Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

mr_accountant

im currently with First Utility and the 49 days countdown starts on the 12th on April, ive seen a good deal on CEC by SSE, about £50 a year cheaper plus £30 cashback after 3 months.

1) Should I apply today or should I wait until the 12th, on the CEC website it states
"Energy suppliers have a cooling-off period of 14 days, which starts from the date you submit your switch, so no action is taken until this period is over."

obviously if they do nothing for 14 days that would take me past the 12th of April, so i can apply toady without the risk of exit fees from First Utility



[FONT=&quot]2) also what the feedback like on SSE[/FONT]

System

mr_accountant wrote: »

im currently with First Utility and the 49 days countdown starts on the 12th on April, ive seen a good deal on CEC by SSE, about £50 a year cheaper plus £30 cashback after 3 months.

1) Should I apply today or should I wait until the 12th, on the CEC website it states
"Energy suppliers have a cooling-off period of 14 days, which starts from the date you submit your switch, so no action is taken until this period is over."

obviously if they do nothing for 14 days that would take me past the 12th of April, so i can apply toady without the risk of exit fees from First Utility



[FONT=&quot]2) also what the feedback like on SSE[/FONT]

You will be in breach of contract if you apply to switch before your supplier sends you the appropriate notice in the period 49 to 42 days before the end of your contract.

mr_accountant

OK i will wait, and hope the offer is still going next week

System

Hengus wrote: »

You will be in breach of contract if you apply to switch before your supplier sends you the appropriate notice in the period 49 to 42 days before the end of your contract.

I know that accountants are people that like to see the detail:

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).

Consumerist

Hengus wrote: »

. . . 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. . .

According to suppliers' licence conditions, however, the notification period starts 49 days before the end of the contract.

Consumerist

Hengus wrote: »

You will be in breach of contract if you apply to switch before your supplier sends you the appropriate notice in the period 49 to 42 days before the end of your contract.

I don't think so.

In fact, a customer is at liberty to seek to change supplier at any time. The switch date must, however, be within or after the switching window to avoid termination charges.

Consumerist

For the record, from the Standard Licence Conditions for electricity suppliers :-

Termination of Fixed Term Supply Contracts
24.8 In relation to each Fixed Term Supply Contract, the licensee must ensure that:
(a) a Domestic Customer is entitled to take steps to facilitate changing to any other Electricity Supplier (but not complete the process of changing supplier) at any time without having to pay a Termination Fee;
(b) unless the Domestic Customer has already entered into a new Fixed Term Supply Contract with the licensee or paragraph 22C.5 of standard condition 22C applies, a Domestic Customer is entitled to switch to any other Electricity Supplier at any time during or after the Switching Window without having to pay a Termination Fee;
(c) a Domestic Customer is not required to give any form of notice to terminate a Fixed Term Supply Contract or to switch supplier.

Similar wording is used in the gas supply licence.

And for the avoidance of all doubt :-

Definitions for condition
24.17 For the purposes of this condition “Switching Window” means the period which begins 49 days before the date the fixed term period of a Fixed Term Supply Contract is due to end and which ends on the date the fixed term period of a Fixed Term Supply Contract is due to end.

Consumerist

mr_accountant wrote: »

OK i will wait, and hope the offer is still going next week

There is nothing to stop you applying to switch if the 49-day switching window (See Licence Conditions in previous post) has started. It will probably be 14 days (cooling-off period) before the new supplier advises the old supplier of your application anyway, by which time you'll be well into the switching window.

If you're worried the tariff might be withdrawn for something more expensive then my advice is to apply now.

mr_accountant

[FONT=&quot]just as I was about to change from First Utility to SSE, did an up-to-date search on CEC and now like a game of cat and mouse my current supplier First Utility has a new version of the tariff (probably in response to SSE) and reduced the tariffs on the new one- First Fixed May 2017 v3 as opposed to v2.

The difference is now only £15, although there is £30 cashback if I switch to SSE, £45 in total,

now deciding what to do, decisions, decisions![/FONT]

Consumerist

mr_accountant wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]The difference is now only £15, although there is £30 cashback if I switch to SSE, £45 in total,[FONT=&quot][/FONT]now deciding what to do, decisions, decisions![/FONT]

Well, £45 is not to be sneezed at for most of us.

If it helps, SSE has a better customer service record (in the form of a lower complaints ratio). See <Citizens Advice> for complaints stats.