Changing Suppliers

tammy66

At the moment my gas & electricty tarrif is go fix 8 from npower which ends on 3 feb 2013 ,i intend to change suppliers when is the soonest i can do this without incuring penalty charges?

Wywth

No time like the present ...

tammy66

The reason why i asked was
u switch said 14days before end
moneysupermarket 12 days before end and energy help line 14 days ,i would have thought that if it takes 4 to 6 weeks to change, 4 weeks before tarrif ends would be ok im confused

SnowMan

tammy66 wrote: »

The reason why i asked was
u switch said 14days before end
moneysupermarket 12 days before end and energy help line 14 days ,i would have thought that if it takes 4 to 6 weeks to change, 4 weeks before tarrif ends would be ok im confused

I am in the same position with Go fix 8 ending on 3rd February.

You are right to be confused.

Unfortunately OFGEM have failed to address this issue of switching at the end of a tarriff and so there is no clarity on where you stand. Utility companies have a good deal of scope to profit from customers from their inability to switch away promptly at the end of their tarriff. You think you will pay the price shown on the comparison site, think again.

The danger of switching today is that a super quick switch happens (4 weeks isn't an absolute minimum) and you are say switched on 28th January and you incur an Npower exit penalty. Unfortunately you the customer can't control the switch date.

If you switch within 14 days of 3rd February then you have the typical 14 day cooling off period with the new company, 12 days with EDF I think, to protect you so that is the really safe (arguably too safe) date to switch. So that is probably where the 12 or 14 days comes from.

Citizens Advice Consumer Service even say that a company can technically create a situation where you can't initiate the switch until after the end date of the existing tarriff (i.e. the penalty applies based on when the switch is initiated and not when the switch of supply actually happens). Personally I wouldn't worry about that because if any company tried that a complaint and threat of the Energy Ombudman would probably result in them backing down.

I'm going to initiate my switch in about a weeks time when I think I will be reasonably safe to do that.

The Citizens Advice Consumer Service tell me that they have been contacted by a number of consumers who think it is unfair that they are forced onto expensive tarriffs after their existing tarriff ends because of the inability to fully control the switch date. However all they can do they say is refer the matter to OFGEM.

If OFGEM remain asleep on the job, as they have been for many years on many issues in my opinion, then nothing happens.

Personally I think this is an issue Martin Lewis should take up. There are some simple solutions to deal with this. For example to allow customers to initiate a switch within 5 weeks of the end date of their contract; if the actual switch then takes place before the end of the old tarriff then companies are compelled to waive exit penalties.

tammy66

I rang npower complains team and asked about leaving the reply was as long as the new supplier does complete the change over within 14 days +the 14 days cooling off period= 28days i am ok to change now