Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

Haggisman said:
I'm in 2 minds about this. On one hand, the longer cap allows people to budget more easily for the next 6 months. On the other hand, as you say it does mean there's a lag in how prices reflect reality (meaning both problems for suppliers if wholesale prices shoot up, and for customers as the sudden increase is higher than if it was 3 monthly).

As long as the cap comes down to reflect lower wholesale prices as quickly as it goes up then on balance I think it would probably be a good thing. Whether that actually happens on the other hand...
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I believe they can't fiddle this right?
 
Uther said:
Goodbye to the possibility of cheaper deals in future by the looks of it. Thanks ofgem.
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Yup.

My car insurance has already gone up significantly thanks to the legislation forcing them to give existing customers the same prices as new ones, looks like the same is going to happen with energy.

Literally being punished for the laziness of other people who can't be bothered to spend 5 minutes searching for a cheaper deal.

413x said:
I believe they can't fiddle this right?
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I don't know - Ofgem get to decide what the cap is, so I guess that depends on how they calculate it?

It also only affects the standard variable tariff, so no more cheap fixes below the cap
 
Haggisman said:
As long as the cap comes down to reflect lower wholesale prices as quickly as it goes up then on balance I think it would probably be a good thing. Whether that actually happens on the other hand...
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The cynic in me feels it'll end up like petrol/diesel prices which fly up in minutes when the oil costs increase and reduce in slow motion when the oil prices drop. :D
 
Haggisman said:
Yup.

My car insurance has already gone up significantly thanks to the legislation forcing them to give existing customers the same prices as new ones, looks like the same is going to happen with energy.

Literally being punished for the laziness of other people who can't be bothered to spend 5 minutes searching for a cheaper deal.



I don't know - Ofgem get to decide what the cap is, so I guess that depends on how they calculate it?

It also only affects the standard variable tariff, so no more cheap fixes below the cap
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What?

The made up prices and the fact some pay loads more than others for all this **** is the problem.

The retail for all these things like telecoms, energy, insurance is just ridiculous.

Some insurance company : "We are offering 10% off the prices we pulled out of our ass/what a computer algorithm thought they should be"

"Also get a discount if you click from this website and a voucher if you sign up for this, and cashback if you do it this way, or pay with this certain card etc etc"

Have a price, make it the same for all, stick to it unless costs will cause significant loss.
 
Jono8 said:
What?

The made up prices and the fact some pay loads more than others for all this **** is the problem.

The retail for all these things like telecoms, energy, insurance is just ridiculous.

Some insurance company : "We are offering 10% off the prices we pulled out of our ass/what a computer algorithm thought they should be"

"Also get a discount if you click from this website and a voucher if you sign up for this, and cashback if you do it this way, or pay with this certain card etc etc"

Have a price, make it the same for all, stick to it unless costs will cause significant loss.
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Yes. It's called competition, and rarely does removing it end up well for the customer.
 
Simon0001 said:
I've used 13 pound electric since friday. Is that good
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that is an unanswerable question..... that works out at what £80 a month give or take?

I would say that is not too shabby if based on my use and if i didnt have solar.... (3 bed semi house with 2 adults and a child with a bitcoin mining games PC.

if you have a hot tub and 6 foot tropical fish tank and electric car it is brilliant.

if you live in a 1 bedroom flat and hardly use any electrictiy then it would be awful.
 
Haggisman said:
So basically the price is going to go up every 3 months, but is unlikely to drop even if wholesale prices drop, since suppliers are punished if they do so? Nice.
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Can someone explain to me what is the reason for this compensation payment to the losing supplier for in the first place, it seems such a bizarre thing to do?
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
To be honest I think any cap that forces suppliers to sell at below market rate is daft. That has directly destroyed the competition in the sector.

IMO the price cap should be set to achieve what it was intended to do, which was to stop energy companies charging much higher rates to those who didn't switch to a better deal.
As such i would have the cap set at a level thats based on market rates being paid by all customers from all suppliers above a certain size.
Add a small amount to that and cap it at that, eg +10%. Obviously anyone on the cap would be excluded from the calculations
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Preventing people been ripped off who dont jump companies every year, and dont get retention deals is the "real" solution as you said, but instead our regulators instead just encourage people constantly switching companies. This then leads to multiple problems including the ones that made many of these companies go out of existence and millions of people having to pay back lost credit balances.

I see there is nothing about educating consumers about how billing works, units, unit rates etc. Nothing about making Variable DD the default, and nothing about using an intermediate agency to hold credit balances from Ofgem, they useless.
 
chrcoluk said:
Can someone explain to me what is the reason for this compensation payment to the losing supplier for in the first place, it seems such a bizarre thing to do?
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I assume its a way of saving the big ones from going pop when market prices are low and they need to keep purchasing the higher cost they bought in advance
I thought they chose to operate this way, but some recent posts appear to say they were forced to operate this way.
If they were forced it makes sense to have a mechanism to stop them suffering unduly due to the legislation.

Its always the same when the government step in, they tend to create just as many new problems as they attempt* to solve

*sometimes they fail to solve the initial problem and just create new ones. Much like now I would argue
 
chrcoluk said:
Preventing people been ripped off who dont jump companies every year, and dont get retention deals is the "real" solution as you said, but instead our regulators instead just encourage people constantly switching companies. This then leads to multiple problems including the ones that made many of these companies go out of existence and millions of people having to pay back lost credit balances.

I see there is nothing about educating consumers about how billing works, units, unit rates etc. Nothing about making Variable DD the default, and nothing about using an intermediate agency to hold credit balances from Ofgem, they useless.
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Again, I am far from convinced that for many people variable DD is a better mechanism. I remember when this was the norm and people complained over and over about the much larger winter bills.
IMO it should be offered as both with no emphasis on either, with a short explanation that neither would be more expensive than the other, but one would be relatively fixed and the other potentially highly variable depending on the time of year.

IMO again, those paying in arrears should pay slightly more than those paying as they go to all intents and purposes.
Or, making credit balances be paid at least a notional return (say 50% of UK base rate) on in credit balances may help to put off the disparity on those providing liquidity vs those reducing it.
 
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