British Gas to increase electricity prices by 12.5%

[El Cid]

My BG tariffs are frozen till mid 2018, so not bothered at the moment.

 

My Scottish power tariff is fixed untill Jan 2019

[taxman]

Nationalise it. The market doesn't work and neither does the supposed "competition" because as soon as one supplier puts their prices up, so do all the others.

[geared]

Caps don't work and I'm glad this isn't going ahead.

 

The minute you introduce a cap to supposedly "protect" consumers two things will likely happen:

 

1. Consumers get drawn into a false sense of security that their government is keeping energy prices 'in check'. Consumers are therefore less likely to shop around which further exacerbates the current problem of 90% of households on Big Six tariffs

 

2. Energy companies will simply react by increasing the prices of their cheapest tariffs to offset the potential losses from their highest tariffs

 

The only way we're going to push prices down is by SWITCHING and forcing the energy companies to work harder to keep our business.

 

We shop around for mortgages, mobile contracts, insurance, broadband etc but when it comes to energy there appears to be a mental block!

 

or everyone just charges the cap, because if it's government mandated then the public will accept it.

[barleycorn]

I blame Thatcher.......and Brexit

We need to shorten this, Thatexit or Bratcher maybe?

[ivan edake]

In today's world of social media and a lot of what we do being done on line I am surprised no one has started a protest site. It is in the hands of the people, if enough people said they would leave one of the major suppliers leaving them with a big reduction in customers then they might all think twice about how they raise the prices. As changing suppliers is not too difficult then surely it would be possible to force these companies into rethinking their policies of ripping customers off.

 

This sounds logical in theory but in actual fact it does not work.The companies do not seem to care less.The boss of British gas was on Watchdog last week,he admitted his company had already lost hundreds of thousands of customers but he still seemed to think the company offered excellent value for money.Of course the government says the price rise shouldn't happen and Offgen should have a look.Offgen are making noises about doing this,now everything will go quiet until the next round of price hikes and the whole rip off will be allowed to restart.

[WasThatWise]

We should have a vigil.

[Puggie]

It would be hypocritical of me to be preaching about switching to cheaper energy without doing it myself so here's the evidence:

 

Just switched to Avro Energy (a small independent supplier based in Warwickshire) - [Screenshot of my completed switch]

 

I found them by using a comparison site called Cheap Energy Club which is run by the people at Money Saving Expert (Martin Lewis).

 

They are one of the better comparison sites on the market for energy as they search 'whole of market' and genuinely promote the cheapest tariff even when there's no commission for them.

 

So as of 5th September I will be paying the following for my consumption:

 

Gas: 2.767p/kWh (with a standing charge of 17.850p/day)

 

Leccy: 11.550p/kWh (with a standing charge of 17.850p/day)

 

Based on my current annual consumption for my 2 bed flat, the cost of my energy for the next 12 months on this tariff will be £778 per year.

 

Hope you guys switch & save money too!

[ANGELFIRE1]

Why do we pay on average about 17/18p per day standing charge for both gas and lecky. My best guess would be to pay for the equipment that WE read and send off to them. If so why do we pay seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year, year in year out. I think I must have paid for my metres 20 times over, but still have to keep paying - why I wonder.

 

Angel1.

[Puggie]

Why do we pay on average about 17/18p per day standing charge for both gas and lecky. My best guess would be to pay for the equipment that WE read and send off to them. If so why do we pay seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year, year in year out. I think I must have paid for my metres 20 times over, but still have to keep paying - why I wonder.

 

Angel1.

 

Want to know how much a modern standard leccy meter retails for? [have a look]

 

Now imagine the per unit cost wholesale in the millions!

 

As customers there is nothing we can do about standing charges. Lower standing charges = higher unit price of energy and vice versa.

 

The comparison sites factor this in when calculating the total cost savings so there's virtually no number crunching needed on our end.

[El Cid]

Why do we pay on average about 17/18p per day standing charge for both gas and lecky. My best guess would be to pay for the equipment that WE read and send off to them. If so why do we pay seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year, year in year out. I think I must have paid for my metres 20 times over, but still have to keep paying - why I wonder.

 

Angel1.

 

Not sure which works out cheapest.

 

I am paying 25.76p per day for electricity @12.49 kwh

I am paying 25.76p per day for gas @2.862 kwh

 

with Scottish power.

 

I thought gas was in in therms?