on the price cap. Lower rate fixes have been back for a couple of years but are quickly being removed due to threat of / actual supply problems and higher costs.

Still available with Octopus but the fixed offer has gone up. What do people here do?

 

[broughtonwolf]

Still available with Octopus but the fixed offer has gone up. What do people here do?

I now have an EV, so have switched to a lower rate night tariff for that purpose and have changed my high electricity load usage e.g. run dishwasher and washing machine overnight to benefit. This is a bit different as you can't easily run comparisons on these type of EV tariffs.

Worth noting the price cap is lagged so the April 1st quarterly review where it has been announced it will go down 7% ish is already baked in. If the Middle East issues continue to throttle supply, then the July price cap adjustment is likely to jump.

If I was still on standard dual fuel I would be looking at a 1 year fix on the best rate that's lower than the price cap (if still available) I could get today. If fixes were on price cap level, I would probably still go for a 1 year deal to derisk short term.

But it depends on your attitude to risk and things like how much of your household income is affected by Energy costs.

 

[jlo]

I suspect it makes very little difference for my circumstances but have struggled to get my head around it. Just seems a no brainer to fix if there is a risk of prices doubling in July etc, but it's not something I've ever given a great deal of thought.

 

[Tredman]

At least with Octopus you can fix and then re-fix if a new lower fix becomes available

 

[sycophantia]

I suspect it makes very little difference for my circumstances but have struggled to get my head around it. Just seems a no brainer to fix if there is a risk of prices doubling in July etc, but it's not something I've ever given a great deal of thought.

Thought I saw somewhere last night that all companies had suspended fixed contracts?

 

[jlo]

Thought I saw somewhere last night that all companies had suspended fixed contracts?

Not all. Think half are off the market. Octopus offer was still up yesterday.

So do others fix here?

 

[Tredman]

Not all. Think half are off the market. Octopus offer was still up yesterday.

So do others fix here?

I fix every month if it’s lower.

 

[jlo]

At least with Octopus you can fix and then re-fix if a new lower fix becomes available

Very good point, hadn't spotted this.