@lehigh51, it's going to be a guessing game going forward. We're not going to commit to any overly lengthy contracts at these inflated tariffs.

Posted by: @lehigh51

Hi

So many Symbio (should I now say ex) customers on this forum but where to go from here? I see Flipper have closed so no help there. I've tried a number of suppliers and comparison sites but when you put in Symbio everything locks down.

I have signed up with Zebra this morning (there is a 14 day cooling off period) and looking now at Eon which is cheaper.

Would be grateful if anyone finds something favourable and passes it on. I'll post anything I find.

Good luck

 

@lehigh51, you won't find anything cheaper than the Ofgem cap at the moment (about 21p/per kWh variable).  That'll be 'fixed' until the next Cap review in April 2022.  If your supplier has gone bust you should wait until you're transferred to the appointed new supplier before you switch.  

Our fixed contract with Octopus expired a month ago as we were finally having our ASHP installed at last (standby for thread on that) and I was dragging my heels on a new fix, deciding whether to go with Symbio or Neon Reef. Obviously with Symbio going down and Neon Reef being a smaller company we are going to stick on the variable tariff with Octopus for now. The variable is significantly cheaper than anything else we have been offered, including with Octopus. Sadly they won't offer us 'Go' because the WAN coverage is not robust enough for our location.

So, worrying times with a new and power-hungry ASHP installation but as we have a bit of credit with Octopus anyway we are going to risk/ride out the variable tariff for now rather than fix a 2 yr expensive tariff. Just if anyone is interested our first month of ASHP usage in Sep cost us £111 total electricity (edit-not just ASHP!), I appreciate it has been a warm month but we had a problem with the installation and were heating the upstairs for a week! Overall that is £5 cheaper than our previous cheapest month for electricity but I appreciate this is early days and the cold winter months will really test both the system and our bank balance!

@siko £111? How many kilowatts did you use? My ASHP used 120kw for the whole month on hot water - we didn't have any heating all month. That said, it's on now, and really chugging away. What a difference a week makes!

Posted by: @batalto

@siko £111? How many kilowatts did you use? My ASHP used 120kw for the whole month on hot water - we didn't have any heating all month. That said, it's on now, and really chugging away. What a difference a week makes!

Hi mate, it’s not exact and this is our total electricity bill for Sep but 524kwh. We are fairly power hungry with every gadget going, two teenagers and I work from home a lot too, plus we had an issue at the start of Sep and the upstairs heating was stuck on for a week! So I think the actual bill should have been significantly less <£100

Posted by: @jeff

Posted by: @prjohn

Symbio going bust means I lose my cheap deal 13.29p/kw and 17p/day. E-on is offering a deal for 2 years 23.17p/kw and 46.96p/day.

Over a 100% increase in less than a year. I'll need to wait until Ofgem allocates a replacement company, but I suspect the price will be dearer than E-On's current offering.

Worst case you can go onto the price capped standard variable rate with whoever takes over Symbio as per the ofgem rules.

There is more about this on the ofgem website. 

You won't see many companies offering this rate now for new customers, but the new suppliers picking up the failed companies have to offer it. 

Of course it depends on whether you think energy prices will increase and if it is worth trying to lock in now. 

 

 

One week later and prices with E-on. Unbelievable and very frightening. 

2 year Fixed

Posted by: @prjohn

Posted by: @jeff

Posted by: @prjohn

Symbio going bust means I lose my cheap deal 13.29p/kw and 17p/day. E-on is offering a deal for 2 years 23.17p/kw and 46.96p/day.

Over a 100% increase in less than a year. I'll need to wait until Ofgem allocates a replacement company, but I suspect the price will be dearer than E-On's current offering.

Worst case you can go onto the price capped standard variable rate with whoever takes over Symbio as per the ofgem rules.

There is more about this on the ofgem website. 

You won't see many companies offering this rate now for new customers, but the new suppliers picking up the failed companies have to offer it. 

Of course it depends on whether you think energy prices will increase and if it is worth trying to lock in now. 

 

 

One week later and prices with E-on. Unbelievable and very frightening. 

