Energy Suppliers

Caporegime
Joined
17 Jul 2010
Posts
25,744
My concern is that the bigger companies have the cash reserves to ride this out if wholesale prices drop then it will be up to OFGEM to reduce the price cap, no company is going to willingly reduce their prices and no newcomers to the market are likely to arrive simply because they will be at the mercy of the price cap and wholesale pricing leaving the big six to effectively form a cartel. The companies that survive will be lobbying OFGEM and the government hard not to reduce the cap, saying that they were almosts elling at a loss and now they're making that money back. OFGEM need to be strong, but I suspect it'll be months, if not mid 2022 before prices start to soften again. We absolutely NEED the undersea power cables from France to be repaired again.
 
Associate
Joined
18 Apr 2013
Posts
588
I wonder why igloo would struggle as they only had a variable rate so we're able to put prices up whenever. They have stopped taking new customers though so you could be right.
I had some slightly good news today. After Hub energy went bust in August, eon next took over and finally went fully active a few days ago. They had moved me on to a special tariff which obviously isn't as good as my old one but is no where near as bad as what is out there now. Luckily where I am moving house I thought I'd have to re contract with one of the new high priced tarrifs but they are letting me stay on the hub next tariff. So that should be fixed until Feb 2022 as it lasts 6 months from August.
At least I can ride out most of winter on an ok rate and hope things settle down a bit and fixed prices are a bit more normal. Otherwise it looks like I will just have to revert to a variable for a while as fixed is mental prices right now.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Feb 2006
Posts
9,583
I wonder why igloo would struggle as they only had a variable rate so we're able to put prices up whenever.


Only up to the limit of the Ofgem price cap. Octopus have removed their variable tariff to get around this. It will be interesting to see if Ofgem/the government cave in on the price cap rules.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
6,831
Location
Bath
Only up to the limit of the Ofgem price cap. Octopus have removed their variable tariff to get around this. It will be interesting to see if Ofgem/the government cave in on the price cap rules.
The price has has only just been increased, cannot see them scrapping it the whole point is to protect the end user from over inflated prices.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Mar 2009
Posts
6,607
Location
Nottingham
I wonder why igloo would struggle as they only had a variable rate so we're able to put prices up whenever. They have stopped taking new customers though so you could be right.
I had some slightly good news today. After Hub energy went bust in August, eon next took over and finally went fully active a few days ago. They had moved me on to a special tariff which obviously isn't as good as my old one but is no where near as bad as what is out there now. Luckily where I am moving house I thought I'd have to re contract with one of the new high priced tarrifs but they are letting me stay on the hub next tariff. So that should be fixed until Feb 2022 as it lasts 6 months from August.
At least I can ride out most of winter on an ok rate and hope things settle down a bit and fixed prices are a bit more normal. Otherwise it looks like I will just have to revert to a variable for a while as fixed is mental prices right now.

The capped SVT is too low given the current wholesale prices so they will be operating at a loss plus ofgem are up their arses at the moment for gov renewable payments they havent made. I will be amazed if they outlive the week.

Edit: Just did a quick google and seems rumours of igloo being on the brink have been circulating in the last 24 hrs
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Jul 2006
Posts
7,686
Just waiting for my new gas supplier to contact me.

I've been looking at what Avro estimated as my gas usage.

9400kwh estimates...

I had a smart meter installed on 22nd March...showing 1601kwh usage since being installed.

Appreciate we are heading into winter, would you times usage by around 3 to get some comparison costs??
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
6,831
Location
Bath
From what my employer have said recently (EDF) the price cap will be increased to cope with the ever changing situation. There is also call for Ofgem's over sight to be relaxed to stop them strangle holding suppliers to keep prices low.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
6,831
Location
Bath
Just waiting for my new gas supplier to contact me.

I've been looking at what Avro estimated as my gas usage.

9400kwh estimates...

I had a smart meter installed on 22nd March...showing 1601kwh usage since being installed.

Appreciate we are heading into winter, would you times usage by around 3 to get some comparison costs??

Very difficult to estimate based on your summer consumption without reference.

i.e what gas appliances do you have how do you heat water for baths and showers do you cook on gas, do you have a fireplace that's used regularly?

Every one is different, even how well insulated makes a huge difference to how much gas you will use. (Surprise surprise)
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Jul 2010
Posts
25,744
From what my employer have said recently (EDF) the price cap will be increased to cope with the ever changing situation. There is also call for Ofgem's over sight to be relaxed to stop them strangle holding suppliers to keep prices low.
Shock as company doesn’t want to be regulated to make more profit.
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
Posts
21,927
The capped SVT is too low given the current wholesale prices so they will be operating at a loss plus ofgem are up their arses at the moment for gov renewable payments they havent made. I will be amazed if they outlive the week.
indeed looks like igloos gone.

r4Today they acknowledge there is another take-over mode for suppliers who can't pay their suppliers, rather than going bankrupt thy have close supervision,
but are presumably allowed to rescind on existing 'contracts' moving people to SVT.

e2: SAR regime
The energy special administration powers exist to ensure that essential services, such as electricity and gas supply or the maintenance of distribution networks, continue and that customers continue to be served at the lowest reasonable cost. These powers can also be used to mitigate the risk of financial contagion and to maintain market stability and consumer confidence. This instrument will modify the application of Part A1, the moratorium provisions, in relation to these energy companies.

I'm still dubious about them running on batteries though. I've got enough esp8266 boards running on batteries and heavily reliant on deep sleep to last. But this you'd need on 24/7. You'll get about 30 hours usage from a 2500mAh battery. So even if you get bigger batteries, it's still far too frequent that they'd need charging. I'd be looking to charge it maybe once every 6 months at most.
Indeed they don't continuously transmit, but cache data locally and send every few minutes - I'll find the link
£50 is a bit pricy yes - needs to be £20 , given it has nonetheless zigbee integration + s/w.

edit:
https://www.lesalexiens.fr/labo-tes...de-mesure-de-lelectricite-pour-box-domotique/
https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt/issues/8638
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
22 Jul 2006
Posts
7,686
Very difficult to estimate based on your summer consumption without reference.

i.e what gas appliances do you have how do you heat water for baths and showers do you cook on gas, do you have a fireplace that's used regularly?

Every one is different, even how well insulated makes a huge difference to how much gas you will use. (Surprise surprise)

I know, very difficult. We use more electric as we have electric showers, oven etc.

Combi boiler and a 7 year old house so pretty well insulated.

The good thing is now I'm on a smart meter it's so much easier to track and to be honest since having an electric car I'm more on the ball with energy costs and usage now. Never really payed any attention before hand.

On another note feel really lucky having switched to Octopus Go on 16th this month.

£0.1499/£0.05 and having asked to go on faster the peak unit price has shot up to £0.24!

I hope that prices settle in a couple of years when I'm up for renewal!
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Dec 2013
Posts
6,290
Location
GPS signal not found. (11)
On another note feel really lucky having switched to Octopus Go on 16th this month.

£0.1499/£0.05 and having asked to go on faster the peak unit price has shot up to £0.24!

I hope that prices settle in a couple of years when I'm up for renewal!
I also switched to Go last week 16p/5p for a year whilst the rest of the market skyrockets. I don't even have an electric car.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Jul 2003
Posts
9,595
Yeah basically companies are being forced to subsidise.
Can't really carry on can it.

Depends how long the prices are expected to remain high.

If it's a short term blip then they should take the hit, that's the risk companies take. Can't all be guaranteed profit.
Usually the upper price limit would be dictated by the market and competitors but there is no real competition or alternatives in the energy market.
 
Back
Top Bottom