Energy bills - are you fixing or variable-ing?

[Cosycardigans]

Just that really....

My offered fix wasn't far from the 3.5 predicted Jan rise, but I fixed for a year anyway, because I thought it would be good to know what I'm paying over the winter and not get any nasty surprises...

What does everyone else think?

Watching with interest. We are still on variable (Octopus).

I'm in a middle re this. My rate is about to double but will still be cheaper than what I was paying with my previous supplier.

I have been offered a lower monthly payment but would have to pay £150 to switch to it. (Thieves!).

Both my current rate, the doubled rate and the cheaper offer mean I am overpaying for what we use-though it will go up when we put our heating on.our account is currently
£180 in credit)

We are with octopus. There doesn't seem to be an option to just pay for what you bloody use!! What's the point in a smart meter!

watching as in same position OP!

Currently on variable but Octopus have just reduced my monthly DD to £30 🤪

I am well in credit but need to look into the fixes available.

I’m with octopus too and watching for now.
They’ve offered me a fix of the same as my current DD.
From what I’ve read, I think prices will go down a bit over the winter.
I’m in credit at the moment but have hardly used any energy over the summer.
You can get a refund if you are credit.

I read up on this a couple of weeks ago as prices were coming down and wondered what the actual 'recommendation' is now. On MoneySavingExpert I think it said if you can find anything roughly 5% below the July-October price cap it might be worth fixing, but you won't find any really good fixes at the moment. He did mention a tracker tariff with Eon which is variable but always tracks 3% below the price cap and said it was a no brainer so I've swapped to that. Currently paying less per unit of gas and electric than people I know who have fixed but obviously when prices go back up I'll probably be paying more. Not sure what sorts of tariffs other energy companies are offering though.

We’re with Octopus and have a variable direct debit so we pay for the actual billed amount each month. The disadvantage is that our winter bills are obviously much higher.
We are on intelligent Octopus for electricity as we have an EV. It’s not fixed though. We have tracker for gas which is a daily changing rate. So today for example it’s 4.38p per kWh instead of the variable 7.00p. Tracker is also available for electricity. It’s important to keep an eye on tracker prices as the cap is much higher.

I work in the energy sector and I'm staying on a variable for now.

A lot of people don't seem to get that a fixed tariff is for the unit rate and I have people ringing up thinking they can use as much energy as they want for a fixed price and being shocked when they see their bill.

fixed but it is not reducing until July 2024
and for the first time we are going into autumn in debit no credit

We're with Octopus. I switched to their tracker tariff from July and so far I'm thrilled I did, we've saved a fortune.

My unit rates for today are 14.50p/kWh for Electric and 4.26p/kWh for Gas. The unit rates haven't gotten anywhere near the variable rates so far. I know they'll rise in winter but the savings we'll have made will more than cover the odd few days where the rates exceed the variable.

I am as well 🤯

My current deal ends at the end of this month and the new fixed deal for 12 months works out slightly cheaper than the variable, so I've gone for that.

However, I fall under this scheme and have had it confirmed by E-On Next (in case anyone else eligible didn't know about it):
www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/09/e-on-next-winter-support-scheme/

I have fixed for a year at just below the variable

@piscofrisco if you contact Octopus I'm sure they can set up a variable direct debit where you pay for what you use each month. Bear In mind your winter bills will be much higher than your summer bills

@Cosycardigans I'm staying on the variable rate just now

We've fixed for 12 months at the October price cap rates. I read the price cap is predicted to go up again in January, then drop again in April and July. I figured if this does happen, I'd prefer to have the slightly lower rates in the colder months when we'll be using more gas/electricity.

No idea if that was a good move or not 🤷

I've just signed up to eon flex I think it was. Guaranteed to be just under the price cap but variable.

I'll have to ring them. I've been out it off as after an awful experience with shell which ended up taking literally months and hours on the phone to sort out, I switched and had hoped to never actually need to speak to an energy company again for at least ten years and now shell are buying octopus anyway or the other way round is it?

That sounds exactly like the one I'm on, variable but always 3% under the price cap. Are you sure it's not the Pledge Tariff?

Oh yes it might be @WhiteHorse92 they all blur together when you're looking

Yes that was exactly my thinking. I use the most electricity and gas between January and March and those are the three months it is predicted to jump up 3.5 percent during.
I figured even if it does drop, it's only estimated to drop as low as it currently is now, and with the last few years I didn't wanna risk something random happening and it potentially rising more. If it drops drastically in the summer, there's only a few months to wait until the tariff ends.

My fix is slightly higher than the variable for the unit costs (less than a penny more per unit), but the daily standing charges are lower with the fix.

I always try and pay the same amount all year-round, so I'm in credit by winter and don't have to worry too much about the heating costs.