Recently signed up to a new fixed contract- Will my prices be affected by the Energy Price Guarantee?

Hiya @LSdevon ,

As far as I’m aware, OVO will adjust your bills automatically when they’re generated, so that if your vanilla rates are above the new Energy Price Guarantee, they’ll be dropped down below it by the billing platform. No action is required on your part to enable this to happen.

Plus on the app it says people with certain criteria will be able to apply for free electric throws, free boiler service, free smart thermostats. How do i find out if i qualify? 

Coming Soon! ™

Thank you so much!! Your help is very much appreciated

I started a new contract (at 60p/kWh electric) in late August - should I be ringing to cancel it or should I sit tight?

Sit tight for now @Random . OVO will automatically adjust your bills down if the rates are above the new Energy Price Guarantee, regardless of what tariff you’re on.

That depends on whether they’re adjusting it down to meet the variable rate cap, or providing the 17p/kWh discount the government have mentioned - which would still put me ~10p/kWh above the cap.

Hope they release what they’re doing soon.

From what I’ve heard, it’s likely that the same cap will apply to everyone, but please don’t rely on this.

What I can say with absolute confidence though is that under the new plans, the legacy Ofgem Default Tariff Cap (which is the “legacy” price cap that everyone knows about) will be terminated on the 1st October 2022 sometime around midnight.

The idea of the discount off fixed price plans is to give the same level of discount as customers on variable rate plans.

So i think you are correct based on what the government have said so far in the policy paper on the government website. Customers on very high fixed rate plans like you may have to decide what to do unless the government tweaks the policy. It is not clear how many OVO customers will be in a similar situation. Some suppliers are already highlighting it may be best for some customers to switch to their variable plan. 

For customers with some suppliers, it won't be an issue as some suppliers allow fee free switching between plans.

OVO normally charge an exit fee for fixed plans, typically £30 per fuel, but it does vary.

You may be best waiting to see what OVO offer before making any decision. I have my doubts if OVO will waive exit fees once they issue their update, but you never know.

Word on the street is that if your fixed rate is higher than the price guarantee rate, you will be able to move onto the guaranteed variable with no exit penalties.

As it now seems a lot of fixed deals (including mine) are going to cost more than the standard variable rate with the new price cap, I’m thinking of cancelling my fix and paying the cancellation penalty as subject to confirmation of the actual unit rates, I think I will pay less in the longer term, assuming the cap will remain as long as my fixed deal currently does!

Anybody else considering the same and have any thoughts on a reason not to cancel a fixed deal?