Bootsox Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Just got a letter from npower advising of increases to gas prices. The letter has the usual soft soaping bull but tucked away on page 2 is the actual revised tariff. They leave it up to you to work out the actual amount of increase, this is as follows: sign on line 18 tariff Daily standing charge was 36.86p, now 45.15p Unit rate was 2.389p, now 2.762p Which represents an increase of 22% and 16% respectively (which kind of makes you query the official CPI/RPI figures). Normal procedure would be the two finger salute but if I hang on until July 2011, I get a £50 discount (and avoid a £20 early termination fee). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedgefunded Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Just got a letter from npower advising of increases to gas prices. The letter has the usual soft soaping bull but tucked away on page 2 is the actual revised tariff. They leave it up to you to work out the actual amount of increase, this is as follows: sign on line 18 tariff Daily standing charge was 36.86p, now 45.15p Unit rate was 2.389p, now 2.762p Which represents an increase of 22% and 16% respectively (which kind of makes you query the official CPI/RPI figures). Normal procedure would be the two finger salute but if I hang on until July 2011, I get a £50 discount (and avoid a £20 early termination fee). Yes, but if you were to make the change via a cashback website you could receive a decent amount of cash for doing so: https://www.quidco.com/utilities/gas-electricity/scottish-power/ Then....change again. Rinse and repeat, and don't forget to use such sites for home/car insurance etc... That's all a bit MSE I grant you, but I've got £2600 from Quidco since August 06 which is not to be sniffed at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBdamo Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 I've spent 15 mins trying to google a wholesale unit price for natural gas with no luck. But, with the growth of shale gas usage in the states there has been a lot of downward pressure on natural gas so I don't believe these rises are related to the wholesale price of gas. The last big rises we saw were late 08-early 09 and these were due to the devaluiation of sterling or QE. WTF their excuse is this time I have no idea but would punt at it having something to do with pension liabilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBdamo Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Might also have something to do with the cold weather, and how much they think they can screw out of the public Can't be, we've got regulators to stop that kind of thing happening.... Maintains straight face...... Fails miserably Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Monk Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Got a bill from EDF yesterday, I am using a third less gas this quarter than this quarter last year when I had a lodger (1.52 against 2.36 units per day) but my direct debit is going up from £18 to £21 per month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBdamo Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Can anyone find the wholesale gas price that these companies are buying at? I have tried and failed. Would be interesting to know what their mark up is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Just got a letter from npower advising of increases to gas prices. The letter has the usual soft soaping bull but tucked away on page 2 is the actual revised tariff. They leave it up to you to work out the actual amount of increase, this is as follows: sign on line 18 tariff Daily standing charge was 36.86p, now 45.15p Unit rate was 2.389p, now 2.762p Which represents an increase of 22% and 16% respectively (which kind of makes you query the official CPI/RPI figures). Normal procedure would be the two finger salute but if I hang on until July 2011, I get a £50 discount (and avoid a £20 early termination fee). More signs of hyperdeflation then? Best fire up those printers eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deflation Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Got a bill from EDF yesterday, I am using a third less gas this quarter than this quarter last year when I had a lodger (1.52 against 2.36 units per day) but my direct debit is going up from £18 to £21 per month. I left EDF in August when they put my price per kwh up by over 30%. Went to EON who by blind luck, are the only major supplier not to put rates up yet. A quick flick through my bills sees electricity up by 30% over the last 3 yerars, and gas by 40%. It is hard to work out exactly how much you are paying because of the stepped charge rates (goes down the more you use, bizarre I think, should be the other way round), discounts for dual fuel, d/d, online billing etc. The comparison websites, uswitch etc, include all theses though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twatmangle Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 For you facts-and-figures kind of guys: I used 24,226 kWh gas and 3,588kWh electricity in the previous 12 months, this cost me £839 and £458. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rented Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 I've spent 15 mins trying to google a wholesale unit price for natural gas with no luck. But, with the growth of shale gas usage in the states there has been a lot of downward pressure on natural gas so I don't believe these rises are related to the wholesale price of gas. The last big rises we saw were late 08-early 09 and these were due to the devaluiation of sterling or QE. WTF their excuse is this time I have no idea but would punt at it having something to do with pension liabilities. Not quite what you are after but this is the chart that stuck in my mind. Chart from http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/nov/20/energy-bills-soar-wholesale-prices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cells Posted December 25, 2010 Share Posted December 25, 2010 I've spent 15 mins trying to google a wholesale unit price for natural gas with no luck. But, with the growth of shale gas usage in the states there has been a lot of downward pressure on natural gas so I don't believe these rises are related to the wholesale price of gas. The last big rises we saw were late 08-early 09 and these were due to the devaluiation of sterling or QE. WTF their excuse is this time I have no idea but would punt at it having something to do with pension liabilities. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=NBPGDAHD:IND Prices this year ranged from 30p to 70p averaging about 45p a therm. That converts to 1p to 2.4p averaging approx 1.5p/kWh So they pay approx 1.5p while you pay some 3.5p a unit. However they are charged some 0.7p/kWh to use the pipes. So in short this year it cost your gas company approx 2.2p a unit and you probably paid 3-3.5p so they are making a profit before costs of about 1p a unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBdamo Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 http://www.bloomberg...er=NBPGDAHD:IND Prices this year ranged from 30p to 70p averaging about 45p a therm. That converts to 1p to 2.4p averaging approx 1.5p/kWh So they pay approx 1.5p while you pay some 3.5p a unit. However they are charged some 0.7p/kWh to use the pipes. So in short this year it cost your gas company approx 2.2p a unit and you probably paid 3-3.5p so they are making a profit before costs of about 1p a unit. Thanks for that, from the graph posted earlier it would appear that retail prices fell back only slightly after the 2008 speculative spike and have been fairly constant since, yet the wholesale price has barely dropped. So what is the justification for the impending rises? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Way Down Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 So what is the justification for the impending rises? None. Pure profiteering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Monk Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 None. Pure profiteering. It's all Laura's fault. Laura Supplyanddemand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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