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It would yes, but can you imagine the outcry if price cap is raised over Christmas/winter to protect large energy firms vs consumer?
Not saying it wouldn’t happen, but it would be quite some u-turn.
Price cap also means you’d be on standard variable tariff, thus could change at any point with no notice and no exit fees if prices change and a better deals comes out.
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You’ll be hard pressed finding anyone that’ll take new customers at the moment. Industry seems to have locked down, even USwitch saying it’s better to stay and roll to a variable tariff (at price cap) for now and see what’s in the market in Jan once winter is mostly over (at least from energy buying perspective). Would have though BG is a safe bet if you’re there already
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Tempted, what’s the freehub?
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100% renewable on all tariffs (backed by regos, as all “green” tariffs are) so on par with anyone else’s green tariff. Do some other nice things, partner with the woodland trust to plant trees for each meme we etc which I guess is a plus longer term?
Seem as good/green as any other green tariff, short of generating your own solar/wind!
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Stick for now if you’re on variable. Maximum price they can charge is the price cap (£1300 ish from oct) and then see where it goes. I can’t see political appetite from what has been said so far for allowing a price rise outside of the twice yearly cycle so it’ll go up a lot (probably) in April when the cap is raised based on previous 6 month prices. Can always change to a fixed rate if that changes, and with prices as volatile as they seem to be who knows where tariffs will be in 3 months time.
With OVO having acquired SSE last year I’d be pretty sure they will still be around in a years time (I hope so!)
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Everyone’s pulled back I think. Why acquire more customers when they make you a loss at SVT, and any other option is priced far higher than customers are paying already?
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This is one of those once in a decade events, don’t think there’s been a price rise this steep in a very long time from data I’ve seen going back to 2008 ish.
@cozey that’s why many energy companies have very large trading teams to look at exactly that. As @Dammit said earlier there’s very much twin parts, the physical to someone’s home and the engineers needed for that to happen, plus the market trading to make sure they remain viable and can buy energy at a good price to allow them to offer competitive tariffs to consumers
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Bulb would have been ok with only offering svt as the price cap takes into account a small margin for suppliers. Under normal market conditions they could have weathered the storm of slightly increased costs with their hedge and waited for the next price cap announcement, but with such a rapid increase in costs that’s what’s put them at risk.
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Ofgem sets a price cap for a standard variable tariff (SVT) that is the maximum price an energy company can charge the consumer for a standard tariff. Fixed rate tariffs are treated different, so are excluded from this cap.
Energy is a pretty competitive market, with little to really differentiate the providers as the goods delivered are pretty intangible. thus consumers are very price sensitive, and will go for the cheapest option. This used to be a fixed rate (2 year fixed often), that guaranteed the suppliers regular income so they took a loss on energy in test 1, to make margin on year 2 due to hedged energy purchases. However, the current climate means that the cheapest tariff is the variable tariff as the cost of energy has risen to such an extent suppliers are increasing their fixed rate tariffs to maintain margin. As they can’t raise the svt above the price cap, this is now the cheapest tariff in market, and is a loss making one for suppliers.
So it’s partly the regulator not allowing higher costs to be passed on to the consumer and partly the govt protecting the consumer from excessive bills. Normally the price cap works, and is based on the cost of energy + x% to allow suppliers to make money from it but with the 70% increase in wholesale prices since the cap was announced in July it’s no longer valid.
If the price cap was calculated know it would be nearer £1700 vs the £1300 it will be from Oct simply due to August price increases.
Not sure if it’s exactly what you’re aiming for/what they do but I’ve had good experience working with Strawberry Social for day-day management/community engagement type stuff. This was in addition to in house teams doing much of the creation, then outsourced the engagement aspect
https://www.strawberrysocial.com/