[JoeSoap]

@gazjwilko

For me, the cost of not accepting v15 was £80 per month or so. It doesn’t seem that long ago that a figure like that would almost cover all of my usage. I now see that Next Online has just moved to v20 so dearer again still.

I agree with your last sentence and think a lot of people are unaware of exactly what’s coming and are not even considering their options. I can’t imagine how some folks are going to cope. I will be able to manage to pay for my energy use over the next year but even so, if I interpret things correctly, I will be deemed to be in what’s been labelled ‘fuel poverty’… and that probably goes for most of us.

[gazjwilko]

@JoeSoap

It's a hard pill to swallow, I agree with you that the figure mentioned would have covered all my usage too. v20 is 115% increase on average above the price cap according to MSE. Makes fixing recently seem even more like it'll pay off if predictions turn into reality. I'm still surprised that 70% of the country stick on the price cap, I don't think the price cap has been worthwhile for at least 2 years. It was only this year i considered it because i thought the government might have done more to help. Unfortunately I can't see that happening still and I can only envisage that from tomorrow it will hit home with people who are on variable tariffs.

[meldrewreborn]

@gazjwilko

The price cap was introduced 4 years ago to limit the amounts people paid on suppliers Standard Variable Rate Tariff. Previously those who didn't switch paid through the nose for their energy, while more savvy customers got the best deals. The price cap didn't eliminate the differential but did narrow it. However, prices for wholesale energy grew so fast that now the price cap shields a lot of people from even higher prices because the calculations are based on past prices but applied into the future. And wholesale market costs are still rising.

The savvy though can see what's coming and seeking to fix where they can.