26 September 2012

Act soon while Ovo Energy and Scottish Power deals still available

Martin Lewis urges consumers to lock in to fixed price energy deals like Scottish Power's Online Fixed Price Energy March 2014 or Ovo's New Energy Fixed.

As Martin Lewis pointed out in his television program last night, there aren't many fixed price energy deals available towards the top of the price comparison tables at the moment.

The other energy companies have been reacting to SSE's 9% price rise. Pundits widely expect the variable rate tariffs that currently lead the comparison tables to be increased soon.

EDF pulled their Blue + Price Promise April 2014 fixed rate tariff earlier this month and are yet to replace it.

Scottish Power replaced their Online Fixed Price Energy January 2014 tariff with a higher priced March 2014 version on September 11th.

The depressing news is that the Scottish Power Online Fixed Price Energy March 2014 is starting to move up the tables as one of the better deals now available. Although it offers a fixed price, there are no early exit fees from the Scottish Power tariff. This makes it an attractive place for optimists to hedge bets hoping for reductions in Spring 2013.

Ovo Energy's New Energy Fixed tariff offers fixed price energy for 12 months from when you join but with a £60 early exit fee. The energy companies tend to buy a block of energy on the futures market and then sell it. When they've got enough customers to use the energy they've bought, they remove the tariff. This one has been around with the same pricing since June 29th so is starting to look old, though it's only recently that the pricing has started to be properly competitive.

Some good news is that First:Utility have just launched iSave Fixed Price v4 March 2014 with prices fixed until 31st March 2014 and £60 termination fee.

Shopping around now might not save you money compared to your existing tariff, but you need to compare it with how much your energy will cost you if you do nothing when your current tariff ends.

As Martin said, once you have changed, the next most important thing is to put a note on your calendar to check the best deals when your current one is about to expire. At MoneyMaxim, we agree but take that concept a bit further.