MSE News: British Gas charges customer exit fees to switch tariff...

System

nic_c wrote: »

I was going to switch to GNE, though their V8 tariff has now been replaced by a V9, which is still okay for me - their unit rates have gone up, but they've slashed their standing charges by a third. However the new Avro now comes in cheaper and no exit fees too. I'm not sure how often they change tariff's but one would assume they would be there for at least a month??

The question then, is how close do I leave it. They say aim to switch in 21 days, so is doing it a day (or maybe 2) before the collective fix okay? I can't see anywhere where Avro state when they tell your old supplier of the switch. I'm about £30 in credit with BGas so shouldn't be any delay

Month - uhm. I wouldn’t put money on it. Suppliers are fighting for market share and positions on comparison tables.

As far as switching is concerned, the Supply Licence gives the responsibility of managing the switch to the gaining supplier. Part of the supply transfer process is informing the losing supplier and others via the Network that a transfer is in progress. For 17 day switching, this action is initiated during the cooling off period as there are many parties involved.

When you switch, you do not have to inform your old supplier that you are leaving nor do you need to send them meter readings. Your old supplier has 6 weeks from the date of the actual supply transfer to raise your Final Bill. Any credit will be refunded shortly afterwards.

Ask yourself this question. If BG is currently under investigation for allegedly trying to charge exit fees within the 49/42 day window, why wouldn’t it charge you exit fees if it received information from another supplier that a transfer process had been initiated on, say, day 51 before the end of your contract. Legally, in my view, it is contractually entitled to that fee as you have initiated a breach of contract. As a consumer, you have no control over the industry processes that are initiated once a supplier actions your request to switch.

For completeness, having read your post again, if you are saying that you will not initiate the switch until 2 days before the end of your present contract then this is fine. The losing supplier will be notified that a switch is in progress within the 20 day after end of contract period, and you will have tariff price protection until the transfer takes place.

dogshome

The 42/49 day 'Get-out-of-jail-Free' window was brought in by Ofgem, because some suppliers, mainly BG, were insisting that the date of the Switch was the day they recieved notice of a pending a Switch.

At the same time Ofgem underlined the already existing policy, that the 'Switch Date' was the day the new supplier began their supply to the customer.

Amazingly despite the regulator initiating new rules to control BG, there many posts complaining that BG are still trying to charge Exit Fee's to customer's who have Switched within the rules

System

dogshome wrote: »

At the same time Ofgem underlined the already existing policy, that the 'Switch Date' was the day the new supplier began their supply to the customer.

I can find no reference to this: I would be interested to see the source. Interestingly, the term ‘switch’ is not mentioned in the Supply Licence whereas the term ‘transfer’ is mentioned in SCL14A