In the latest in our series of questions to the boss, we focus on the critical question of
“How much notice do I need to give to terminate my energy contract? I’m worried about getting rolled over…”
Business Juice:
It’s vital to make sure that you cancel your contract in the right window, otherwise you’re at risk of being rolled over onto a new contract, which could prove to be very expensive.
To find out your supplier’s policy on termination visit our dedicated supplier pages to understand their requirements and your contractual obligations.
The good news is that from mid to late 2014, for five of the Big 6 energy suppliers, bar EDF Energy, a failure to terminate will mean you are ‘rolled’ onto a short term variable contract which though expensive you will be able to get our of it with around 30 days notice.
That is not to say you should take the risk and ignore your termination obligations as even one month paying 20%, 30% and higher premiums is clearly not an economic way to proceed.
There is also a further catch, the Big 6 will offer you a deal perhaps 10-15% lower than the vraible price if you lock in for 12 or 24 months. On the face of it that will seem like a saving, but crucially that price will be at least 10-15% MORE than a competitive market price. The key is to keep your wits about you and ensure you research the market and don’t just take your supplier’s word for it.
For smaller suppliers rollovers in may instances will still exist for the long term, literally, failure to terminate will result in you being locked into a fixed term premium priced contract for the next 12 months.
The key is to
- understand your termination obligations
- to act and
- to ensure you negotiate a fresh fixed price contract whether with your existing supplier or another.
If you’d like a burning business energy question answered then please contact us on 0800 051 5770 or email hello@businessjuice.co.uk and you could be featured in the series.