How To Make Sure Your Energy Contract Isn’t Rolled Over
Robert Buckley, Director of Cornwall Energy, provides common sense advice to help businesses avoid having their energy contract rolled over:
- Find your energy bill.
- Write down your contract end date.
- Put a reminder in your diary.
This is simple advice, but it could save you a lot of money.
If you don’t terminate your energy contract in good time, your energy supplier could roll you over to a new premium priced 12-month contract or variable rate deal.
There’s no guarantee that the contract you’re rolled over to will be good value for money, and you’ll be stuck with it, unless you pay to get out of it, which can be expensive.
Ofgem is currently reviewing whether or not energy suppliers should be allowed to roll customers over as part of the Retail Market Review. One argument for keeping roll over is that if your contract ran out when you didn’t have a new deal in place and you weren’t rolled over to new contract, you could end up paying ‘deemed’ or out-of-contract rates, which can be twice the typical market rate.
Some suppliers, notably the Big 6 have already put steps to end rollover contracts and replace them with variable deals.
You should aim to put a reminder in your diary to terminate your contract at least 120 days before your contract is due to end. Visit Business Juice’s dedicated supplier pages to find out your suppliers’ termination policy.
You should do this even if you want to stay with your current energy supplier – terminating your existing energy contract with them doesn’t mean that you can’t renegotiate a new deal with them. (It might even give you leverage!)