Energy costs. Oh dear.......

[BullDog]

My deal with OVO comes to an end soon. Presently paying 3p and 14p for gas and electric. It's looking like my monthly bill is heading up from £130 per month to near £300. Still shopping around, but it's not looking hopeful

We used last year, around 11000kw gas and 4300kw electricity. Of the electricity around 1/3 of that is charging a PHEV. A couple of companies have special smart EV charging tariff. But..... to get one of those tariffs we would have to remove our Podpoint charger and fit one of their smart compatible chargers at >£1000. Not so smart eh? Having to remove the 2 year old Podpoint that cost me £700 and works just fine.

The break even versus petrol in the PHEV is about 40p per unit of electric taking petrol as 180p a litre. It's going to be marginal whether charging the PHEV is cost effective going forward.

[pje16]

Try turning some things off

[Stompa]

My deal with OVO comes to an end soon. Presently paying 3p and 14p for gas and electric. It's looking like my monthly bill is heading up from £130 per month to near £300. Still shopping around, but it's not looking hopeful

Look on the bright side, at least £300 is cheaper than the £438 you're likely be paying in October (assuming the current prediction of a 46% increase turns out to be correct)!

[Redmires]

Moneysavingexpert now suggests that some fixed tarfiffs may now be worth considering, if you want some certainty (updated 7th June). Very expensive to what you have presently, of course.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utili ... orth-it--/

[pje16]

Moneysavingexpert now suggests that some fixed tarfiffs may now be worth considering, if you want some certainty (updated 7th June). Very expensive to what you have presently, of course.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utili ... orth-it--/

I saw that myself
watch out as some of them have sky high exit charges, so you will bite the bullet next year if charges come down

[UncleEbenezer]

If your podpoint is two years old, that'll mean you installed it at the time podpoint was owned by EDF[1]. Aren't they keen to flog you a tariff that works well with the charger? They'll still flog you a charger - https://www.edfenergy.com/electric-cars/home-charger

[1] Many of us (myself included) who were podpoint shareholders through crowdfunding before the EDF era weren't happy at being forced to sell. And indeed, if we could have waited for the IPO, the profit would've been much bigger.

[BullDog]

Yes, preliminary findings are that it's either £300 for a fixed tariff. Or around £260 for a variable tariff. Either way, charging the PHEV is marginally economic. We approximately use around 11kw each time the PHEV is charged, presently costing around £1.50p a time. If the electricity tariff triples, it's marginal and after another price hike in October it's absolutely uneconomic.

There are still far cheaper smart EV tariffs available but as I noted I would have to spend over a £1000 for the supplier compatible charger to replace my perfectly good 2 year old Podpoint charger. Given that typically we change suppliers every one to two years, accessing a smart EV tariff on favourable terms is uneconomic.

[BullDog]

If your podpoint is two years old, that'll mean you installed it at the time podpoint was owned by EDF[1]. Aren't they keen to flog you a tariff that works well with the charger? They'll still flog you a charger - https://www.edfenergy.com/electric-cars/home-charger

[1] Many of us (myself included) who were podpoint shareholders through crowdfunding before the EDF era weren't happy at being forced to sell. And indeed, if we could have waited for the IPO, the profit would've been much bigger.

No they aren't. They do have smart EV tariffs but I would still have to throw away my existing Podoint charger to install a compatible smart EV charger. And the big downside is that EDF as a domestic energy provider were the worst we ever had. For us to contract with EDF it would have to be a very attractive tariff to compensate for them being a dire company to deal with.

[CliffEdge]

Moneysavingexpert now suggests that some fixed tarfiffs may now be worth considering, if you want some certainty (updated 7th June). Very expensive to what you have presently, of course.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utili ... orth-it--/

I was offered a fixed tariff back in Feb for 2years, consulted mse and declined. Wrong advice, wrong decision, probably...

[88V8]

...Given that typically we change suppliers every one to two years...

Well, as Tommy Cooper would say, don't!

Our two-year Ovo fix expires in December. We pay £170/month which is an overpayment as they pay me 5% tax-free on positive balances.
Probably in December I shall do another two years if there's a fix available, and I won't be changing supplier as I find them easy to deal with and they aren't in danger of going bust.

V8

[BullDog]

...Given that typically we change suppliers every one to two years...

Well, as Tommy Cooper would say, don't!

Our two-year Ovo fix expires in December. We pay £170/month which is an overpayment as they pay me 5% tax-free on positive balances.
Probably in December I shall do another two years if there's a fix available, and I won't be changing supplier as I find them easy to deal with and they aren't in danger of going bust.

V8

After the next price cap increase in October there is expected another near 50% increase on top of what we've already seen. I expect you will be getting a quotation from Ovo in December maybe £400 a month or more. As I said, our Ovo quotation just received has already increased from £130 to £300.

Quite happy to stay with Ovo if we can find a competitive deal. Either Ovo or Octopus are decent enough in our experience. EDF were dire. GB Energy went bust.

[DrFfybes]

After the next price cap increase in October there is expected another near 50% increase on top of what we've already seen. I expect you will be getting a quotation from Ovo in December maybe £400 a month or more. As I said, our Ovo quotation just received has already increased from £130 to £300.

