and other time’s its 35p/kWh. Not sure about these variable ones. I guess if you had a way to only charge the car below a certain price it would help but evenings is typically peak (pre lockdown world) so you would be paying a lot more for household electricity.
Fuel prices
- Thread starter Sankari
- Start date
Indeed, every variable tariff which i have seen so far (including the octopus EV item) has not been impressive at all. Someone on here actually posted a details breakdown of the variable tariff which they were on and it averaged around 10p/kwh over the year. If you consider that the troughs were very cheap, this obviously leads to the conclusion that the surge pricing elsewhere was fairly heavy. Then consider that the very nature of power use is that you are very much more likely to use more power outside of the troughs on average, and that your average spend is likely to be above this figure.
A basic non smart tariff is fixed at the average of the variable...it makes no sense to go variable unless you really can heavily tip your power usage into the troughs. I'd bet that not many households can do this unless they somehow drain a tesla to empty each day and hammer it over night, most nights.
I still don't see that as making it a excellent time to switch to electric compared to before, because those inefficiences have always been there. Surely a more excellent time would have been when petrol prices were a lot higher (and I think there were more/bigger grants available from the government for EV) and people were using more fuel (prior to lockdown).
In other words the average person's cost of fuel must be massively reduced because it is cheaper per litre and they need to buy less litres (see this thread on mileage: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/your-car-mileage-for-april.18885543/ ).
My mileage hasn't really changed at all, I still go to work and back like normal.
My meaning was avoid getting ripped off by petrol stations in general and just go electric. The fuel stations in my local town and on my commute are still around 105ish so I'd have to go out of my way to get petrol at the price it should be.
Costco has literally been below £1 for weeks so either they're really cheap or everyone else is a rip off.
Costco will be like the supermarkets, selling fuel at near loss leading prices.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
You're hardly being ripped off, with such a dramatic fall in car usage many petrol stations would face financial ruin operating on thin wholesaler margins. You need volume to sustain those margins and the volume just isn't there at the moment is it?
Finding the right petrol station is surely no different in concept to finding the right tariff to charge your electric car, just as easy to be ripped off by your power company if you've not spent time getting the best deal isn't it?
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Oct 2006
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- 3,641
Interesting that the wholesale price of diesel is only 1.2p a litre more than petrol and most of the difference in the pump price is the retailers markup of 3p.
Not really I can avoid overpaying it from the comfort of my mobile phone and I can fix the price for a year.
I don’t think you can do the same with petrol, it fluctuates weekly and you have to go to a specific location to get a good deal rather than the petrol being delivered to you free of charge.
If the average person fills up 25-30 times a year that’s a fair bit of messing around to avoid overpaying.
you could say it’s the same as getting charged loads by charging providers while out and about but if you could fill up at home for 30p a litre and out and about for 60-90p per litre I’m willing to bet petrol stations will be deserted.
How does that stop you being overcharged? I shopped around from the comfort of my sofa and locked in the cheapest price I could find, fixed for 12 months last November.
I' now overpaying by about 40% as prices have changed and I'm on a fix from last year. I need to shop around again and move to make sure I'm not overpaying. Which is fine, its how things work, but its not really that different to knowing that if you go to Asda for your fuel for example it'll be cheaper.
Electricity prices are far more inflexible than petrol prices, it works both ways as Mr Fox above has illustrated with his high electrical lockin.
The suggestion to avoid tax by using tax free diesel at home is rather moot though, using a domestic power connection to charge an EV is not illegal
The suggestion to avoid tax by using tax free diesel at home is rather moot though, using a domestic power connection to charge an EV is not illegal
It's a lot more convenient than having to find a petrol station that isn't 10p more than it should be every day. If you take the time expended in such activities then it's a no brainer. In my use case today I would either have to pay 108p or spend 20 mins to go somewhere to get cheaper fuel. On a full tank its not a big deal but £4 x 52 adds up.
The energy for my car doesn't cost me any more than it would otherwise, as I would have an electricity connection at home regardless of the car that I have.
You fill up every day?
Once you know where you to for fuel you don't need to keep looking. Asda for example will always be the cheapest and if you have an Asda in your city then the other Supermarkets usually compete.
I have never had an issue finding fuel for a comparatively reasonable amount. It isn't particularly onerous. You just know what it should cost and stop when you see it at about that.
Soldato
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- 11 Aug 2012
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- 4,544
- Location
- S.E Wales
99.7p/L in cwmbran morrisons
Where are you getting RD for 30p a tank?! (or even a litre)?
I spend £3/4m per year on fuel and even buying in that quantity it still costs over £0.50 per litre!