79.5p / kWh - Eon Next Flex Scam?

[Tosc]

Hi there,

I just moved to a flat in Cardiff in October.

The previous owners left me on a Next Flex tariff with Eon at:

Day 61.3p / kWh
Night 32.47 / kWh

Pretty much scam prices in my opinion, which is just an opinion, not directly accusing anyone of actually living off a scam energy scheme.

Apparently, price cap only applies for those on a fixed tariff, for those on variable there is a discount of 17p / kWh.

From January government's "discount" went up 31.84 p / kWh

"Oh great, fantastic, yeah?" Well... INMEDIATLY I am instead paying:
(just got the bill a few days ago)

Day 79.5p / kWh
Night 50.6p / kWh

So not only does not the discount translate into better for the customer, but I am paying MORE than before after the discount.

In the end 3.4p more for day and 3.2p more for night.

Why not moving to a fixed price tariff then? Where is the catch?

There is NOT a single energy company currently accepting new fixed-tariff customers in The UK. Even Eon (my provider) would not offer anything else than a variable tariff that feels like they point a gun to your head. (why would they, right?) So while those on fix rates are "protected" still paying hefty prices, those on variable are the ones paying off all the extra revenue they are not making.

(At least that is what I was told over the phone by one of those brokers who always try to sell you something

In the meantime, we are trapped into paying what they say or switching off everything. Me, personally, I think I could live without electricity for other than to work. I get on well with the cold.

To add up, someone on a variable tariff in Spain told me that some cheap days in January they were paying 5 cents (Euro) per kWh at night...

I already know several people paying 400-600£ a month using electric heating.

Has anyone moved recently on a new variable rate tariff that was reasonable?

Is the UK really fucked up?
When electricity is cheaper, do companies not translate that into cheaper energy for those on variable? Is it just never cheaper here?
Any Ideas? (already thought of hamsters moving wheels)

Thanks

I'm one of those on a fixed rate but it was taken out nearly 2 years ago and at that time I think it was higher than the variable rate. It runs out end of this month and there are no fixed rates available, so like everyone else I will be on variable rate.

I am being quoted
48.55 day
13.76 night
44.5 standing charge

It will vary by area, payment method, and providers offering the split rates do split it differently so you may be able to shop around for a provider has a better day/night rate based on how much you use in day vs night.

UK is very reliant on gas. Gas is used to make a lot of our electricity. Gas is sold on the wholesale market and energy providers buy it in advance, so drops in market gas price take a while to become a drop in what we pay. Not sure you can compare to other countries as they have different infrastructure, different taxes, different generation.

The variable tariff you are being quoted should be the normal price cap tariff - that’s what the vast majority of the population are on. Nobody is switching, because that’s the best value and only tariff for domestic customers. It’s only ‘variable’ in that the price is the Energy Price Guarantee tariff of 34p kWH and 10p for gas (will increase when support ends on 1 April).

Maybe the previous occupants were on a business tariff, or a time of rate tariff, just ask EON to switch to the variable tariff and that will be the same as everybody else.

I’m having real problems with eon. Our fixed pre price rose DD is reasonable low based on previous use but they’ve added £900 to our owing and will not discuss where that’s from. Not returning phone calls when promised, not sorting out the issue and unable to explain what the issue actually is.

I’m chronically ill and my partner doesn’t have the fight in him and thinks we ought to just pay it for ease. These companies are shafting the consumer and I’m so done with dealing with them.

Those are the price cap rates for economy 7. At the moment, the price cap is effectively a short term fix and there are no real fixes worth changing to.

You're paying 79 - 31 so about 48 p day rate and 50-31 so about 19 p night rate.

Do you need to be on economy 7, in that you have storage heaters or an electric car? If not, that's your issue and you need to switch to a standard rate, where you'll pay the price cap rate of about 35 p for all day and night usage.

As pp said the price cap is the fix

Yes, I have storage heaters and an immersion boiler, but cooking and doing laundry are energy consuming and can't do them after midnight.

My concern is that companies are not offering a change to fixed rates and there seems to be no competition.

I wanted to know about other people experiences with Eon and other companies.

There is currently no competition because wholesale rates are very high, for them to offer a fix at a rate they can make even a tiny profit on, it would be far above the price cap rate.

What most people are currently paying (unless they're on an old long term fix) is the price cap rate, which is being subsidised by the government to reduce the very high cost a little.

We're with Octopus, after being moved from our old supplier that went bust about 18 months ago. It's been very positive up to now. Fair direct debit, very good online account where you can see how they expect your balance to vary over the next year, and you can get back your excess credit if you have it in a couple of clicks. They're also currently running 'saving sessions' if you have a smart meter, where you can get points if you reduce your electricity consumption within periods of high demand. We've only got a few pounds as we're not particularly high users, but I've seen others getting £50+ discount.

They also do a referral scheme and if you use my link to sign up, we both get £50 account credit:

share.octopus.energy/loved-moon-894