Our Outfox has gone from £1650/annum (£137/month) to £3490 on their current variable tariff for 4200kWh elec and 28,000 gas. Shopping around they all seem the same, so presumably are all at the price cap. Outfox offered a fix of £8240 (yup, over double) for 12 months, but the earlier post

Moneysavingexpert now suggests that some fixed tarfiffs may now be worth considering, if you want some certainty (updated 7th June). Very expensive to what you have presently, of course.

I had another look (there were no fixed deals available 2 weeks ago) and the cheapest fix we could find is SSE at £4400.

The break even versus petrol in the PHEV is about 40p per unit of electric taking petrol as 180p a litre. It's going to be marginal whether charging the PHEV is cost effective going forward.

You're assuming petrol is going to stay at these levels. Last weekend I used more than 5L mowing the lawn (I tipped a 5L can in and it used it all). No Mow May might yet become Jungle June and "just ignore it dear" July.

On the plus side I've just taken the wife's car for an MOT, it has done a whopping 430 miles this year (compared to 279 miles the previous year, 200 of which was moving from Exeter to Shrewsbury). Even at low 20s MPG and £2/L that's still less on fuel than VED.

Paul

[kiloran]

You're assuming petrol is going to stay at these levels. Last weekend I used more than 5L mowing the lawn (I tipped a 5L can in and it used it all). No Mow May might yet become Jungle June and "just ignore it dear" July.

Paul

What???? A 5L can keeps me going for most of the season, for a lawn area around 30m x 25m. Is your mower a 5 litre V8? Or does it have a fuel leak?

--kiloran

[Itsallaguess]

Last weekend I used more than 5L mowing the lawn (I tipped a 5L can in and it used it all).

No Mow May might yet become Jungle June and "just ignore it dear" July.

At that rate, Amazon August will be here before you know it...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[monabri]

These current energy prices are going to have significant political ramifications. The Conservatives will surely dig deeper to ameliorate the problem (well more than they are doing at the moment) as the voters are not going to be happy, Where they get the cash from ( Peter v Paul) we will have to see!

[BullDog]

These current energy prices are going to have significant political ramifications. The Conservatives will surely dig deeper to ameliorate the problem (well more than they are doing at the moment) as the voters are not going to be happy, Where they get the cash from ( Peter v Paul) we will have to see!

Well, the government doesn't have any money. So there's really only one place the money can come from.

[monabri]

These current energy prices are going to have significant political ramifications. The Conservatives will surely dig deeper to ameliorate the problem (well more than they are doing at the moment) as the voters are not going to be happy, Where they get the cash from ( Peter v Paul) we will have to see!

Well, the government doesn't have any money. So there's really only one place the money can come from.

Poor ol' DrFfybes (Paul)

I was thinking along the lines of what could be cut or reduced and then redirected. Specifically I could tender 'foreign aid, 'HS2' for starters. Ultimately, though, Sunak's hand is in our pockets.

[Lootman]

These current energy prices are going to have significant political ramifications. The Conservatives will surely dig deeper to ameliorate the problem (well more than they are doing at the moment) as the voters are not going to be happy, Where they get the cash from ( Peter v Paul) we will have to see!

Well, the government doesn't have any money. So there's really only one place the money can come from.

Poor ol' DrFfybes (Paul)

I was thinking along the lines of what could be cut or reduced and then redirected. Specifically I could tender 'foreign aid, 'HS2' for starters. Ultimately, though, Sunak's hand is in our pockets.

Yes, anyone whose country estate is so large that it requires a gallon of petrol to mow it just once, is clearly a filthy capitalist swine who should be milked until his pips squeak.

And he would be lucky. Under Mao he would have been sent to re-education work camp. Whilst in the Russian revolution, he would have been dragged out into the street and shot.

Loot (proudly mowing lawns by hand for 40 years).

[DrFfybes]

You're assuming petrol is going to stay at these levels. Last weekend I used more than 5L mowing the lawn (I tipped a 5L can in and it used it all). No Mow May might yet become Jungle June and "just ignore it dear" July.

Paul

What???? A 5L can keeps me going for most of the season, for a lawn area around 30m x 25m. Is your mower a 5 litre V8? Or does it have a fuel leak?

--kiloran

About 3/4 Acre, and as it has been left to get taller than the dog, the hopper was full every 2 min so lots of trips back and forth to the tipping areas. Probably 4.5 hours in total, though normally it takes about 2 with the faffing around the fruit trees.

My mate has a few sheep. I wondered about asking to borrow one, but they'd eat the borders as well.

Paul

[AF62]

Of the electricity around 1/3 of that is charging a PHEV. A couple of companies have special smart EV charging tariff. But..... to get one of those tariffs we would have to remove our Podpoint charger and fit one of their smart compatible chargers at >£1000. Not so smart eh? Having to remove the 2 year old Podpoint that cost me £700 and works just fine.

The Octopus EV tariff 'Go' doesn't need a smart compatible charger - just that you own or long-term lease a battery electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid vehicle and have a smart meter and it gives you four hours at 7.5p/kWh overnight, - https://octopus.energy/go/

If you do have a smart charger then great you can just plug the car in and off it goes when the rate goes cheap, otherwise just set a timer on the car.

They do have other EV tariffs such as Intelligent Octopus (https://octopus.energy/intelligent-octopus/) where you do need a smart charger and a specific sort of car, but that is because they control exactly when the cheap period is (and it might not be all in one go or at the same time every day).