Switching Energy, The transition period

felixthecat626

Hi all,
My current fixed 1 year contract runs out on the 18th Jan (SSE), I would like to switch to a green energy supplier (octopus) but the earliest they can connect me is the 25th Jan. My question is if anyone can advise, what happens during this transition period? I assume I am still able to access gas and electricity but who would I be paying? Do I need to take out a new contract with SSE (that has no exit fees) for these few day, or will switching my provider notify them that I am leaving and put me on a temporary tariff? 

Thanks for any advice, I could of course ask SSE & Octopus but I wanted to check what people's experience was first.

KR

daveyjp

Start the switch and leave the system to do its thing. Don't enter into new contracts with exisiting supplier as well.

 You will get final reading bill from sse once the switch completes.

niktheguru

For the period where your contract runs out on 18th Jan to 25th Jan you will be charged on SSEs standard tariff (so will pay a slightly higher rate for a week), you will then get transitioned over to octopus. You do not have to contact SSE and recontract or inform them. You should just be sent a final bill once the switch is complete. Its always good practice to submit an accurate meter reading in the days prior to the switch to SSE so that your final reading is accurate.

Phones4Chris

niktheguru said:

For the period where your contract runs out on 18th Jan to 25th Jan you will be charged on SSEs standard tariff (so will pay a slightly higher rate for a week), you will then get transitioned over to octopus. You do not have to contact SSE and recontract or inform them. You should just be sent a final bill once the switch is complete. Its always good practice to submit an accurate meter reading in the days prior to the switch to SSE so that your final reading is accurate.

Hmm. When I left SSE nearly 3 years ago, I was charged the same as the contract period. I also had a similar experience with EDF. Are you speaking from direct personal experience with SSE, I suppose they may have changed the way they do things.

Gerry1

My understanding is that if you have already applied to switch when your exiting contract expires, your rates continue unchanged until the switch is completed.

Either way, you don't need to do anything except submit the closing reading to the new supplier, subsequently check that the same reading has been used by the new and old suppliers and that any credit has been returned to you.  Occasionally a Mysterious Third Party tweaks the reading, but the same value should be used by both parties.

Final bill due within six weeks of switch date, any refund due within a further two weeks, automatic compo if any dates are missed.