With energy prices falling and pressure mounting on the main 6 suppliers (British Gas, nPower, EDF Energy, E.ON, Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern) to reduce their tariffs I find it quite surprising to see British Gas offering their ‘Fixed Price 2012’ gas deal as their Best Buy. It sounds a good idea to be able to have a guaranteed gas price with no more price increases until 2012, however is it really the best option to tie into just at the moment?
Checking for my postcode under the Fixed Price 2012 deal, it would cost 8.186p per KWh for the first 670 KWh per quarter. The price having been fixed as at 30 July 2008 with a premium of 7.41% on the standard rates at that time.
However, with the same postcode, under the standard British Gas contract the equivalent price is 7.622p per KWh. Even better is the ‘Click Energy 6’ deal which is basically offering a price reduction if you manage your bills online and have paperless billing, the price is 6.860p per KWh. In addition, neither of these have a cancellation penalty whereas under the Fixed Price 2012 deal you could be charged £35.
I’m sure there are a lot of people who like to budget for their gas (and other) costs and would welcome the ability to fix them for a good length of time. It just doesn’t seem sensible to me to lock into a high price in the knowledge that in all probability prices will be reduced in the relative short term. Perhaps when the energy supplier prices do fall, including those from British Gas, then such a deal would be worth some serious consideration.
Diane – your arguments are sound – but – they are similar to the arguments used in 2005 when British Gas offered a fixed ‘price protection until 2010’ deal – cheaper gas & electricty were ‘in the pipeline’ and so few people took up the offer.
I am on eof teh few I think who took up the offer – and have been smiling all the way to the bank ever since. To put it into perspective – my annual gas & electricity bill will more than double when the deal ends in April. And I had to make an alteration to my deal in 2008 which put up my deal price by a further 50% at that time – but I am still in pocket.
I also wanted to fix my payments so I could budget effectively – so I did the deal. I will probably do so again at renewal time. My opinion is that gas & oil prices will rise and rise – shortages are predicted.
Hope this helps.
As tariffs are so regularly changing using an energy comparison site such as uSwitch would help you see the best option for your area and requirements.
just put up the tarife prices of all the companese per kwh so we can see who is the cheepest, then we can see who has the best deal