Tariff Change Notification

RSJ88

If my tariff was changing, should I have received a notification of this?

System

RSJ88 wrote: »

If my tariff was changing, should I have received a notification of this?

Hi - welcome to the forum. If you want help, you need to provide more details. If you are on a standard variable tariff which is subject to an increase, then the supplier is required to send you written notification of the increase. If you are on a fixed tariff, then the supplier is required to notify to you in the period 49 to 42 days before contract end that your fixed tariff is ending. In the unlikely event of a tariff decrease, no notification is required.

Cardew

RSJ88 wrote: »

If my tariff was changing, should I have received a notification of this?

Welcome to the forum.
As above for tariff change!
However do you mean your Direct Debit is changing?

RSJ88

In Sept/Oct 2016 my tariff changed to British Gas standard after being on one of their discounted rates.
I received no notification at the time, and have only picked up on this in the last couple of weeks due to my usage charges increasing by 35%. I am going round in circles with their 'customer service', they tell me that they do not legally have to notify me, which I do not think is the case!!
Thanks for any guidance.

System

RSJ88 wrote: »

In Sept/Oct 2016 my tariff changed to British Gas standard after being on one of their discounted rates.
I received no notification at the time, and have only picked up on this in the last couple of weeks due to my usage charges increasing by 35%. I am going round in circles with their 'customer service', they tell me that they do not legally have to notify me, which I do not think is the case!!
Thanks for any guidance.

You should have received the 49 to 42 day to go notification that your fixed tariff was coming to an end. The problem that you have got is one of proving that the notification was never sent which can be difficult given that it may well have been moved to your e-mail spam folder. Surely, the large increase in monthly payments and the tariff details on your statements should have given you a hint that something had changed.

Quote this back at them (dated 2013):

1. Fixed term contracts

Suppliers will be banned from increasing prices, or making other changes to fixed term contracts which are to the disadvantage of a customer. The only exceptions to this are “tracker” tariffs that follow an independent index over which the supplier has no control, or structured price increases set out in advance which are fully in line with consumer protection law. This new rule applies to any contracts entered into on or after July 15 2013.

Suppliers will be required to notify customers that their current fixed-term is coming to an end between 42 and 49 days before the contract ends.

Between this notification period and the end of the fixed term contract, suppliers will be banned from charging a termination fee should the customer decide to switch.

Suppliers will be banned from automatically rolling a customer over onto a further fixed term contract.
Instead suppliers will be required to default customers to an evergreen contract if the customer takes no switching action before the end of their fixed-term contract (this default contract must be the cheapest evergreen tariff with the supplier from 31st March 2014).

frugalmacdugal

Hi,

scroll down here and find which tariff you were on, and read terms and conditions.

Were you maybe on Collective Fix Nov 2016?

System

frugalmacdugal wrote: »

Were maybe you on Collective Fix Nov 2016?

That changes nothing as far as the 2013 change to Standard Licence Conditions relating to fixed term contracts are concerned. Suppliers are required to issue the 49 to 42 day notice irrespective of what is stated in the terms and conditions. The problem that the OP has is proving a negative.

frugalmacdugal

Hi,

from my link,

At the end of the tariff
Before this tariff ends, we’ll write to tell you what will happen next. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll move you to the cheapest variable price tariff (no end
date) we have available on 30th November 2016.

So, maybe they didn't notify, or OP didn't respond.

Robin9

Time for you to be proactive !

Hit the comparison sites with your actual consumption in kwh (not £) and initiate a switch.

System

[
So, maybe they didn't notify, or OP didn't respond.[/QUOTE]

And therein lies the problem. The supplier says that it was sent and the customer says that it was never received. I fear that the OP isn't going to win this one as it is one party's words against another.

matelodave

I'm guessing that the OP has had the opportunity to see energy bills from the supplier since last September/October and the tariff being used would have been on the bill.

I'd suggest that if it's only just been noticed after nigh on a year then not a lot of effort has gone into checking bills or on line accounts in which case a notification could have easily been missed or ignored.

Just my take on it you understand.