Have I made a big mistake?

[ijustcouldntthinkofausername]

I took Martin Lewis' advice a few months ago and stayed on a variable rate for my dual energy instead of taking the fixed rate which was £200 a month at the time, same as what the variable was.
Have I made a mistake not going on the fixed rate?

@ijustcouldntthinkofausername have you provided the fixed tariff that your supplier has offered as the screenshot provided by a PP may not be the same as what Eon is offering

For example this is the crazy fixed rate Octopus is offering me

Oh sorry @dementedpixie these are the fixed rate tariff ones

No one could have predicted bills going up to £4/5000 a year, even Martin Lewis. He gave the best advice he had at the time. I chose not to fix either and am on the variable rate now. I'm not blaming anyone or beating myself up about it, it's going to be expensive either way.

No I'm not blaming him I'm just saying I didn't fix at the time but I'm shitting bricks now 😩
Wish I did.. I get in a cufuffle over things like this and I listened to others at the time

I work but the company is not hitting targets and they're making weird irrational decisions and introducing 'new strategies' like there's no tomorrow so that's lingering in the back of my mind too. I have been made redundant in the past so I'm just stressing that's all

That gives 81% higher for gas and 89% higher for electricity so might be worth going for

I've worked out my offer is 147% higher for electricity and 155% higher for gas!!

@dementedpixie OMG!!!!! That's insane.

You should look at Go. It's electricity only - we've just fixed at 7p overnight and 40p daytime with standing charge the same. Octopus current variable rate is 27p. If rates go up as expected I think we'll consider ourselves lucky. And it has no exit fees so if government steps up and stops the cap increase we can just go onto the variable rate.

The gas rate in that quote is what the price cap is predicted to be (just over double the current rate) so you'll be no worse off being on variable for gas.

Have you misread my quote for gas? It says 18.70p/kwh which is a bit higher than the 15.05p/kwh that is predicted in October

18p for gas is predicted in January

@TeenTraumaTrials the Go tariff is of no use to me if you need an EV and a smart meter. They tried to fit smart meters but had to put the old ones back in place as the smart meter kept tripping my fuse box. They have no solution to this issue at the moment

I'm not paying the higher price now though, that would be daft

That's a pain about the smart meter. Go is marketed as an EV tariff but you don't have to have an EV to go on it.

And sorry I wasn't clear - I was just meaning that if you were on a variable gas rate you probably wouldn't pay any more than that quote.

We fixed in March for two years when I think Martin was suggesting fixes of no more than about 20% above the new cap were worth considering. It was a tough decision but I'm happy we did as I couldn't begin to imagine the projected prices now being publicised.

Instead of fixing I'm staying on the variable rate and putting the difference between what I'm paying and the fixed amount into Premium bonds therefore I've got it built up if I need it but its not making the fat cats pockets fuller. Premium bonds as it isnt super easy to dip in and out of for impromptu spending but is easy enough to withdraw from if necessary, plus I might win. No, idea if thats a good move or not but we don't use that much energy anyway so should just about stretch to the increased amount anyway.

Try not to beat yourself up OP, it’s a really unpredictable time at the moment and even Martin Lewis’s advice is heavily caveated by him saying it’s hard to know what’s going to happen. All you can do in these situations is make the best decision you can with the information available to you at the time .

Sometimes when I make a decision in tricky circumstances I write down why I took that decision and why I felt it was best at that moment….then later down the line it’s harder to start blaming yourself for something once you have the benefit of hindsight! Could be worth a try!