Energy Prices - are they taking the piss???

My parents in their 80s got a bit of a shock. They were paying £110 per month with Octopus and their new contract is £276 per month. Apparently this is reduced from £342 due to being a loyal customer :eek: I'm with them also and currently pay £105 per month with my contract due to run out in April.
You need to get your parents off that contract, if there is an exit penalty its probably only £30 or something (perhaps find out first before switching to standard rate), don't know the amount of gas and elec they are using but it is almost certain that their bills will be considerably cheaper than that contract if they simply move onto the standard variable rates, its f***ing criminal that Octopus have allowed them to even agree to that fixed price.
 
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You need to get your parents off that contract, if there is an exit penalty its probably only £30 or something (perhaps find out first before switching to standard rate), don't know the amount of gas and elec they are using but it is almost certain that their bills will be considerably cheaper than that contract if they simply move onto the standard variable rates, its f***ing criminal that Octopus have allowed them to even agree to that fixed price.
Thanks for this. I’ve done a bit digging and found that my parents were also told they could go on the variable rate for £168 which is obviously a lot better and there’s no charge to exit there fixed rate. They are just worried how much the variable rate could increase to and then whether the cheaper ‘loyalty’ fixed rate would apply at a later date. They just need to go onto the variable rate it’s a no brainer.
 
Thanks for this. I’ve done a bit digging and found that my parents were also told they could go on the variable rate for £168 which is obviously a lot better and there’s no charge to exit there fixed rate. They are just worried how much the variable rate could increase to and then whether the cheaper ‘loyalty’ fixed rate would apply at a later date. They just need to go onto the variable rate it’s a no brainer.
Great that you've had a look at it with them. @AndrewP has hoyed up some figures/guesstimates in an earlier post on this thread (post 460), figures from Martin Lewis re the likely average standard variable rate per annum price at April and October 2022 which might be helpful. I believe the new rate effective April is due to be officially announced fairly soon into February.
 
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And here it is in numbers (I'm sorry)...

For someone on TYPICAL USE (use more it'll be higher, less lower) then here are the gas & electricity prices...

Cheapest fix 1yr-ish ago: c. £900/yr
Current price cap: £1,277/yr
Strongly predicted 1 Apr cap: c.£1,925/yr
Crystal ball predicted 1 Oct cap c. £2,240/yr
Current cheapest fix: £2,250/yr

Courtesy of mse bloke.
just be careful relying on martin lewis, he is far from being as great as he makes out, has made some pretty big mistakes in the past (telling people to put money into icelandic banks was one, especially at the time when people on his forum were going into great detail about why it was poor advice, which were somehow 'accidently' deleted after the crash, albeit, most individuals eventually got all/most their money back after our government stepped in), costing people a chunk of money, and most his 'ideas, help and tips' are stolen from elsewhere, like his bank charge/PPI refund stuff being almost a mirror copy of what consumeractiongroup.co.uk had been doing for a few years previously, even down to the template letters being extremely similar.
 
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Got an email of octopus saying my tariff is ending and my elec will more than double, then last night got this:

Hi,

Thanks for choosing Octopus Go and helping us build and test the future of smart tariffs.

We've been working on making renewals smoother and simpler for smart tariff customers, and as part of this work we mistakenly extended the end date of your fixed term last week.

Rest assured: we've updated the end date of your tariff back to what it was.

By way of apology, when your fixed term comes to an end, we've lined up an additional 12 months on the same (quite frankly crazy cheap in the current market) prices you're currently enjoying.

Love & Power,

Alex Schoch

Smart Products @ Octopus Energy
 
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Got an email of octopus saying my tariff is ending and my elec will more than double, then last night got this:

Hi,

Thanks for choosing Octopus Go and helping us build and test the future of smart tariffs.

We've been working on making renewals smoother and simpler for smart tariff customers, and as part of this work we mistakenly extended the end date of your fixed term last week.

Rest assured: we've updated the end date of your tariff back to what it was.

By way of apology, when your fixed term comes to an end, we've lined up an additional 12 months on the same (quite frankly crazy cheap in the current market) prices you're currently enjoying.

Love & Power,

Alex Schoch

Smart Products @ Octopus Energy

Still won’t be cheaper then the standard tariff. Sounds to me like they’re auto fixing people at higher rates!

 
Got an email of octopus saying my tariff is ending and my elec will more than double, then last night got this:

Hi,

Thanks for choosing Octopus Go and helping us build and test the future of smart tariffs.

We've been working on making renewals smoother and simpler for smart tariff customers, and as part of this work we mistakenly extended the end date of your fixed term last week.

Rest assured: we've updated the end date of your tariff back to what it was.

By way of apology, when your fixed term comes to an end, we've lined up an additional 12 months on the same (quite frankly crazy cheap in the current market) prices you're currently enjoying.

Love & Power,

Alex Schoch

Smart Products @ Octopus Energy
I would be emailing them back with acceptance of their kind offer.
 
just be careful relying on martin lewis, he is far from being as great as he makes out, has made some pretty big mistakes in the past (telling people to put money into icelandic banks was one, especially at the time when people on his forum were going into great detail about why it was poor advice, which were somehow 'accidently' deleted after the crash, albeit, most individuals eventually got all/most their money back after our government stepped in), costing people a chunk of money, and most his 'ideas, help and tips' are stolen from elsewhere, like his bank charge/PPI refund stuff being almost a mirror copy of what consumeractiongroup.co.uk had been doing for a few years previously, even down to the template letters being extremely similar.
I don't rely on him, but he does tend to give decent advice to the general public. I think most people will improve financially by listening to him, even though most of what he says is just common sense.
 

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