Swapped to British Gas on 16/6/2011 - Can I cancel now?

mbailey

I am currently with npower on their very expensive Go Save tarrif.

Last month I did lots of searching and decided to change to a British Gas tarrif, Websaver 12 Dual Fuel.

The new British Gas account is now setup and they have informed me my gas and electric will transfer on 31st July 2011.

Today I received a call from npower who suggested I was a little silly moving to British Gas now the prices have gone up. I did say that npower will most probably have a rise soon anyway at which point the operator agreed and said they would. How ever the were able to offer me a fixed tarrif, Fixed 6.

When I compare the calculations now, it shows that the existing British Gas prices are £100 per year cheaper than the npower fixed prices, but from 18th August when BG prices increase, it will be approx £80 more than the npower fixed prices.

So based on this i decided to go with the npower fixed now.

How ever I am now worried that I can't do this as I have actually entered a contract with BG on 16/6/2011 and now 3 weeks later even though I still haven't actually started with BG yet I think it might be too late to cancel.

The BG T&C say:

"If you cancel this agreement, either by moving to another gas or electricity supplier or by requesting to change your gas and/or electricity to another of our tariff(s) at any time prior to 30th September 2012 we may apply a cancellation charge (inclusive of any VAT that may be applicable). The cancellation charges are £30 (inc VAT) for electricity and £30 (inc VAT) for gas."

The question is how likely are BG to charge me £60 as the T&C just say they "may" charge you.

Joyful

If you move that quickly they will cerainly charge you the penalty fees as it appears that you took out a tariff other than the standard one.

TIMMY85

Once the initial cool off period ends you cannot stop the transfer. You say the account with BG is set up, it is highly unlikely the cancellation charges will be reversed.

Devils-Advocate_3

Make no mistake, they are going to charge you. Part and parcel of agreeing to sign up to a tariff with cancellation fees. You can't just leave it when it suits you and expect not to pay the exit fees. You can exercise you right to not suffer the price increases but you will still have to pay the exit charge.

urbanmac

Hi,

I'm in a similar position. I kicked off the switching process via uSwitch on the 27th June, 9 working days ago.

Currently I have Scottish Power for gas and Eon for electricity and British Gas came out cheapest for a Duel Fuel account.

Now with these rises I don't think there is a saving at all.

I will be calling BG tomorrow to cancel the switch.

TIMMY85

urbanmac wrote: »

Hi,

I'm in a similar position. I kicked off the switching process via uSwitch on the 27th June, 9 working days ago.

Currently I have Scottish Power for gas and Eon for electricity and British Gas came out cheapest for a Duel Fuel account.

Now with these rises I don't think there is a saving at all.

I will be calling BG tomorrow to cancel the switch.

Should be able to cancel!

mbailey

Ok, i found the full T&C for the contract:
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/energy/our-tariffs/websaver/terms-and-conditions.html

"7.2 If we raise your prices or make a change to this contract that puts you at a significant disadvantage, we will let you know in writing within 65 working days of the change. The price rise or change will not affect you as long as you:

1. tell us that you want to end this contract within 20 working days of the day you receive notice from us of the price rise or change; and
2. arrange for another supplier to supply your gas and electricity and we receive notice of this from your new supplier within 15 working days of the day you gave us notice that you wanted to end your contract."

The problem is this doesn't mention if they will still charge me £60 for leaving though.

TIMMY85

The tariff you are on, and agreed to is variable! Ghettoes you can reject the increase and change without being billed at the higher rates (the dis advantage) but the exit fee would still apply as that was aged to at sign up and would apply even if prices did not change. As you agreed to pay an exit fee, and agreed to a variable tariff then when the price rather than the exit fee is changed you are going to pay it (but maybe not the higher unit rates)

mbailey

TIMMY85 wrote: »

The tariff you are on, and agreed to is variable! Ghettoes you can reject the increase and change without being billed at the higher rates (the dis advantage) but the exit fee would still apply as that was aged to at sign up and would apply even if prices did not change. As you agreed to pay an exit fee, and agreed to a variable tariff then when the price rather than the exit fee is changed you are going to pay it (but maybe not the higher unit rates)

i fully accept the fact I signed up for a variable tarrif with a imminent price rise. That is always the risk when 1 provider has increased prices (ie Scot power) but the others haven't.

I still come back to the point that the T&C say "we may apply a cancellation charge".

I've contacted BG now, so I will see what they come back to me with. I am guessing the BG customer service inbox is likely to be pretty busy today so might be a couple of days before I hear back from them.

Devils-Advocate_3

You WILL be paying a cancellation charge lol

mbailey

Devils-Advocate wrote: »

You WILL be paying a cancellation charge lol

Yup, I expect I will be.