[jack]

Originally Posted by Neilb

Thanks Pete, so it’s not a price cap then, just designed to confuse people? Why don’t they just say the max price per unit is “this”?? Do you know what the max per unit was last year and this year? Thanks

EOn price cap from october to end of March is -Electric £0.25543 daily charge, £ 0.19214 per KWh...Gas £0.24876 daily charge and £0.03791 per KWh...plus VAT

No new cap figures issued by EOn yet but I was told to add 54% to the above figures as a guide...

[surfingmtber]

@PeterT_EONNext
Have transferred from another supplier due to liquidation. Am currently on a variable tariff and paying £65.00 per month, £333.00 in credit, but the proposed fixed tariff is £220.00 per month, a 338% increase! Please advise.

[PeterT_EONNext]

Hi @surfingmtber Welcome to the Community 😄

If you're currently in credit, please be sure to check your online account and make sure you've been billed up to date. If you haven't, enter some readings and a bill will then be produced for you shortly after.

As long as you're billed up to date, any new quote you see will be based on more accurate figures.

Pete 😊

[meldrewreborn]

@PeterT_EONNext

The price cap was introduced initially to protect those customers who hadn’t switched supplier and were paying their suppliers Standard Variable rate. This rate in practice was a very high rate, and people who had not switched were in effect subsidising those who had. The price cap went some way to redressing the imbalance, but those who switched and took advantage of fixed prices still paid less than the price capped level. The price cap was still an expensive option. And while the media will quote a figure in £’s for the price cap do not be fooled. The cap translates into unit prices, and if you use more energy you will pay more, and if you use less you will pay less.
Each price cap lasts 6 months and the period from April is the eighth cap. But the energy market has changed significantly with gas prices going up sharply in the wholesale markets to such an extent that many suppliers couldn’t meet their price promises to customers. And prices in the wholesale market have risen so much that the energy firms can no longer offer deals at lower prices than allowed by the price cap. In effect, far from being a comparatively high price offering, the price cap is generally now the lowest price offering from energy suppliers.
The price cap figures put out by Ofgem give values for gas and electricity, for different regions, and different payment methods. There is not just one price cap there are multiple price caps, although differences may be relatively small.
The tables Ofgem publishes assume certain levels of consumption (typically 12,000 kWh for gas and 3,100 kWh for electricity per annum) rather than quoting what customers would find more useful - the actual unit prices. However, you can work out the unit prices yourself by dividing the relevant annual figure by the assumed annual consumption.
The current price cap tables (the seventh period) are here:
Default tariff cap level - 1 October 2021 - 31 March 2022 (ofgem.gov.uk)
The price cap tables applying from April 2022, the eighth period, are here:
Default tariff cap level - 1 April 2022 - 30 September 2022 (ofgem.gov.uk)
On a personal note my bills for gas and electricity last year, 2021, were £841. My bills were low because I had switched to competitive fixed price deals. Both suppliers went bust so I’m now on tariffs at the price cap levels. If my consumption remained the same and the latest price cap rates applied for 12 months, my bill will be £2450, nearly 3 times as high. There is no way to avoid this by shopping around, there are no deals available to lower my bills. The only things you can do are to plan ahead to pay the bills when they come, and to limit as much as possible the energy you use.

[theunknowntech]

It's probably worth noting that the reason the price cap varies across the country is because the cost of supply varies across the country as well. This is why even using the exact same amount of energy in one part of the country in a single day can cost less than elsewhere. This is reflected in the price caps.

As for some of the cheapest energy suppliers that have since gone bust? Well, unfortunately they ultimately made their deals too cheap to be profitable in the long run and this left them very vulnerable to market shocks like the one we're all in right now. Combined with the fact those suppliers were unable to buy enough energy far enough ahead, couldn't pay Ofgem for the FiT and ROC payments they owed and still have enough left over to keep going, it's not surprising they failed. This isn't the case for all of the suppliers that collapsed last year, but it is the case for quite a few of them.

Ofgem has also committed to tightening the rules further in future to help prevent this kind of issue knocking out anywhere near as many suppliers again. And in fact, one of their other new measures has been to start revoking licenses of any supplier that's not actively using them. After all, if you're not actually doing anything that the supply license covers, then you may as well surrender it and let someone else take your place...

[meldrewreborn]

@theunknowntech

Ofgem have been next to useless in this matter. They issued too many licences to companies with no long term strategy and insufficient capital to deal with market shocks. Customers have entered into deals with suppliers who have then reneged on them (by going bust) leaving those customers to be migrated to other suppliers on much higher price capped tariffs.
One of my suppliers was Zog Energy who had a strong track record and proper contracts in place for delivery of gas to meet its obligations. However, the supplier went bust and Zog then had no alternative but to do the same. But somewhere along the line huge profits are being made. some companies claim 100% renewable energy - so why have their prices gone up?

[Johnb84618]

Im on a next flex plan am i right in thinking thats not a fixed tarriff i wanna get sorted b4 things start changing

[theunknowntech]

Originally Posted by Johnb84618

Im on a next flex plan am i right in thinking thats not a fixed tarriff i wanna get sorted b4 things start changing

That sounds to me like a variable rate tariff. I strongly recommend considering your options soon so that you can lock in a good deal. You'll probably want to scour the entire market as well, just in case a better deal exists elsewhere. Be careful of anything that sounds too cheap though.

[theunknowntech]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

@theunknowntech

Ofgem have been next to useless in this matter. They issued too many licences to companies with no long term strategy and insufficient capital to deal with market shocks. Customers have entered into deals with suppliers who have then reneged on them (by going bust) leaving those customers to be migrated to other suppliers on much higher price capped tariffs.
One of my suppliers was Zog Energy who had a strong track record and proper contracts in place for delivery of gas to meet its obligations. However, the supplier went bust and Zog then had no alternative but to do the same. But somewhere along the line huge profits are being made. some companies claim 100% renewable energy - so why have their prices gone up?

I noticed that. Both myself and my friend Blastoise186 have been keeping a very close watch over the market and what Ofgem has been doing in recent months. It's just that we both agreed with all forum moderators who know us that we wouldn't discuss it much at the time to avoid creating speculation or further issues than already existed. I'm only starting to join more discussions now because I'm satisfied that things are calming down a bit. Blastoise is a lot more cautious than me though, and he's still keeping his opinions to himself. You won't see him on this forum though, as he can't be here himself due to time constraints.

However, it does seem as if Ofgem has realised the mistakes it made and is taking steps to correct them. Being much more strict about who can get a supplier license appears to be just the start and I completely agree with automatic license revocation for inactive suppliers - this will at least force those suppliers to go through the new process should they actually want to become active again. Ofgem also mentioned that better financial checks will be added to the rules as well and from what I've read, if you can't vouch for having enough funds, then your application goes in the bin.

As for 100% renewable energy, it's a long story and I'd rather not drag out this thread with it. If you'd like to know more about that, please feel free to open a new thread.

[dmm]

@theunknowntech Hi, i notice that " cap" (obviously an increase) applies to those on variable rates rather than fixed rates. I thought there was legal requirement for suppliers to notify users/customers if there were better deals for them. I don't recall any offers being made to me in last 12 months or more. I thought I was on a fixed rate plan, but now apparently not. Perhaps I'm wrong and stand to be corrected, but interested anyway in whether legal obligations have been met..