I'm on a fixed plan - Will the price cap increase affect my direct debit amount?

@coco34ymail.com I can assure you that what we’ve done is make sure you’re paying less for your energy, from October onwards, with no risks of an increase in the foreseeable future. If it wasn’t that way, we wouldn’t be moving you to the Simpler plan.

The Energy Price Guarantee now ensures that everyone on Simpler doesn’t risk a jump in their prices for the whole of this 2 year period. The Energy Price Guarantee is a promise from the government that lasts for 2 years. Unlike a normal variable plan, where you risk price changes, the Energy Price Guarantee now ensures your prices won’t go up. 

You’ll be able to see those prices via this page: https://account.ovoenergy.com/plan

Tim, the page you put a link to tells me that I’m paying a lot more than most who are on the Forum and have been given a fixed rate that is still higher than 2 of your price rises so OVO have failed me and your links To Energy Price Guarantee only tell me that you won’t charge me more than £2500 which is great but why are OVO asking me for £368 a month which equates to £4416.

I can see what rate I have been paying since March 2022 and cannot see what rate I could get to save money. I can see OVO are being an extra £400 of public money to help get them the greedy price rises also. I have eyes and can see OVO are like all the rest and will make millions if not billions off the back of this Fiasco backjed up by the Government, OFGEM and the Media and we have to pay for it whether we like it or not.

Do I Trust OVO……….No.

@coco34ymail.com 

The price cap and now the governments energy price guarantee (EPG) impact prices - both standing charges (price cap only) and unit rate (prices cap and EPG cap).  The prices charged on variable rates for an average user (3,100 kWh of electricity and 12,000 kWh of gas) will compute to circa £2,500 per annum from 1 October (plus or minus a bit because the prices are regional).

I haven’t a clue what prices your fix has.  Some existing fix prices will be below the new variable rates, some fix prices will be reduced to bring them into line with the new variable rates, but some, even after the government rate reduction, will be above the variable price capped figures. The new variable capped figures these will apply for 2 years (unit prices only) so although notionally variable are in essence fixed.

Since the new rates apply from 1 October (tomorrow) , if you log into your account after that you should see your new rates and whether or not they’ve changed.  Since you are on a fix any change will be a reduction.  It will be for you to compare the prices relative to your consumption to identify whether exiting your fix for a move to the variable rates will be worthwhile.

The £2,500 figure bandied about is for those specified amounts of consumption, but if you use more your bills will be higher. Use less and your bills will be lower.

If you think that OVO or any other supplier is making shedfulls of money out of all this - then you are sadly mistaken.  Why do you think 20+ suppliers went bust last year?  Why was Bulb effectively nationalised by the Government? There are excess profits being made by some companies and some nations, some companies even in the UK, but it's not the suppliers who are making money.  There were even recent concerns, now allayed, that OVO was likely to breach its banking covenants.  So, it doesn’t help to make wild assertions on these matters without having the facts to back them up.  You came here for help and you have been given it.  Post back when you’ve something to say after 1 October.

 its now 25 Oct and no change to rates on my fixed plan. I'm still being charged too much on electricity 40.57 p - should be 35.32p - tried to contact OVO but no action

If you’re not happy about this, then https://ovoenergy.com/feedback is your best bet.

But you might want to think carefully. The EPG only lasts six months now, not two years.

If it says fixed for a year , why when you read the information dies it say , this doesn't mean it's a fixed amount it can change with your usage ??? What is the point of a fixed plan if it's no different to the variable plan ? 

It means the price you pay per unit is fixed for a year.  Price increases will not affect you.  You surely could not expect to just use as much energy as you want for a fixed total?

This feels like another case of confusion regarding how Fixed Rate Tariffs work. It’s something we’ve discussed here on the Forum quite a lot over the years.

It’s a terrible business decision to offer unlimited energy in the way Tomato Energy is trying for a fixed price, which has gotten them into VERY serious financial trouble which is likely to result in that one collapsing sooner rather than later. It’s unsustainable and unviable as a business model. I could quite literally abuse that to restart the industrial revolution by aggregating power from just a few domestic properties to create a super supply with ridiculous amounts of 3-Phase power capacity available to me.

In a Fixed Rate Tariff, only the rates are fixed, nothing else. You’ll pay more if you use more, and less if you use less.

So pay your 'fixed amount' and allow all your neighbours to piggy back off your 'fixed amount'. Have you considered a career in the energy resale business?

Get real.

It refers to the price per unit of energy being fixed not the total amount you use

It might be worth contacting OVO and ask for a longer FIXED TARIFF, as mentioned previously “You pay for what you use”,

I`ve been on a fixed with OVO for 3 1/2 years, ringing them up and ask politely for a better Fixed rate, it`s worked great for me on 2 occasions when in mid-contract with no penalties🙂