unfair exit fee and supply charges

backyardee

I am moving from a property with air source to a property with another  form of heating. The house I am moving to has been accidentally marked as a business meter by the company it was being supplied by, it has been empty for 2 yrs. The current company I get elec from, will not give me the move ability as they do not deal with business meters. So I will have to wait on the county council to issue a council tax rate and latter. Get the meter returned to a domestic meter, and this has to be done within 30 days. Meantime the company I am with, once I have got the meter listed correctly, will continue to supply me, but I will need to keep paying the monthly DD amount of £200 per month until they deem they have enough info to sort out an annual amount. I will lose the £75 as an early exit fee if I don not get the council letter, get the meter listed as domestic within 30 days. My account is in credit of £375 and even though I am moving early next month, will still take the DD on the 1st. I feel I should cancel the DD, tell them the final meter reading, and let them sort out my account from credit balance. Would I be wrong. Why should they put my account into credit to nearly £600 when my final bill will be around £160. They will sort out a refund mid Jan next year. 

MattMattMattUK

backyardee said:

I am moving from a property with air source to a property with another  form of heating. The house I am moving to has been accidentally marked as a business meter by the company it was being supplied by, it has been empty for 2 yrs. The current company I get elec from, will not give me the move ability as they do not deal with business meters. So I will have to wait on the county council to issue a council tax rate and latter. Get the meter returned to a domestic meter, and this has to be done within 30 days. Meantime the company I am with, once I have got the meter listed correctly, will continue to supply me, but I will need to keep paying the monthly DD amount of £200 per month until they deem they have enough info to sort out an annual amount. I will lose the £75 as an early exit fee if I don not get the council letter, get the meter listed as domestic within 30 days. My account is in credit of £375 and even though I am moving early next month, will still take the DD on the 1st. I feel I should cancel the DD, tell them the final meter reading, and let them sort out my account from credit balance. Would I be wrong. Why should they put my account into credit to nearly £600 when my final bill will be around £160. They will sort out a refund mid Jan next year. 

The exit fee is not unfair, you signed a contract with an exit fee and you are now terminating that contract early so the exit fee applies.

With regard to the credit the supplier has six weeks to issue a final bill and sort out refunds, that is the standard, although many are quicker. If you cancel the Direct Debit then getting a refund will likely be slower and it could cause other problems. It would make much more sense to lower it online if you are with one of the suppliers that allows that, call them and get them to lower it or just wait for the refund.

elsien

By January next year, do you mean January 2026 so really just ana few weeks away.

Swipe

Switch to variable DD if you have enough credit to pay your final bill + £75 exit fee to prevent them taking more and give notice and a final reading when you move out. Then register and ask the deemed supplier to change the meter registration to a domestic one and switch to your preferred supplier once done. Anything else is just destined to go wrong. You cannot rely on anyone these days. Or just switch to variable direct debit with your current supplier and take your chance with the move shenanigans.

Qyburn

I don't see how they can be justified in charging an exit fee on a deemed contract.

QrizB

Qyburn said:

I don't see how they can be justified in charging an exit fee on a deemed contract.

The exit fee is on the OP's existing domestic account (which is with Outfox The Market, per previous threads, who only supply domestic customers), which they can't transfer to their new property which has a business account.