Wholesale prices v retail ripoff!

  • Mailman's Avatar
    Level 60
    I'm on Next Loyalty Fixed v4. It comes with Fixed DD (I could choose variable DD if I wanted) and you have to have smart meters or agree to have them installed where eligible. I build up a credit balance by the autumn to smooth out the DDs and keep them where they were in the summer as I go through the winter months.

    My credit balance is healthy right now but even if it was £1000 and diminished to zero at the start of summer I'm still better off than I would be if the money was in the bank earning me very little interest.

    Which is what I have chosen (I could choose variable DD if I wanted).

    I get the DD discount (same as @JoeSoap), my current balance on my account is at £0 ATM (after a recent payment 4 days ago via DD) until the next billing month triggered by a meter read on 1st November. I do of course now see actual £ bill creepage already rearing its ugly head since last week but it was my decision to use the DD mechanism to pay for the energy I have used each month and I am fully prepared for my Variable DDs to go up quite a bit (to possibly £190) on the most expensive winter month 2023/2024.

    So to the OP, we have 2 different ways of reducing the bills with the common denominator of DD.
  • MAW's Avatar
    Level 13
    One particular metric. Hmmmm. You mean the cost of the energy they buy which they then sell on to us at a gigantic profit margin? Energy we have almost no choice in who and where we buy it from that has a pretend "private" market ?

    When wholesale energy prices were rocketing we were all told, loud and clear, that prices would rise in line with them and they did. Now wholesale prices have collapsed its "complicated" ? Really ? Dont think so.
  • Mailman's Avatar
    Level 60
    One particular metric. Hmmmm. You mean the cost of the energy they buy which they then sell on to us at a gigantic profit margin? Energy we have almost no choice in who and where we buy it from that has a pretend "private" market ?

    When wholesale energy prices were rocketing we were all told, loud and clear, that prices would rise in line with them and they did. Now wholesale prices have collapsed its "complicated" ? Really ? Dont think so.

    Can I ask , have you actually read the link or not?
  • MAW's Avatar
    Level 13
    @Mailman Interesting. I dont understand why you cant just pay for what you have used when the bill comes in? Why is there this insistence on smoothing bills out? I guess for people who cant manage their budgeting its helpful. I just pay the bill when it comes in after I have checked it. No, what this means is EON gets advance cash flow at your expense. Your "credit" balance is for them to play with and make more money out of while its there.

    When big corporations use pricing blackmail and tell you its for "your convenience", it almost certainly is the opposite.
  • MAW's Avatar
    Level 13
    @Mailman by the way - your £1000 credit balance could be earning you 5% in an ISA. Does EON pay you that?
  • MAW's Avatar
    Level 13
    its the usual smoke and mirrors. bottom line is unit prices rocketed in line with wholeprices and came down nothing like wholesale prices. Whatever the mixology employed to try and deflect from that, the end result is we all get ripped off and the excessive profits end up in EONs pocket.
  • MAW's Avatar
    Level 13
    @retrotecchie "From OFGEM figures the difference between DD and non DD tariff is only about 7% comparing like for like tariffs " ... really? The difference between 38p and 29p is 7% is it? No, its nearer 25%. Think about it.

    And I stil lcant get a fixed tariff for gas. Can I? It gas thats important coming into the winter. My electrciity usage doesnt really change that much month to month.
    Last edited by MAW; 21-10-23 at 16:30.
  • Mailman's Avatar
    Level 60
    @Mailman Interesting. I dont understand why you cant just pay for what you have used when the bill comes in?

    You have possibly misunderstand the VDD mechanism:

    You can pay your balance manually online via debit card , by cheque (I suppose) and be charged a more expensive POBR (Payment on Receipt of Bill) tariff (which is what you currently do and are seething about it)

    OR

    You can automate the process via the DD mechanism (specifically Variable DD) and be charged on a lower DD rate than its equivalent POBR tariff.

    Up to you which one you choose to use. One is no better than the other but one is certainly cheaper.

    Can we just agree to disagree about the evil corporation inuendo? 😎
  • Mailman's Avatar
    Level 60
    And I stil lcant get a fixed tariff for gas. Can I? It gas thats important coming into the winter. My electrciity usage doesnt really change that much month to month.

    Scroll down to the bottom of

    the tariff page
  • JoeSoap's Avatar
    Level 91
    @MAW

    It was me who mentioned a £1000 credit balance. I don't actually have one but even if I did right now it would have built up gradually over six months and would diminish the same. Let's say a maximum average of £500 over the year. That would earn £25 in the ISA you quoted. I save around £200 per year by paying by DD. To me it's a no-brainer.

    The 7% saving is an average amount compared to the non-DD rate on the same tariff. There are more savings to be had by switching to the cheapest tariff for your personal usage (as many of us have) and by paying by DD. It's fine having principles but it can cost you money.
    I'm an Eon Next dual fuel customer with no particular expertise but have some time on my hands that I am using to try and help out a bit.