Switching supplier mid-contract

Lotak

Hi there,

Was looking for opinions on switching supplier mid-contract.

I'm currently with EDF (October 19 move) and have a £70 exit fee. I switched via MSE so got my £25 cash back for switching to this tariff.

Given I have around 8 months before I can switch penalty free, what would you say the saving would have to be on a new tariff in order to make switching worthwhile (putting aside any cashback)?

Would it be an annualised equivalent of the £70? So I've got 8 months, therefore it'd be £70 * 12 / 8 = £105 savings or something else?

Energy prices seem to have dipped in the last 3 months and there are pretty good savings to be had.

Thank you!

Streaky_Bacon

That should give you a good figure to work with although, to be pedantic, you can move without paying fees in the last 1.5 months, so it may actually be £70 * 12/6.5 = £130

Of course, it's a bit more complicated, because you'll have higher usage in the winter, and so will make a higher percentage of your savings then, compared to the summer. However, in your case, given the time of the year, you probably will actually pay roughly half of your annual usage in the next 6 months.

You may also want to take into account whether the supplier you switch to would refund the old supplier's exit fee, I think that Bulb do so, but I'm not sure if anybody else does.

Lotak

Yes that is being pedantic, but I thought I had covered that. Obviously got my maths wrong!!!

To be fair, the supplier I'm looking at is Ovo and they have £50 cashback via Quidco, which would cover most of the exit fee. The other £20 would be covered by the £25 cashback I received from MSE for switching to EDF (if you want to look at it that way).

Just wondering if that would make it worthwhile. Guessing it would. £20 cost now (sort of) followed by significant savings.

Streaky_Bacon

Lotak wrote: »

To be fair, the supplier I'm looking at is Ovo and they have £50 cashback via Quidco, which would cover most of the exit fee. The other £20 would be covered by the £25 cashback I received from MSE for switching to EDF (if you want to look at it that way).

If the £50 via Quidco is a limited time offer, then yes. If it will still be available when you can switch without fees, then no.

You already have the £25, and will have it whether you stay or switch, so shouldn't really be counted.

The only real question is "will I be better or worse off, 6 and a half months from now?"

That said, unless £70 makes a huge difference, then you probably shouldn't worry about getting every penny back, and maybe locking in a cheap deal for the next 12 months would be more important to you, because who knows what prices will be in 6 months?