Page 3 of 3

Re: Octopus Energy: My reasons to be happy

Posted: October 18th, 2020, 11:11 am
by richfool
So far my tariff with Yorkshire Energy has been very good, but they have told me that they are increasing their rates shortly and have offered me a new fixed rate which is at higher rates.

Upon looking around the only other company I can see which undercuts YE's new tariff, is EON. Their rates per unit are virtually the same as YE's, but EON charge a much lower daily standing charge on both gas and electricity, of 8.925p per day. That is appealing particularly as I am a low user. Those are EON's currently advertised fixed rates, which have exit penalties and come with an obligation to have a smart meter installed.

Re: Octopus Energy: My reasons to be happy

Posted: October 21st, 2020, 8:58 am
by Scotty
Have you looked at Bulb? My dual fuel bills dropped nearly £35 when I switched a few years ago, and stayed down when I started wfh three years ago and using central heating all day over winter. The monthly DD is about to go up by £2.67 due to an energy price change (electricity up, balanced by gas down) but it's still very well priced. Great website, clear communication and price plans, based in east London, good service and great ethos. I only joined because they were offering £100 to switch a few years ago but it has been one of my best money/service decisions. And no pressure to have a smart meter if you don't want one.

Re: Octopus Energy: My reasons to be happy

Posted: October 21st, 2020, 10:17 am
by richfool
Scotty wrote:Have you looked at Bulb? My dual fuel bills dropped nearly £35 when I switched a few years ago, and stayed down when I started wfh three years ago and using central heating all day over winter. The monthly DD is about to go up by £2.67 due to an energy price change (electricity up, balanced by gas down) but it's still very well priced. Great website, clear communication and price plans, based in east London, good service and great ethos. I only joined because they were offering £100 to switch a few years ago but it has been one of my best money/service decisions. And no pressure to have a smart meter if you don't want one.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've just checked, but Bulb are dearer than both my existing YE variable tariff and the new fixed rate tariff offered by YE. So currently I am sticking with YE and will wait to see if, when and by how much their variable tariff changes.

The cheapest I found was from EON, but the reviews of their customer service were not good and they had large penalties for switching. (They had a particularly low daily standing charge of 8.925p both for the gas and for the electricity).

Re: Octopus Energy: My reasons to be happy

Posted: October 21st, 2020, 11:44 am
by richfool
Snorvey wrote:I'm looking at my energy contract too and even though there are sometimes large differences in standing charges between providers (15-20p in some cases I've looked at) it only represents a small portion of the overall bill.


Where one uses a higher number of units - e.g. in my case electricity, the unit rate becomes more significant. Where the daily consumption amounts to only 1 or 2 units, as in my case with gas, the daily standing charge becomes more significant.

Re: Octopus Energy: My reasons to be happy

Posted: October 31st, 2020, 11:25 am
by richfool
doug2500 wrote:Octopus have just informed that while energy prices are falling, and their gas price is falling, electricity prices are rising.

Yes, thanks for that.

Yorkshire Energy have now confirmed to me what their variable rates are changing to from 28th November, which as you say shows a noticeable increase in the electricity tariff, as does the fixed one year tariff they are offering me.

Though more significantly, the daily standing charge on the new variable tariff is very much higher than currently, which is a big disincentive. It is even significantly higher than that on the 1 year fixed they are offering me. Though if I opted for the 1 year fixed tariff, I would then be stuck with the higher unit charge for a full 12 months, and thus be unable to benefit from any fall in (electricity) rates next spring, which is what they (YE) seem to be saying will happen.

The only company I see offering anything significantly cheaper is EON who have a daily standing charge for gas and electricity of only 8.925p per day (each), but reviews of their customer service are very poor.

I was hoping the latest falls in oil prices might impact the tariffs rates on offer from the energy companies. Or perhaps the wind we're having today! :roll:

Yorkshire Energy goes bust

Posted: December 2nd, 2020, 6:31 pm
by richfool
I've just completed a switch from Yorkshire Energy to EON for my gas and electricity, mainly due to EON's low daily standing charges.

However I just spotted that Yorkshire Energy has gone bust. I just hope I get my credit balance refunded.
Yorkshire Energy goes bust: Around 74,000 customers told to sit tight by Ofgem as it finds them a new supplier

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bil ... where.html