Urgent Switching Question

tinalives

Hi,

I've just processed my switch through energyhelpline and this is what came up after it had been submitted:

1. We will only send off your application to ScottishPower on or after Sunday, 30th September 2012 to avoid incurring any cancellation penalties.

2. If before Sunday, 30th September 2012 your chosen tariff is no longer available, or if prices rise, we will cancel your application and get in touch to let you know. In the meantime, you also have the right to cancel your application yourself.

Does this mean that it was pointless me doing the switch now, as there's no guarantee that I'll get this tariff, or should I be looking into what the cancellation fees are with EDF so that my switch could be done immediately?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

tinalives

I've just found the answer to my question in another thread and have resubmitted my application, instructing them to process straight away, rather than waiting until after the penalty period.

Man_Overboard_2

tinalives wrote: »

Hi,

I've just processed my switch through energyhelpline and this is what came up after it had been submitted:

1. We will only send off your application to ScottishPower on or after Sunday, 30th September 2012 to avoid incurring any cancellation penalties.

2. If before Sunday, 30th September 2012 your chosen tariff is no longer available, or if prices rise, we will cancel your application and get in touch to let you know. In the meantime, you also have the right to cancel your application yourself.

Does this mean that it was pointless me doing the switch now, as there's no guarantee that I'll get this tariff, or should I be looking into what the cancellation fees are with EDF so that my switch could be done immediately?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

There is massive variation in quoted 'switch times', and at the end of the day, you have to take a chance - some say 4-6 weeks, some say 5 weeks, some say it can be as little as 3 weeks. Your 'quote' seems to have bottled out altogether!

macman

Why not just switch through Quidco and then you are not reliant on a third party switch site to re-process your application?
Their current dual fuel cashback rate is £42-what are EHL paying?

SnowMan

tinalives wrote: »

Hi,

I've just processed my switch through energyhelpline and this is what came up after it had been submitted:

1. We will only send off your application to ScottishPower on or after Sunday, 30th September 2012 to avoid incurring any cancellation penalties.

2. If before Sunday, 30th September 2012 your chosen tariff is no longer available, or if prices rise, we will cancel your application and get in touch to let you know. In the meantime, you also have the right to cancel your application yourself.

Does this mean that it was pointless me doing the switch now, as there's no guarantee that I'll get this tariff, or should I be looking into what the cancellation fees are with EDF so that my switch could be done immediately?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Looking at the comparison sites, it seems only energyhelpline have this publicy stated ridiculous policy. Looking at their website here it says

With tariffs with less than 2 months to go, it may make more sense to wait before switching. However, we’ve made things simple for customers in this situation. Rather than reminding yourself to come back and redo your comparison when your tariff expires, you can still make a switch application today. We’ll only send it off to your new supplier after the term on your current tariff expires, so that you don’t incur any early cancellation fees.

It is a policy to help energyhelpline get business through ensnaring customers, but it not in the best interests of customers in most cases for the following reasons.

a) the new tarriff may no longer be available when the current tarriff ends
b) there may be new cheaper tarriffs available when the current tarriff ends
c) you will spend longer than necessary on an expensive standard tarriff with the old company after your old tarriff ends


Looking at the other comparison sites their advice is pretty useless also. For example it says on moneysupermarket here

Before making the switch, it is crucial to check at what point you can do this without incurring a penalty, though.

Leave it too late and you could already have been rolled onto a new tariff with an exit fee.

Check your terms and conditions carefully, or speak to your supplier in advance of the end date, to ensure that you do not get caught out this way

This is useless advice as the old supplier will probably tell you from practical experience (wrongly) that penalties apply based on the date when you initiate the switch (rather than when billing with the old company ends and the supply actually switches over) and the real problem is that you are likely to be moved onto an expensive standard tarriff until the switch is actioned after the old tarriff ends. And even if the old supplier doesn't give wrong information they will probably tell you that it is the new supplier who determines the switch date.


If you ask the Citizens Advice Consumer Service when and how you can switch when you are coming to an end of a tarriff, they will say you should separately write to the new supplier (within 30 days of the end of the tarriff) and request that the switch doesn't take place before the old tarriff ends. However there is a danger that the new supplier will then sit on the switch request, which because of a loophole in the license conditions they can probably justify at least from a legalistic viewpoint, and so you end up on the old supplier's standard tarriff for longer than you need to be.


Tinalives I think you have done the best practical thing by just asking for the switch to proceed. When you are given your switch date by the new company later in the process, if it is before 30th September then ring the old supplier and ask for them to waive the termination fees. If they won't immediately agree to this contact the new supplier and ask for the switch date to be put back because of the termination penalty. If this doesn't happen (and I expect that it won't) and you are switched too early and charged penalties then instigate a complaint against both the old and new suppliers and be prepared to take it to the Energy Ombudsman if they won't back down.