Small business elecricty renewal ripoff

Cafe78

I have a small cafe business and last year negotiated with British Gas for them to supply electricity on a 12 month contract. This has now come up for renewal and to my surprise and dismay, because I did not contact them, they have automatically renewed the contract but for two years at a ridiculous rate.

I have managed to get the rate reduced but it is still not as competitive as it could be and I am locked in for two years.

BG tell me that they are allowed to do this as I had not responded to the renewal notice allegedly sent 6 months before hand - which I didn't receive.

I have contacted Watch Dog and they were quite interested as they had heard a number of similar stories and the researcher thought that the automatic renewal for businesses only applied if the business employed 10 or more people.

Can any body give me any advice on how I can tackle this and renegotiate with BG?

spiro

If you search this forum you will find numerous threads about businesses being automatically renewed. From what I have read, they dont have to contact you as your T&Cs state that you must 'give x months notice before contract end date' to avoid this automatic roll over.

Sorry not what you want to hear but other may know otherwise.

Cardew

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2612779