Confused - energy cap

afaik, the cap only applies to a supplier's default variable tariff, not to fixed.

Never heard of either of them so the chances that they will still be in business when your 12 month contract ends is pretty much negligible.

Only the suppliers who actually have generating plant and *make* electricity will survive this maelstrom of a deregulation crapfest. Clueless toy energy suppliers have unsustainable business models.

Your choice - both of them will likely be toast before too much longer and you will be put onto some other random emergency tariff and supplier with real product to sell by government edict.

Right now you are probably safer with the default variable contract than locking in an insanely high fixed rate for 12 or 24 months. I doubt that prices can really go all that much higher (but I could be wrong).

I'm quite glad my electricity contract still has 18 months to run.

I'm with Scottish power who have a fair proportion of Hydro plant so I expect they are no hurting quite as much as some that are almost pure gas plant. The dash for gas to decarbonise has had some nasty side effects. One of them is to make heating oil more cost effective!

And also a new lease of life for diesel freight locomotives.

Andy Burns wrote on 14/10/2021 :

So, does moving supplier make any difference to whether the cap applies or not?

It only applies to the default tariff you end up on at the end of a fix. It doesn't apply to a new fix, nor does it apply to a new variable deal that you join onto.

In the past suppliers for their convenience have offered those default tariffs available as variable tariffs to new customers as well (as the more expensive 'standard variable' tariffs), but now they're making a loss on every unit they sell it's in their interest not to do so.

So it's better to sit tight. If your supplier goes bust you'll be moved onto somebody else, probably under the cap (but maybe not, depending on politics). You can't get a deal cheaper than the cap apart from suppliers who are probably about to throw in the towel and haven't got around to pulling their advertised deals yet.

(or possibly, as mentioned, are sitting on a pile of hydro or nuclear. But then I'd expect they would sell those to other suppliers at the market price, not cut a special deal for their retail customers)

Theo

Theo wrote on 14/10/2021 :

Makes sense, so thanks. The best thing I can do now, is cancel the switch and stick where I am.

I can't understand why RWE want to shut down Radcliffe power station, it's LCPD exempt because they forked-out on flue-scrubbers for it, germany itself isn't exactly anti-coal and RWE split e.on into "pro-fossil" and "non-fossil" divisions with the pro-fossil division owning Radcliffe, still they want to build an incinerator on the site instead ...

The cap is a rate-cap, not a price-cap !!. Currently the tables have been reversed - people on Stranded Variable rate who have been subsidizing the switchers for years are, for now, getting gas for less than the wholesale cost.

I doubt if any company is going to offer a fixed rate that is less than the existing SVR rate cap.

For many years I switched fixed tariffs at every opportunity, then ~18 months ago there was nowhere obvious to go, so partly through waiting to see what turned up and partly laziness, I ended up on a variable default, which was never bad, and gradually became better and better compared to the alternatives ... until utility point threw in the towel

I don't understand your figures, how can you have a fixed amount each month? Our monthly usage varies from, as low as 240 kWa up to 360 kWa. I just agreed new 24 month fixed deal @ 21p per kWa on a green tariff.

The thing that really bugs me is that they say 75% of the electricity I'm buying will come from wind or solar. so why has it increased in line with that generated 100% from gas?

Mike

kWa should have been kWh!

Mike

Muddymike wrote on 14/10/2021 :

It's the tariff which is fixed, the charge per unit - they base the quotes on what you say you use per year. Your estimated consumption is then divided by 12 and you then pay that each month until your contract ends. They might decide you are actually using more or less than the estimated use, so may then adjust the amount you pay them.

Simply because they tell lies - they say 100%, but that is impossible - the wind doesn't blow 100% of the time, so during those times, they use gas, nuke and bio fuels.

on 14/10/2021, Harry Bloomfield, Esq. supposed :

The variable tariff, charges you according to what the energy costs each month.

You are also paying for all those who get the warm house discount. You are also paying for all those people who are getting FITs payments for solar. You are paying for all the subsidies for building wind farms. You are also paying twice - once for the energy from wind/solar and then for all the backup needed when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine plus payments to the backups for remaining in readiness when the wind/solar is actually producing.

Because you're buying energy. Gas is one form, electricity is another, but basically its all energy. Many industries, and indeed many households, can switch from one to the other. My previous employer ran a high-temperature tunnel kiln that had burners for either gas or oil, and they could switch from one to the other. Most households with gas also have electricity (but not necessarily the other way round of course). If gas gets too expensive, turn off the CH boiler, switch on the immersion and the electric fan heaters in the rooms. Demand for electricity rises and hence so does the cost. Supply and demand.

I'm with OVO, having been switched from Southern Electric a few weeks ago - no option, they just did it. I see OVO is claiming to be 100% carbon-neutral. Quite laughable of course, but I don't care as long as it keeps coming.

In article <sk8taa$jvu$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, Harry Bloomfield <?.?@harrym1byt.plus.com.invalid> writes

You will be moved to the variable tariff if you do nothing. They are always cheaper in the short term, question is which way will they move in the medium to long term. Once the EU/Germany/Biden caves into Putin gas prices may well come down.

I'm in a similar position to yourself. My 2 year deal with EDF is coming to an end. I'm sticking with variable for the time being

It may be possible, if they have sufficient renewables available. At time of shortage they could buy in gas fired power and then at times of excess, export the excess to pay back the amount used from gas sources. Over the year, they could balance out.

Regulation is a way to make what you don't want, unprofitable. The War on Cars has made London unvisitable, as well as Oxford and Cambridge .

Running flue scrubbed coal is expensive.

Not quite. A fixed tariff is unchanging during the contract period (unless the supplier goes bust). A variable tariff can be changed, with a notice period, but I don't think historically they have adjusted as frequently as every month.

In any case, since they are all working pretty close to the cap, it can't increase until the cap does. Next spring will not bring good news.

Chris