Ovo Energy

OVO Energy has today removed its range of variable rate tariffs from the market and at the same time made changes to their gas and electricity prices.

OVO Energy cite the recent increases of wholesale gas prices as the reason for this increase.
OVO Energy's latest rates are available with immediate effect at




Ovo Energy has hiked the price of what price comparison site Energyhelpline.com says was the market-leading tariff from £855 a year, based on average consumption, to £926.

Ovo blames a rise in wholesale costs, which is the price power firms pay for gas and electricity.

Energyhelpline.com says the new cheapest deal is Npower's Sign Online 18 at a typical £876 a year.

The news comes as tens of thousands of Npower customers are set to see their costs soar from next month.

Ovo founder Stephen Fitzpatrick says: "Wholesale prices have risen considerably since we last bought energy – rising by 20% in the last two weeks.

"To reflect this rise, we have returned our tariffs to the rates we were offering a month ago."

How to find the cheapest deals

Households can sometimes cut their bills by hundreds by doing a comparison of the tariffs available and switching

Those languishing on their supplier's standard tariff or who get bills through the post are almost certainly paying too much.

While the cheapest online deals for typical users are less than £900 a year, those on a standard tariff typically pay around £1,200.

When switching, don't believe the hype from the major firms which often claim they have the cheapest prices. The energy market is complicated so determining which is the cheapest provider for you depends on where you live and how much power you use.

New NPower Tariffs

npower has today, 6th April, launched two new tariffs: SOLv18 and Price Guarantee.

SOLv8 is npower's most competitive online tariff and is positioned to make it a very strong contender to OVO Energy's tariffs which have held the number one position across almost all standard scenarios since launch. Like more and more 'standard' type tariffs SOLv18 does come with early termination fees should customers decide to leave before 30th June 2011.

Price Guarantee offers the customer the ability to cap their energy prices up to 31st May 2011. Surprisingly this tariff carries no exist penalties. With these tariffs npower has made its position clear that it clearly wishes to operate in the competitive arena.

All indications would suggest that these tariffs will create a bit of a stir when UK markets open tomorrow.

Scottish power - gas price cut

Scottish Power has announced it is to cut gas prices by an average of 8% from the end of March.
The company said its 1.6 million domestic gas customers would save an average of £66 a year on their bills.

In addition, 60,000 customers who have been identified as vulnerable and who heat their homes with electricity are to get a £50 rebate.

On Wednesday, EDF Energy said it was reducing its residential gas prices by 4%, the second cut in six months.

Energy suppliers have been criticised for not passing on cuts in wholesale oil and gas prices to customers.
Wholesale gas prices dropped sharply from February 2009, and domestic prices dropped in the spring.
Scottish Power's director of energy retail, Raymond Jack, said: "Typically, less than 60% of a bill is now based on wholesale costs.

"Investment, government obligations and the delivery of energy to the home make up a significant portion of our bills."

Npower - rate cut

npower has today reduced its gas prices across the following tariffs: Standard Juice National Trust Energy SOL4 SOL5 SOL6 Go Save.

They have also increased their discounts available to customers paying by direct debit (quarterly and monthly direct debit customers now receive the same discount). They have decreased the dual fuel element of the discount however and this means that the overall headline maximum discount available remains the same.

Energylinx has launched the prices across all it platforms with immediate effect, so new customers can benefit from the new prices immediately.

Existing customers and those in the process of switching will benefit from these prices on the 26th March 2010.

E.ON - March 2010

E.ON has today at 1030 announced a price cut of 6%** off its standard gas prices.

E.ON are quoted as saying that "Around 1.9 million residential gas customers will benefit from this gas price decrease of around £42 equivalent to 6%" Effectively what appears to be happening is that monthly direct debit customers are being offered a discount of £42 per annum.

At this stage however E.ON have not provided any additional information to any broker and are unable to provide revised pricing schedules. E.ON have stated that these should be distributed to all parties within the next few days. Until we have these revised schedules we cannot comment on the direct benefit to the consumer other than to acknowledge the fact of their statement.

E.ON FACTS • E.ON is one of the UK’s leading power and gas companies – generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas – and is part of the E.ON group, one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies;

E.ON has around 5.5 million customers in the UK;

E.ON previously reduced their energy prices by 9% for electricity on 31st March 2009 and by 3.3% for gas on 4th July 2009. ** Around 1.9 million residential gas customers will benefit from this gas price decrease of around £42 equivalent to 6%;

New EDF Fixed Tariff Available.

With the original EDF Energy Annual Fix Version 2 tariff coming to an end at the end of March. EDF has today launched a new version of Annual Fix Version 2 where the rates are fixed to March 2011.
The key features of the tariff are: Direct Debit Electricity – 6% Direct Debit Gas – 6% Dual Fuel - £8.40 (inc VAT) Fixed to 31st March 2011 Early redemption fees apply of £25 per fuel if customer's join and leave before 31st March 2011.
Available to dual fuel and electric only (although electric only is only available direct through EDF Energy.)

First Utility - February 2010

first:utility have today launched their Standard Dual Fuel Tariff.
This is available across the UK for customers wishing to pay by quarterly cash/cheque or monthly direct debit.
Quarterly cash/cheque customers pay £4 per month more than monthly direct debit customers. Bills can either be sent by post (at the cost of £1 per month) or provided online for free.
A dual discount of 5% is payable after 12 consecutive payments. Customers in regions 11 and 14 will be offered a free smart meter.
first:utility have issued a press release stating that this tariff beats British Gas across the UK.

This is not exactly correct and this depends on the exact selection made by the customer. What we can say however is that based on a standard customer (20,500kWhs of gas and 3,300 kWhs of electric) paying by monthly direct debit and happy to be online then this tariff is the cheapest in three UK areas: Manweb, Scottish Hydro-Electric and ScottishPower.

Currently for some reason first:utility are not offering this tariff online through either their own service or via any broker. Customers can only apply by using a direct telephone number so we are not sure as to whether this is just a headline grabbing tariff or one for the long term.
As is usual Energylinx is first to have this tariff displayed across its platforms so at this time you will only see this on Energylinx powered platforms. No doubt this will change over the next few days as others update their databases.