How quickly do Big Energy Switch options run out?

smipsy

Evening all,

I'm currently with Octopus on their Money Saving Octopus promo tariff. The tariff does have a £25 exit fee per fuel, however the new British Gas tariff is about £120 cheaper per year compared to Octopus (shocking to me, but I assume Octopus are no longer the great deal they used to be in the past)

A couple of months ago, Octopus were unable to move me from a Economy 7 tariff to single tariff rate, stating issues in their system due to the MSE tariff being a special tariff, so they had to keep me on dual-tariff rates. They did offer to switch to any other single-rate tariff they hold and they would waive the exit fees, however at the time it wasn't worth the hassle, so I just left it at that.

However, this new deal is a lot better than what Octopus offer, so I want to switch to it, but I have since emailed Octopus to ask whether they are still willing to waive the exit fees for me. Even though they normally reply quite quickly, strangely no one has answered me today. Mind you, even if they won't waive it, I'm still inclined to switch, it'll just be a £70 per year savings, as opposed to £120.

I am mindful that while I wait for their reply, the British Gas tariff might run out of availability. So my question is, for those who have more experience with these switches, how quickly do things get swooped up?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

Netexporter

Suppliers may waive exit fees to swap between their own tariffs but not to move to another supplier.

bristolleedsfan

When Octopus charge exit fees they specifically state exit fees apply to change of tariff, whereas British Gas specifically state exit fees do not apply if change to another BG fixed rate.

Cashback that was gained would have offset potential exit fee plus cashback again for switching to BG deal.

vic_sf49

I don't know about BG, and their switch offers, but I know some Octopus tariffs have been available, for only one day.

Sometimes they revert to a worse rate, sometimes they're replaced by better ones.

So "who knows", is my final answer.

bristolleedsfan

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/energy/cec-tariff-1/#:~:text=The%20British%20Gas%20Collective%20Feb27,when%20you%20do%20a%20comparison.

"About 9,000 switches remaining, so 1st come, 1st served (we'll try to get more if it runs out)."

3rd Feb Newsletter said "Limited to 20,000 switches, so 1st come, 1st served (we'll try to get more if it runs out"