Scottish Power price hike - and I'm tied in until Feb 2012!

Maddox

Dear MSE

Saw today's newsletter, telling me to 'FIX' my fuel situation after the recent Scotish Power price hike and got quite excited at the thought that I could fix my gas and elec charges at their present levels and thereby escape the rises....

But you really meant 'change suppliers', right? Rapidly got unexcited...

I switched to Scottish Power a couple of months ago and when the price rise news hit, I checked the small print of my Energy Saver 12 deal and found I'm committed until Feb 2012 or I pay a penalty.

Is there any mileage in contacting Scottish Power, accusing them of breach of contract and fighting them on the penalty charge?

Or (sigh) leave it as it is on the absolute certainty that all the other suppliers will hike prices, too?

ruralspacewoman

Maddox see the other thread discussions on this subject - you should be able to switch without penalty if they are changing the price.

Premier_2

ruralspacewoman wrote: »

Maddox see the other thread discussions on this subject - you should be able to switch without penalty if they are changing the price.

If it says that in the other thread, then that advice is incorrect.
The terms are very clear:

3. If you cancel your Online Energy Saver 12 Offer agreement either
by switching to another gas and/or electricity supplier or
requesting to change your gas and/or electricity to another of
our tariffs before 29th February 2012, we may apply a cancellation
charge (inclusive of VAT). The cancellation charges are £30 for
electricity and £20 for gas, each inclusive of VAT at the current rate
of 17.5%. These charges will be amended if there is a change in the
VAT rate at any time or times before 29th February 2012, by an
amount equivalent to the applicable change in the VAT rate. This
charge will not be applied if the agreement is cancelled due to a home move.

If you didn't want to have any price increase, then you should have opted for a fixed or capped price deal.
If you wanted to switch without penalty, then you should not have opted for a tariff with an early exit fee

(In both instances, you would probably have ended up paying more)

Edit:
In regards to the early termination of the contract due to adverse change in prices this is what it says:

9.8 If

we increase the price or vary other terms of the Agreement to your significant

disadvantage

we will notify you of that within 65 Working Days of the increase

or variation taking effect. If

you do not accept the increase or variation you are

entitled to end the

Agreement by giving us notice to end the Agreement, within

20

Working Days of receiving the notification from us. If you give us that notice,

the increase or variation will not take place. However the increase or variation
will come into effect if, within 15

Working Days of you giving that notice to us,

we

do not receive notification through the relevant supply industry processes

that another supplier will begin to supply the

Premises within a reasonable period of time after that notice has been given by you.

But now they are advising you before any price change (as per latest rules)
In any event, the early exit fees have not changed, so the price you pay for early exit still applies i.e. the old prices will be applied, which are the same as the new ones