2 year Fixed

Unit rate	31.56p per kWh
Standing charge	35.92p per day

The learning from this is don't go for a fixed rate at the moment.

EDIT - It's clear the energy companies don't want to offer fixes at the moment and/or have no idea what future prices are liklely to be.  Best advice for now is stick to the Ofgem capped rates and see where things are after the winter. 

Posted by: @kev-m

Posted by: @prjohn

Posted by: @jeff

Posted by: @prjohn

Symbio going bust means I lose my cheap deal 13.29p/kw and 17p/day. E-on is offering a deal for 2 years 23.17p/kw and 46.96p/day.

Over a 100% increase in less than a year. I'll need to wait until Ofgem allocates a replacement company, but I suspect the price will be dearer than E-On's current offering.

Worst case you can go onto the price capped standard variable rate with whoever takes over Symbio as per the ofgem rules.

There is more about this on the ofgem website. 

You won't see many companies offering this rate now for new customers, but the new suppliers picking up the failed companies have to offer it. 

Of course it depends on whether you think energy prices will increase and if it is worth trying to lock in now. 

 

 

One week later and prices with E-on. Unbelievable and very frightening. 

2 year Fixed

Unit rate	31.56p per kWh
Standing charge	35.92p per day

The learning from this is don't go for a fixed rate at the moment.

EDIT - It's clear the energy companies don't want to offer fixes at the moment and/or have no idea what future prices are liklely to be.  Best advice for now is stick to the Ofgem capped rates and see where things are after the winter. 

100% agreed with this. Our variable with Octopus is wildly less than they have offered me for a fix - I guess longterm they are hedging their bets and of course the cap/variable will almost certainly increase too, but no reason to fix now at all imho.

I'm just waiting for my smart meter to come active and I'll move to Octopus GO - its fixed for 12 months at 15p/kw and 5p/kw from 00.30 - 04.30

I'd advise anyone with them to switch ASAP as they've confirmed the prices are fixed for 12 months

Posted by: @batalto

I'm just waiting for my smart meter to come active and I'll move to Octopus GO - its fixed for 12 months at 15p/kw and 5p/kw from 00.30 - 04.30

I'd advise anyone with them to switch ASAP as they've confirmed the prices are fixed for 12 months

The Octopus Go tariff varies by region. 

The rates have gone up since the 15p rate was available. I assume your rate was locked in at 15p when you signed up even though you have yet to get your meter. 

This is the rates currently for me if i signed up now at the time of writing. 

--------

Unit rate (04:30 - 00:30):

24.25p/ kWh
Unit rate (00:30 - 04:30):

5.00p/ kWh
Standing Charge:

18.26p/ day

Prices include VAT.

Octopus Go is an electricity only smart tariff. For gas, simply choose any Octopus gas tariff.

-------

You can find local electricity rates here with your postcode. 

https://octopus.energy/go/rates/

For anyone with gas i would be careful about the gas rate you will pay.... I assume most people here are just electric. 

At the time of writing you can't now sign up to Octopus at all on any tariff variable or fixed online. You can only try signing up if you phone up. So unless you are already an Octopus customer it might be difficult. You have to go onto one of their other tariffs first before later switching to Go. 

@jeff thanks for the heads up - I've emailed them to confirm I am on the tariff price I switched to (but had to wait for the smart meter). If not, i'll have to do some maths to see where I am better off. Its still 5p overnight, but 24p per kw in the day. Currently my tariff is just under 18p and fixed until 2023.

Posted by: @batalto

@jeff thanks for the heads up - I've emailed them to confirm I am on the tariff price I switched to (but had to wait for the smart meter). If not, i'll have to do some maths to see where I am better off. Its still 5p overnight, but 24p per kw in the day. Currently my tariff is just under 18p and fixed until 2023.

I don't remember this previously, they may have added to target EV owners. Just in case there are non EV owners thinking about the GO tariff. 

------

Our Octopus Go Tariff is designed for customers who either own or long term lease a battery electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid vehicle that they will be charging at home. If you sign up to our Octopus Go tariff but do not meet this eligibility criteria we can place you on an alternative tariff that we consider is more appropriate for your circumstances.