Some of you may know, but I'm a bit of a whizz with the ol' lecceroo..... (usually with a 'bang' after the whizz). In truth, I'm far more adept at managing my tariffs and ensuring I get the best price possible. This is because I have two properties - my dwelling and my business, which is a furnished holiday let.
The FHL is electric only, with ceramic smart radiators and a hot tub that runs 24/7 plus an immerser tank for the house hot water. Because of this, the annual usage for the FHL sits around 19,000kwh. The average UK home uses around 3100kwhs!
That means I could be going from an annual bill of approx £3100 based my current rate of 16.9ppkwh to an annual bill of approx £8500 based on a current standard tariff of 41ppkwh - had I not paid attention.
The reason I'm doing this post, is that a quick poll of work colleagues showed that pretty much no-one seems to have really clocked on to what is about to happen in April when the rates go up on the cap. One of my friends was getting quotes for two year fixed of 51ppkwh! That means an average use house would see their bill jump by over 300%. This of course isn't even taking into account gas, which is hiking up as well.
So I thought I'd start this to get people thinking, and let people post up their current supplier and rates or quoted rates, and encourage people to figure out what they're going to do before April.
It comes down to maths. If you have six months left of your current good tariff, then yes, you might be better off staying on it. If you've only got one or two, you may want to swap now - although you'll swap to a higher tariff, you're banking on it being not as high as what you'd get in two months time.
I'm with Octopus Go - It's designed for people with EVs, although I know of people who have it without having an EV. Both houses will move onto the new rate as of the 1st of April, jumping from 16.9ppkwh for leccy to 31.5ppkwh. From 0030-0430hrs it's around 7ppkwh. Gas is a standard rate at about 9ppkwh I believe.
You need a SMETS2 meter to get this, it has no exit fee and you can cancel at any time. Don't start bickering here about SMETS2, take that to the SMETS2 thread.
Their customer service is excellent, and I've had a fair experience of the good and the bad (Scottish Gas, SSE, both utter shite, Ovo excellent at the start, now overwhelmed, and Powershop which was very niche and forward thinking with brill service).
Interestingly with Octopus, they have lots of forward thinking and innovative tariffs. If you have a house which is entirely self-sufficient via solar and battery, you could for example be on their Agile rate - this means you pay market rates (which is very expensive) but you can also feed in at above market rates which means you could feed in at 48ppkwh. That's an excellent rate, but only benefits those with excess, which I doubt many have. At one point the feed in rate peaked at £2.38!!!
So my big push here is:
Above all else, just make sure you don't get caught out if you're on a standard variable tariff - i.e your contract has ended and you've been bumped onto a default rate, because your arse will get felt hard and lovingly come the rate rise in April.
If you decide you want to join Octopus, then you can use this referral code to get £50 (as do I):
share.octopus.energy
but this isn't my focus here. I just don't want folk getting shafted, but I'm just concerned at the number of people not aware really of what's coming. If I get any referrals, I'll donate £25 from each one to Erskine.
Anyone else got a good provider and an idea of their rates or what they're being quoted?
ETA: This website is the dogs balls and shows all the Octopus rates across the country:
www.energy-stats.uk
The FHL is electric only, with ceramic smart radiators and a hot tub that runs 24/7 plus an immerser tank for the house hot water. Because of this, the annual usage for the FHL sits around 19,000kwh. The average UK home uses around 3100kwhs!
That means I could be going from an annual bill of approx £3100 based my current rate of 16.9ppkwh to an annual bill of approx £8500 based on a current standard tariff of 41ppkwh - had I not paid attention.
The reason I'm doing this post, is that a quick poll of work colleagues showed that pretty much no-one seems to have really clocked on to what is about to happen in April when the rates go up on the cap. One of my friends was getting quotes for two year fixed of 51ppkwh! That means an average use house would see their bill jump by over 300%. This of course isn't even taking into account gas, which is hiking up as well.
So I thought I'd start this to get people thinking, and let people post up their current supplier and rates or quoted rates, and encourage people to figure out what they're going to do before April.
It comes down to maths. If you have six months left of your current good tariff, then yes, you might be better off staying on it. If you've only got one or two, you may want to swap now - although you'll swap to a higher tariff, you're banking on it being not as high as what you'd get in two months time.
I'm with Octopus Go - It's designed for people with EVs, although I know of people who have it without having an EV. Both houses will move onto the new rate as of the 1st of April, jumping from 16.9ppkwh for leccy to 31.5ppkwh. From 0030-0430hrs it's around 7ppkwh. Gas is a standard rate at about 9ppkwh I believe.
You need a SMETS2 meter to get this, it has no exit fee and you can cancel at any time. Don't start bickering here about SMETS2, take that to the SMETS2 thread.
Their customer service is excellent, and I've had a fair experience of the good and the bad (Scottish Gas, SSE, both utter shite, Ovo excellent at the start, now overwhelmed, and Powershop which was very niche and forward thinking with brill service).
Interestingly with Octopus, they have lots of forward thinking and innovative tariffs. If you have a house which is entirely self-sufficient via solar and battery, you could for example be on their Agile rate - this means you pay market rates (which is very expensive) but you can also feed in at above market rates which means you could feed in at 48ppkwh. That's an excellent rate, but only benefits those with excess, which I doubt many have. At one point the feed in rate peaked at £2.38!!!
So my big push here is:
- Find out who supplies your energy if you don't know
- Find out what your pence per kilowatt hour rate is for electric and gas (as applicable)
- Phone other suppliers, and tell them you don't want a quote, you just want to know the per unit rate and the standing charge
- Decide if you want to fix onto a rate or go to a more variable rate with no exit fees
Above all else, just make sure you don't get caught out if you're on a standard variable tariff - i.e your contract has ended and you've been bumped onto a default rate, because your arse will get felt hard and lovingly come the rate rise in April.
If you decide you want to join Octopus, then you can use this referral code to get £50 (as do I):
Octopus Energy
The UK's most awarded energy supplier. We're doing energy better - for you and the environment.
share.octopus.energy
but this isn't my focus here. I just don't want folk getting shafted, but I'm just concerned at the number of people not aware really of what's coming. If I get any referrals, I'll donate £25 from each one to Erskine.
Anyone else got a good provider and an idea of their rates or what they're being quoted?
ETA: This website is the dogs balls and shows all the Octopus rates across the country:
Home - Energy Stats UK
View Smart Meter tariff data and graphs that easily show how you could save money using Time of Use tariffs. Get £50 of free Octopus Energy credit.
www.energy-stats.uk
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