The Great Permacrisis 😱

[HoldenCarver (Nick)]

Boris Johnson says issues facing energy companies and problems with supply chains are down to “the global economy coming back to life”.

[DaveJ (Dave)]

The more pressing issues to be fair is the CO2 shortage, if supplies can’t get to the NHS, then it’s not going to help the backlogs they have already.

The next one is the food industry who use the gas for everything from slaughter houses to keeping food fresh for longer. Best get used to that taste of fresh lawn cuttings

[bee]

I’m with Octopus energy flexible The way I see it, things go up and things go down like the market. I’m okay paying higher prices for the next few months if it means in general I pay lower prices over the long term

[Gaoler]

Time to get a heat pump installed

[mikez]

Well, part of the problem is increased demand as certain Asian economies come back to life - maybe that is his definition of “global”.

[phildawson (Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)]

Higher prices for the next few months with even higher prices following that

[mikez]

@bee

I’m okay paying higher prices for the next few months if it means in general I pay lower prices over the long term

Now that they’ve announced the October increase, Flexible Octopus shouldn’t increase until April 2022 by which time it’ll be getting warmer and you’ll be using less.

[phildawson (Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)]

Time to buy shares in Heat Pump manufactures. Esp with the gov banning gas boilers soon.

I probably will go with an air source heat pump if my current gas boiler goes kaput.

Really wish I had solar panels and was off grid. Maybe once we move to or build our forever home

[j06 (Jamie)]

Oh sure. It’s just fun to wind up Brexiteers at every opportunity.

In all seriousness, there’s zero point in trying to outsmart this turbulence. Just two weeks ago GoCompare was saying this:

Households urged to shop around for gas and electricity bills as Big Six hike prices

Gareth Kloet of GoCompare Energy, said even though the large energy providers are following the Ofgem cap, others are not. “There are still a number of providers such as The People’s Energy, Pure Planet and PFP Energy who have yet to increase their prices.”

…and now People’s and PFP have both collapsed. What’s the point in trying to switch to a smaller company (who traditionally try to churn the market with low prices) when chances are by the end of the year you’ll be rescued by one of the big suppliers anyway.

[aCCount]

Do we know which suppliers are thought to be most at risk of collapse?

[Stompy]

I was with Utility Point until they went bust last week. Waiting now to hear who Ofgem move me over to and what the deal will be like

[Rat_au_van (Em)]

Utility Point customers: Your questions on new supplier EDF

[mikez]

@Stompy

Waiting now to hear who Ofgem move me over to and what the deal will be like

They’ve already announced that it’s EDF.

[HoldenCarver (Nick)]

Everyone outside the big ones, essentially. Because costs are going up by a greater amount than the allowed price cap increase, the smaller companies can’t cover the shortfall.

So if you’re not with British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, ScottishPower or SSE, you should probably consider your provider at risk. Depending on how talks with the government go.

I presume the ‘best’ case is the government remove the cap, so the companies can put their prices up to avoid collapse - but this would mean higher bills for everyone.

[Stompy]

Ahhh fun! I was waiting for an email (after getting one to announce the closure of Utility Point in the first place) but that was clearly silly I thought I might get SSE as they are the bigguns round my way.

[Rat_au_van (Em)]

Oh you crazy fool! Expecting proper communications?

I hope you’ve learned from this experience

[Stompy]

I can’t believe at my age I can still be so optimistically naive. I have indeed learnt my lesson

[j06 (Jamie)]

@HoldenCarver

I presume the ‘best’ case is the government remove the cap

These government interventions are not worth the paper they’re written on. Just look at the pension Triple Lock, something which was supposed to be cast iron immovable, until this year when economic conditions conspired to make it produce huge increases, so it was simply suspended.

What’s the point of a cap if it’ll just be removed when it gets inconvenient?

[HoldenCarver (Nick)]

@j06

What’s the point of a cap if it’ll just be removed when it gets inconvenient?

The argument would be that if it is removed, it’s because it’s unsustainable rather than inconvenient.

Say I put a cap on my McDonald’s spending, so I can only get a cheeseburger for lunch instead of a Big Mac. That’s a cap that works, though it causes inconvenience. But if the prices go up so that even a cheeseburger is outside the level of the cap? Then it’s unsustainable and I have to lift or raise the cap.

[davidwalton (Award Winning Hot Coral Analyst)]

I know the thread is about Gas, but energy in general is in trouble.

I’m on Agile Octopus, which is charged in half-hour slots at the wholesale price the energy has been bought for (by Octopus) plus an adminstrative mark-up. This is capped at 35p per kWh, which is the maximum I can be charged for each kWh used. Plus a daily standing charge of course.

For the last month, the price has literally flatlined at the 30p-35p mark. I’ve been charged 65% more than if I was on the current fixed rate tariff, or if Agile had been at the usual average of 10-15p per kWh. So basically, I’m seeing the increases happening in almost advance real-time (each half-hour slot cost for the next 32-48 hours can be seen) - and it’s not going down, see below for the costs for the rest of today.

People are in for a massive shock when it comes to renewing their standard, fixed-rate tariffs - the first of such renewal points is in just 11 days. Brace yourselves.