EDF - getting out a fixed contract without penalties

Boohoo

michaels said:

brewerdave said:

I'm on a fix ending June24 for gas only. Had my "annual review" letter today, via online account. That gives my expected spend for the next 12 months as the same as this ie assuming I stay on the now expensive fix .This is incorrect as I'll actually pay ~ £100 more as the Govt. EPG discount vanishes
HOWEVER , it says that I could save over £410 by moving to PAYG with Standard variable and doesn't mention the exit fees. I didn't get a bung from EDF to move to the fix last year (altho I tried!) so I'm hoping that the previous poster @SteveCooper is correct about no exit fees!

I got the annual review letter and it did mention the £150 (no cash incentive on way in). It only covered the gas though which is odd as I am on a dual fuel tariff.

brewerdave said:

brewerdave said:

HOWEVER , it says that I could save over £410 by moving to PAYG with Standard variable and doesn't mention the exit fees. I didn't get a bung from EDF to move to the fix last year (altho I tried!) so I'm hoping that the previous poster @SteveCooper is correct about no exit fees!

Had yet another surreal Whatsapp chat yesterday where the agent told me she understood my issue - but she clearly didn't as she told me I would be charged the exit fee for changing to SVT but then said ,but don't worry ,I can confirm your charges will remain the same after July 1st !
 At that point she wanted feedback on her success in answering my query !

All my documentation seems to suggest that my gas rate will stay at 10.3p in July rather than reverting to 13p of the fix by I suspect at some point they will correct this.

I checked my account today and on my tariff page it said my gas unit will be 11.592 on 1st July instead of the 10.3 today as there will be no Government discount.
I did a tariff quote and was offered a unit price of just under 8p but i would have to pay £150 exit fee as i am on a fixed priced tariff.
I am with Octopus tracker for electric so may find out if i can swap to them on a gas tracker but they have a waiting list i think.

dillydilly1

this is the email they've sent today, the last comment being very disingenuous - by doing nothing I will be £450 worse off by the end of the fix, they should be advising that customers' best course of action is to consider paying the penalty and switching to the capped variable rates

Mobtr

dillydilly1 said:

this is the email they've sent today, the last comment being very disingenuous - by doing nothing I will be £450 worse off by the end of the fix, they should be advising that customers' best course of action is to consider paying the penalty and switching to the capped variable rates

Why? You fixed your price at a higher one than the SVT at the time. It was your choice at the time just as it’s your choice now if you decide to pay the fee and come off it. In your case it might pay off depending on your usage, might not be the same for everyone. You’ve got an email that was sent to everyone and everyone’s usage is different 

dillydilly1

please don't defend this action by EDF Mobtr, that's why I said disingenuous. It's the same principle as insurance companies having now to advise in renewal letters that you are paying more and you should seek other quotes. Of course I will be switching to the variable rate, my elderly father would see the 'you don't need to do anything' message and will be reassured

Mobtr

dillydilly1 said:

please don't defend this action by EDF Mobtr, that's why I said disingenuous. It's the same principle as insurance companies having now to advise in renewal letters that you are paying more and you should seek other quotes. Of course I will be switching to the variable rate, my elderly father would see the 'you don't need to do anything' message and will be reassured

I’m not defending them at all. It’s a standard email you have received so, like I said, depending on your usage, it might still be cheaper for you to pay the exit fee but not for a lower user. Anyone who took out this fix knew that the prices were higher than the SVT at the time & it was a gamble as no one knew what was going to happen to the prices at the time. It was expected they would go up & up so fixing may have been a good call, however, the government intervened so it turns out it wasn’t, the gamble didn’t pay off. 

It’s nothing like insurance companies, your tariff is not up for renewal, it’s just reverting back to the prices you originally agreed 

CSI_Yorkshire

dillydilly1 said:

please don't defend this action by EDF Mobtr, that's why I said disingenuous. It's the same principle as insurance companies having now to advise in renewal letters that you are paying more and you should seek other quotes. Of course I will be switching to the variable rate, my elderly father would see the 'you don't need to do anything' message and will be reassured

Every single bill you get from your energy supplier will say "Could you be paying less?  Here is our cheapest equivalent tariff, but it might be worth switching your tariff or supplier." or words to that effect.

And as Mobtr said, this isn't a renewal, it isn't a quote, it isn't a tariff change.  It's just the government saying "we won't be paying bits of your bill any more".

They say you do not need to do anything to make it clear that you don't need to go in and change your DD, you don't need to sign up for a new tariff, etc.  There is nothing disingenuous about this at all.  I think you don't understand what that word means.

Do you think that suppliers should have to send a personal email to each customer every time any tariff changes (from any supplier) just in case the new change might be a little cheaper?

"Hello Mr X,  supplier ABC has changed their prices by 0,01p.  Maybe you should try doing a comparison to see if it's cheaper for you".

It's already on your bill, how many more times do they need to tell you?

MrBlack8

How did EDF communicate the fee free switch to SVT back in November? I checked my emails and received nothing from them that i can see.

Still waiting to see whether they'll honour a reduced exit fee or they can have their £300 and lose the over £2000 they would have got from me instead over the next 12 months if they let me switch to SVR.

CSI_Yorkshire

MrBlack8 said:

How did EDF communicate the fee free switch to SVT back in November? I checked my emails and received nothing from them that i can see.

Still waiting to see whether they'll honour a reduced exit fee or they can have their £300 and lose the over £2000 they would have got from me instead over the next 12 months if they let me switch to SVR.

Your £300 is all profit.  Only £40 of your £2000 is profit.

I don't think they'll care.

brewerdave

MrBlack8 said:

How did EDF communicate the fee free switch to SVT back in November? I checked my emails and received nothing from them that i can see.

I checked and didn't receive anything either - no surprise tho' as EDF have form for only offering limited numbers of customers the "deals" eg only selected customers were offered the initial bribe to take up the fixed offers in the first place.

casjen

brewerdave said:

MrBlack8 said:

How did EDF communicate the fee free switch to SVT back in November? I checked my emails and received nothing from them that i can see.

I checked and didn't receive anything either - no surprise tho' as EDF have form for only offering limited numbers of customers the "deals" eg only selected customers were offered the initial bribe to take up the fixed offers in the first place.

It wasnt a bribe at all... stupid way of describing it. It was a promotion offered to certain customers just like other companies do. . I took it and was very happy to do so. however  seeing an opportunity to maybe avoid the exit fee I tried Whatsap, Twitter and email approaching it different ways  but no luck and net cost zero. Nothing lost but well worth the effort. End of story and move on to the next great "make a buck" event.. If you wait for things to drop in ya lap you will be waiting a long time.