Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1
Exactly. As the boss of Octopus Energy commented, power companies should be obliged to purchase power in advance to match the fixed tariffs they charge customers. Otherwise, they will be caught out by upswings in prices.
The price cap might be an issue for all power companies in the future if it is not increased but the likes of Bulb acquired customers with multi-year fixed tariffs. They do not have many legacy customers on variable rates like the incumbent power companies British Gas or Scottish Power do.
---------- Post added at 02:54 ---------- Previous post was at 02:40 ----------
The issue is that some of the newer companies did not buy their fuel in advance. This was ok when wholesale prices were falling but was a one-way bet when they rose. Compare Bulb to Octopus and you'll understand why one exists without subsidy and why the other has been effectively nationalised.
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Octopus is not just an energy company, and so has additional resources available from other parts of the group. In specialising in renewable energy it has taken away the availability of renewable energy from others. It is not subject to the real world of energy generation using gas, which is the source of the problems. Germany has learnt that you can't rely on renewable energy. That is a part of why their increased demand pushed up gas prices.
If Octopus didn't rely on renewables, then they also would be in trouble.
No
valid comparison can be made.