MSE News: Last chance for British Gas customers to escape exit fees

tiamaria

Methinks you're probably right - I was paying about £94 which obviously isn't covering it, almost all of the arrears are for the electric - I only owe £6 for the gas.

roxanne.s

Freepost wrote: »

It's very difficult to avoid price rises, you've just got to keep watching what other companies are offering. I would suggest reading through the following link;


and then using one of the price comparison sites, Simplyswitch, Moneysupermarket or Uswitch, to see if there is a cheaper alternative to what you presently have. You need to do this NOW, certainly before the 18 Aug and to inform British Gas that you intend to leave. This way you will be exempt from paying any exit fees, again, providing that you do it before Thursday 18 Aug.

F.

Thankyou :]

caveat_emptor

tiamaria wrote: »

Hi If I'm with BG on a standard tariff will I still be subject to penalties if I choose to leave later on? Not been with them very long.

TIA

According to BG website there is no cancellation fee for standard tariff.

tiamaria

Thanks CE, won't have to do a mad rush to find a new provider before the price hikes tomorrow now:)

caveat_emptor

Have just been in touch with BG to give notice that I wish to switch away to avoid my WS10 cancellation fee. The rep. told me that the actual switch had to be made before the day of the price rise to avoid cancellation fees. Does he speak with forked tongue or not? seems to much confusion over this issue and Ofgem haven't made it any clearer.

Joyful

roxanne.s. If you are on the Essential Tariff you will still be paying 10% less for gas and 18% less for electric than the standard tariff. With all the price rises if you want to leave do your homework. Also as you are disabled depending on what other benefits you get you may qualify for the warm Home Discount scheme which would mean BG would add £120 to the Electric account for you. The Essential tariff will still continue for those on it till after the Winter.

johnmm_3

A few weeks ago very shortly after BG informed me of its price hike I initiated a switch to EDF. They notified BG well in advance of the cut of date of 18/8. I assumed that as they had been told by EDF I would not be charged the exit penalty.

At their request I rang BG today to confirm my final meter readings and to query the fact that exit penalties were shown against my account. I was told that as I had not personally told BG of my intention to switch prior to 18/8 and had not filled in a form re the exit penalties they would have to be paid. The customer service advisor asked how I knew about the ofgen rules and I mentioned moneysaving expert along with a newpaper article. She then said that from these I should have known that I had to make a personal notification. I had to strongly challenge this saying that BG clearly knew of my intention to change asked her to point out where in my contract the procedure for notification and form filling was set out. She said they had sent me an email with this information but I had not received any such communication. In the end she relented and cancelled the charges. It seems to me that BG are doing what they can to avoid the ofgen rules and I thought it might be useful for forum readers to know of my experience in case they are are in a similar position or indeed if thinking of taking their supply from BG.

Premier_2

johnmm wrote: »

A few weeks ago very shortly after BG informed me of its price hike I initiated a switch to EDF. They notified BG well in advance of the cut of date of 18/8. I assumed that as they had been told by EDF I would not be charged the exit penalty.

At their request I rang BG today to confirm my final meter readings and to query the fact that exit penalties were shown against my account. I was told that as I had not personally told BG of my intention to switch prior to 18/8 and had not filled in a form re the exit penalties they would have to be paid. The customer service advisor asked how I knew about the ofgen rules and I mentioned moneysaving expert along with a newpaper article. She then said that from these I should have known that I had to make a personal notification. I had to strongly challenge this saying that BG clearly knew of my intention to change asked her to point out where in my contract the procedure for notification and form filling was set out. She said they had sent me an email with this information but I had not received any such communication. In the end she relented and cancelled the charges. It seems to me that BG are doing what they can to avoid the ofgen rules and I thought it might be useful for forum readers to know of my experience in case they are are in a similar position or indeed if thinking of taking their supply from BG.

BG are acting as per any other supplier in that you must inform your current supplier yourself of your refusal to accept the revised terms.

This is also in line with Ofgems guidelines:

Avoiding the variation
Once a customer becomes aware about a ‘relevant variation’ (e.g. a public announcement or individual notification), they can notify their supplier that they intend to switch in order avoid the effects of those variations at anytime on or before the date the variation is scheduled to becomes effective. Once the customer notifies their existing supplier of their intention to switch, their existing supplier must receive notice (within 15 working days) that the new (gaining) supplier will begin supplying the customer within a reasonable period of time. The new (gaining) supplier is responsible for triggering this notice.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Markets/RetMkts/Compl/pricechange/Pages/Noticeofpricechanges.aspx

You were lucky that BG offered to rescind the early exit charges they correctly applied.

angela110660

Jjust had review and they wanted to up the DD from £56 to £76 per month. I emailed them and said was not happy with this as we were just in credit over the year and suggested I would pay no more than £62 per month and accept any extra that MIGHT need to paid next year if and when it happened.
Our current agreement ends in Feb 2012 so will look at switching then anyway.
Result - today - they have set up the DD to £62 per month as I suggested.