When to switch??

PoTsyGirl74

Morning everyone,

My dual fuel tariff comes to an end in a few weeks, and I plan on shopping around for the best deal possible. The question is: I usually wait until the very end of the contract before moving business as I don't want to incur any charges for early termination, but I then end up being stung for standard tariff rates until the transition takes effect. This can be 6/8 weeks in most cases. So what I want to know is, can you change supplier in advance of the end of the term without your current supplier saying you've terminated your contract early???

Does the new supplier inform the old straight away, thus giving them an excuse to charge you an early termination fee?

I'd like to get the ball rolling now, but worried my current supplier will say I've breached my agreement with them by putting in an order to move.

Any help, gratefully received:)

macman

The switch date is the date you go on supply with the new provider, not the date you apply. So given that a typical switch is 4-5 weeks, you're safe to apply around 3 weeks before the end of the mininum term.

PoTsyGirl74

macman wrote: »

The switch date is the date you go on supply with the new provider, not the date you apply. So given that a typical switch is 4-5 weeks, you're safe to apply around 3 weeks before the end of the mininum term.

Thank you macman

So, if my tariff ends on the 31st May, you suggest I could put a request to switch in around the end of next week without a problem?

I appreciate the advice!

macman

Any time after 7/5.

PoTsyGirl74

macman wrote: »

Any time after 7/5.

OK, great. Thank you again

Terrylw1

4-6 weeks is the quoted switch time, not the actual registration date. A switch can take 6 months (if data anomalies) but you are still their customer from the registration date.

After the cooling off period, your new supplier registers interest with the local distributor who sends the request to your current supplier, the date in this request is the important part. It has to be future dated but you will be talking a dew days since a distributor auto processes most data like this.

The rest of the time quoted in Ofgems 4-6 weeks is the tine for suppliers and their agents to complete the process of communication and data transfer but regardless of how long this takes, the registration date has already been fixed.

So, ensure you cooling off period is close yo the end of your contract and you won't get a long delay on standard rates.

PoTsyGirl74

Terrylw1 wrote: »

4-6 weeks is the quoted switch time, not the actual registration date. A switch can take 6 months (if data anomalies) but you are still their customer from the registration date.

After the cooling off period, your new supplier registers interest with the local distributor who sends the request to your current supplier, the date in this request is the important part. It has to be future dated but you will be talking a dew days since a distributor auto processes most data like this.

The rest of the time quoted in Ofgems 4-6 weeks is the tine for suppliers and their agents to complete the process of communication and data transfer but regardless of how long this takes, the registration date has already been fixed.

So, ensure you cooling off period is close yo the end of your contract and you won't get a long delay on standard rates.

Thank you for a very informative post Terrylw1. I decided to call my current supplier yesterday to clarify. They said I was ok to put in a request to move anytime from now as the tariff I'm on ends on the 31st. So taking into consideration the cooling off period, and average switchover time, it would take me past the end date anyway, so no cancellation fees would be incurred.

Terrylw1

PoTsyGirl74 wrote: »

Thank you for a very informative post Terrylw1. I decided to call my current supplier yesterday to clarify. They said I was ok to put in a request to move anytime from now as the tariff I'm on ends on the 31st. So taking into consideration the cooling off period, and average switchover time, it would take me past the end date anyway, so no cancellation fees would be incurred.

No worries.

The average switch over time has always been quoted by Ofgem to give customers an idea of how it will really take from start to finish. Now suppliers have added these early termination charge, the average switch over time is less relevant since the registration date is somewhere inside the time quoted.

Just bare in mind when calling a call centre, not all of them know a lot of detail. To be sure, the new supplier will be able to tell you when they would register. Its going to be quickly after the cooling off period, so as long as you plan for that, you will be OK.

There have been a few posts pop up about EDF over this. They have been stating the ETC is charged just because they have been notified, but its the future dated registration date in that notification that matters.

I would imagine you could even tell your new supplier about the end date and ask them to set it closely afterwards.