Energy bills, government ‘help’ and the like

[sojournermike]

New caps are

6.89p for gas (from 7.5p)
27.35p for electric (from 30.1p)

Standing charge caps have actually crept up a tiny bit (haven't we paid for Bulb by now?):

29.62p for gas (from 29p)
53.37p for electric (from 53p)

As there's no £400 grant, this winter is going to cost almost everyone more than 2022/23, and nothing has been done about non-gas generators being massively overpaid for what they produce.

As a low user, the standing charges are 27% of my annual spend.  That's bonkers.

Better see I if my fixed gas contract, due to start in September, falls a bit?

[Mrs Pingu]

I would. My fixed is due to run out on 14th Sept so I just left the gas to go on variable until I saw what Octopus had to offer at the new cap.

[rogerzilla]

Six weeks ago, EON offered me a new fix that knocked 19% off my monthly DD.  I bet they're kicking themselves now.

On the other hand, the sausage-munching charlatans won't let me reduce my DD to the projected amount - they only allow a 10% reduction!

[sojournermike]

I would. My fixed is due to run out on 14th Sept so I just left the gas to go on variable until I saw what Octopus had to offer at the new cap.

My fix runs out 22/9 but is at 4.4p/kWh currently. The question will be does the cap override the new fix. I’ll give them a couple of days and ask.

[felstedrider]

The cap only applies to a suppliers standard variable rate.  If you’ve fixed then you’ve fixed.

[robgul]

The cap only applies to a suppliers standard variable rate.  If you’ve fixed then you’ve fixed.

The fixed deal I have with BG has a no-penalty get out to go to variable (or any other tariff if there are any)  - at the last cap change they offered a transfer to a new fix at below variable . .  that's what I did and expect to have another offer shortly.

. . . and bit of a moan about OFGEM and info they publish - yes "the cap is now £nnn" - but why can't they publish the cap unit RATES?  - as for, probably, millions of users the annual figure bears no relation to what they are actually paying.   Each time there's a cap change I have to hunt out the unit/sc rates to work out my probable bill.

[rogerzilla]

The unit rates are above ^^ from the BBC report.

Apparently part of the cap reduction (in mythical £/year for the average house) is because we are using less energy now.  So the reduction is even more meaningless. 

[felstedrider]

You really have to dig around for the useful info and the Ofgem website is terrible.  This is, unfortunately, part of a general dumbing down.  The last 2 years have taught me how little the general public knows about the functioning of the energy market.

But, yes, we’re all using less energy so annual average consumption is being reduced.

I’m hoping to see a bit more aggressive customer acquisition from the suppliers which should result in some deals.  Current cap forecast for Q4 is a drop of about 7% on current levels.

[felstedrider]

Sorry I’m out of touch.  The Q4 cap levels have already been announced.

I’m back at work first week of October.

[sojournermike]

You really have to dig around for the useful info and the Ofgem website is terrible.  This is, unfortunately, part of a general dumbing down.  The last 2 years have taught me how little the general public knows about the functioning of the energy marketanything.

But, yes, we’re all using less energy so annual average consumption is being reduced.

I’m hoping to see a bit more aggressive customer acquisition from the suppliers which should result in some deals.  Current cap forecast for Q4 is a drop of about 7% on current levels.

FTFY


Meanwhile, a little investigation confirms my new fix is so close to the cap moving would be irrelevant. More importantly, I'm fortunate it's affordable and I have approximately zero trust in Putin's goodwill and willingness to not act to increase gas prices in winter.

[Mrs Pingu]

What I read recently suggests the cap will go up again in January, so I was planning to fix based on Q4 rates rather than pay more in Q1.

[Pickled Onion]

Well they've finally got round to giving the £400 fuel help to boat dwellers, or at least they will do in September.

It's going to be some kind of e-voucher sent to anyone with a continuous cruising licence on a specific date earlier this year.

[felstedrider]

The observation window for the Q4 cap had wholesale prices dropping for a long time but they picked up towards the end and have continued to rise.  The market already assumed no gas flows from Russia into Europe but there are risks in the LNG supply chain, European storage and weather.

The decision to fix for a year should assume prices rise in Q1 and then retreat next Summer.  If the BG offers continue to allow you to jump between products then it sounds like a free option.

[Jaded]

Octopus have just offered me a fixie, but i cannot log in to see what it is just now.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Octopus have just offered me a fixie, but i cannot log in to see what it is just now.

Does it have multicoloured eight-spoke wheels, stupidly short bars and no brakes?

[ian]

If we want people to fit heat pumps etc. then it has to be an order of magnitude easier and straightforward. I'm not doing weeks of research and then praying I find an engineer that knows what he's doing, then actually turns up and does a good job (challenge enough for a gas boiler). I'm happy enough with our 18-year-old ish boiler and tank.

Finding someone who will turn up and do a good job is pretty hard in many fields these days. There are plenty of people who can competently and install condensing boiler but still set up flow temperatures that mean it won’t condense…

Indeed, I'm not nearly 100% confident that a gas boiler will get fitted OK, so something still relatively niche like an heat pump...

[andyoxon]

Octopus have just offered me a fixie, but i cannot log in to see what it is just now.

What are the thoughts on fixed rates now?  Anyone recently fixed on to something from the current flexible rate?  Even Octopus are charging an exit fee now, for fixing at the current tariff rates.

