Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

So the Octo transfer has been seamless. Previously taken two weeks to move across suppliers. These heroes have done it in 48 hours and already started billing on agile from yesterday!

No wonder the established "big six" are bricking it.
 
NZXT30 said:
Thanks I did as well. Why do you have to rely on google instead of having a link on your dashboard.
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On that link it says than on average people on agile actually paid more than people on the standard variable. So confused why everyone is jumping onto it like it's the best thing since sliced bread.
 
robj20 said:
On that link it says than on average people on agile actually paid more than people on the standard variable. So confused why everyone is jumping onto it like it's the best thing since sliced bread.
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Because that's as an average over the last 12 months. However there's nothing stopping you from jumping between Agile and flexible as suits your needs. Unit cost average on Agile today was 17p

[Edit] plunge pricing has basically free electricity from 1pm to 4pm tomorrow.
 
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GuruJockStrap said:
OFGEM really are a waste a space.

In my mind, an industry regulator serves two important purposes; protect and safeguard the industry its regulating but also protect the consumer ensuring best possible outcomes.

I work in the financial services industry and say what you like about the FCA, they do an alright job of both counts, especially when it comes to protecting the consumer. Their guidelines to firms are all around ensuring best possible outcomes for consumers and they've taken strong action against lots of lenders over the years.

I despair at OFGEM, I really do. The consumer really is an absolute after thought behind protecting the cartel of companies it regulates.
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Indeed the two are not even comparable.

Consider e.g. the steps banks are required to do to even lend money to someone.

Then look at what's going on the energy sector, where we about to have a bad debt assurance built into the SC (effectively making energy suppliers a preferred creditor) as well as next to nothing being done about fixed direct debit balances that are largely deviated from actual bills (alongside doing no credit checks for people on fixed DD).

Then we have the supplier costs starting to be lumped onto SC now, which is driving it more and more away from its original purpose.

The cap was only added after government intervention from May's government, otherwise their remit seems largely to ensure there is competition in the market (in other worse to look after the vested interests of the suppliers to ensure they stay in or enter the UK market). This is based on the principle that if there is competition everything apparently takes care of itself. Which we are clearly seeing is not the case.

We had that statement that said they were going to isolate balances, and then after a very short period of time they backtracked, no consultation with the public and parliament, just a conversation with the suppliers and backtracked out of it.

A lot more of the Ofgem decisions need to be discussed in parliament and have public consultation.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Trackers are great in a falling market, not so much in a rising market.

Fortunately octopus let you switch every month and don’t have exit fees.
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The new tariffs for tracker and agile no longer are fixed interestingly, so they can pull them at any given moment as well as changes to their t&c.

Only the early adopters who signed up to tracker before a certian date are keeping fixed terms (and their original cap as well).
 
chrcoluk said:
Indeed the two are not even comparable.

Consider e.g. the steps banks are required to do to even lend money to someone.

Then look at what's going on the energy sector, where we about to have a bad debt assurance built into the SC (effectively making energy suppliers a preferred creditor) as well as next to nothing being done about fixed direct debit balances that are largely deviated from actual bills (alongside doing no credit checks for people on fixed DD).

Then we have the supplier costs starting to be lumped onto SC now, which is driving it more and more away from its original purpose.

The cap was only added after government intervention from May's government, otherwise their remit seems largely to ensure there is competition in the market (in other worse to look after the vested interests of the suppliers to ensure they stay in or enter the UK market). This is based on the principle that if there is competition everything apparently takes care of itself. Which we are clearly seeing is not the case.

We had that statement that said they were going to isolate balances, and then after a very short period of time they backtracked, no consultation with the public and parliament, just a conversation with the suppliers and backtracked out of it.

A lot more of the Ofgem decisions need to be discussed in parliament and have public consultation.
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They probably also need to review how OFGEM are funded.

They say they recover their costs from the licensed companies they regulate. Licensees must pay an annual licence fee, which is set to cover OFGEM costs.

Not really any incentive to rock the boat and rattle some cages amongst the energy companies then is there? Or worse, shut them down.
 
Who do you think pays the licence fee, it’s not the benevolent energy companies. It’s baked into part of the energy price…

It doesn’t really make any difference in reality though, if they were centrally funded, it comes out of taxation which you also pay for.
 
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Daft question but if I switch do I need to pay back eon my interest free 700 quid deficit? Or does it get transferred to octopus? Stuck in a cashflow trap lol!
 
robj20 said:
On that link it says than on average people on agile actually paid more than people on the standard variable. So confused why everyone is jumping onto it like it's the best thing since sliced bread.
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That was over Winter. And not everyone is average...

Over the past seven months, my spend on electricity would have been:
Flexible Octopus - £1,478.17
Octopus Go - £1,156.99
Agile Octopus - £1,164.13

Between November and the end of February, Go was around £100 cheaper than Agile for me. But both were hundreds of pounds cheaper than the SVT.

There's been a big shift in favour of Agile in recent months though. Here's the past month:
Flexible Octopus - £196.36
Octopus Go - £168.22
Agile Octopus - £117.56

I'd wager Agile is now substantially cheaper than SVT for pretty much everyone. The average unit rate for April was 23.5p, and for May, 19.7p. Today's average unit rate is just 15p!
 
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