Automatic Electricity contract renewal

Juicy1_2

I knew our electricity contract was up for renewal in April. As that time was approaching I decided to start shopping around for the best deal to renew. I dug out my paperwork re our contract and current prices, and found a letter which had come in a while ago reminding me the my contract expired in April. Yes, I admit it, I didn't read the letter through to the end as it came in yonks ago, but it gave me 10 days to let them know if I didn't want to renew my contract with them. The day and nights rates, and the standing charge have almost DOUBLED and I appear to now be locked in to a 2yr contract.

Is this legal, can they do this kind of automatic contract renewal, I haven't signed anything, or indeed haven't even spoken to anyone. If this is legal, any suggestions for a way out, these new rates are going to cripple me!

MarkyMarkD

If your original contract said that they would offer you renewal terms, and that you'd be deemed to have accepted them if you didn't respond, then it's legal and binding.

Very few suppliers indeed have fixed term, binding, contracts and even fewer have auto-renewal to another fixed term, binding contract.

Who is this supplier?

Mike_by_the_Sea

This sounds like the standard terms for a business account.

Juicy1_2

British Gas - surprise surprise!

Juicy1_2

It is a business account. Does that mean I am stuffed then?

Mike_by_the_Sea

It doesn't look good. The fee for changing once in contract is about £100 plus a percentage of the estimated usage for the whole of the contract. It really depends on how much your bills are as to whether it is worth paying up and changing to someone less expensive.

The contracts are automatically renewable up to 90 days before the previous contract expires. The only get-out you may have is whether they met their own terms and conditions in giving you enough notice and enough time to respond. In their contract terms it states that:

Your contract will have the same terms and charges unless we tell you that they have changed. If the terms or the charges have changed, we will let you know in writing at least 120 days before the end of the initial period or renewal period. If you do not want to accept the new terms or charges,
you must contact us to end the contract at least 90 days before it is due to renew.

If they haven't met this, you might have a chance.

Good luck

Mike