[rogerzilla]

I got a reasonably good one from EON (19% reduction) but that was before the price cap was announced.  I doubt they'd offer it now.

[Mrs Pingu]

https://octopus.energy/blog/energy-price-cap-oct-2023/

Some interesting info on here, Octopus saying they aren't increasing their standing charge unlike Ofgem's suggestion.
We just came off a fixed last month, we went onto Flux for electric but they haven't offered us a fix for gas so we're currently on Flexible. I was waiting for the price cap announcement but I'm not sure if I can now find what the fix for gas would be on the website...

[rafletcher]

Octopus have just offered me a fixie, but i cannot log in to see what it is just now.

What are the thoughts on fixed rates now?  Anyone recently fixed on to something from the current flexible rate?  Even Octopus are charging an exit fee now, for fixing at the current tariff rates.

I went fixed, SO energy 1 year to August next year, Electrics 27.97 s/c 41.55, Gas 6.85 s/c 27.7.  Exit fees have jumped to £75 per tarriff. It was more like £10 each the last time I switched!

[andyoxon]

I went fixed, SO energy 1 year to August next year, Electrics 27.97 s/c 41.55, Gas 6.85 s/c 27.7.  Exit fees have jumped to £75 per tarriff. It was more like £10 each the last time I switched!

I've decided to fix with Octopus 12mths - the fixed rates are pretty much what the new October flex capped rate is.   Exit fees too, so will see what happens to tariffs in April 2024, but guessing* probably wouldn't be dropping massively.

[JellyLegs]

As heat pumps are far more expensive and really need major work done to the house (much bigger rads or underfloor heating) for efficient and effective operation, won't everyone without mains gas just keep flogging old oil boilers as long as they possibly can?  Typically they are used to heat older, rural, houses which are much less easy to upgrade.

I thought they'd at least harmonise the sunset dates for gas and oil.  Heat pumps absolutely terrify me.

Had a heat pump for 9 years now, after replacing an oil fired combi boiler as no gas supply in the village.  This is a 1930s detached bungalow with more modern extensions.  Had to upgrade the energy efficiency of the house first but tbh all stuff any sensible person will already have done by now.  We had to add some extra loft insulation to bring it up to the standards at the time from the 100mm or less it had in place, replaced missing draught excluder strips, adjusted leaky doors and windows to fit the openings correctly and upgrade the halogen lights to led.  All these measures were sorted in a weekend of DIY and would have paid for themselves within a couple of years regardless of the heating system used.

The heat pump installer did the calculations for heat requirements of each room and recommended I upgraded 3 rads to larger sizes, I kept the same dimensions just replaced singles with doubles/triples. Not a difficult diy job or a massive cost although I had the installer do it in the end because I took the opportunity to have them move a couple of other rad locations while they were at it to ease later building work that I had planned.  The biggest cost apart from the pump itself was installing a hot water cylinder which the house did not previously have.  Our biggest complaint about the oil fired combi was that it simply couldn’t produce a decent hot shower at more than a trickle.  Whatever solution we chose had to solve this problem which means I massively overspec’ed the tank to keep Mrs JellyLegs happy and probably doubled the cost of that element.

The heat pump was significantly more expensive than a replacement oil boiler but the RHI payments over 7 years pretty much covered the full cost of the installation plus a chunk of the additional plumbing work I detailed above as well.  The annual running costs of the heating for the 9 years have proved to be slightly less than the cost of the oil it replaced, with no need for a smelly oil tank or oil boiler, and no worries about theft of the oil or oil leaks.  The heat pump has less of a footprint than the oil tank although in a different location and the hot water cylinder sits where the boiler previously lived.

Once we got used to the different way of using it, and a faulty part was rectified which could have as easily been a faulty boiler part, the heat pump works very well, no real issues with getting adequate heat or hot water, even in the coldest winter we have had.

Of course, that’s my experience only, your mileage may vary but I would have no qualms about going with a heat pump again if I moved house.

I would like to formally retract that comment about going with a heat pump again.  It looks very possible I will be going back to oil.  Nothing to do with the performance of the heat pump technology which was great, while it worked.  The unit died last week, just over 10 years from installation.  The basic story is neither the installer nor the manufacturer can tell exactly what has gone wrong.  The best the manufacturer can do is suggest I replace various PCBs from the internals, one at a time at £400+ each and if I replace them with no joy then they will give me a list of the next bits to try.  They obviously realise this is not an acceptable solution as their recommended action is to “upgrade” to a newer model, the controller board, mounting rack and wiring for which are not compatible with my current version so must all be ripped out.  Unbelievably, the replacement cost I am being quoted is actually more than a complete new installation.  Taking up this offer would swallow all the ten years of savings I made on my running costs, the Govt grant I received and more.  I can save a substantial amount (over £3k) of this extra cost by reinstalling an oil boiler and tank.  Not sure I can afford to do anything else.

[rogerzilla]

Too late now, but are there service contracts available for them, like Homecare 200 for gas boilers?  Then it's someone else's problem.

[Cudzoziemiec]

This sounds like a prime of example of one of the ways in which "modern life is rubbish". The dangers of complexity, non-repairability, etc.

[mrcharly-YHT]

sounds like the best option you have is to find a competent engineer who can actually repair/service such devices.

When you've found one, I suggest you also buy a lottery ticket.