The Best Time to Switch?

Many electricity and gas tariffs have a contractual end-date. And when that date arrives, unless you've taken action, you could find yourself being automatically transfered onto a much less competitive rate. Hopefully you know when your contract end date is, so the next question is what to next and when?

Here are some points to consider as your current gas or electricity contract comes to an end.

Can I change supplier early?

If you want to be absolutely safe, you should make your application to change supplier on the day after the contractual end-date. However, our experience suggest you can move quicker without incurring an early-exit penalty.

Instead, consider applying to change supplier when there is 14 days or less to go before your contract end-date. At the time of publishing this information, the time take to process an application will be much longer than 14 days, so you should not receive an early-exit penalty.

Even so, the time that it will take you to switch supplier - currently four to six weeks - means you will almost certainly be a put onto a higher rate for a short period following the end-date. The trick is to keep this period as short as possible.

Look at offers from your current supplier

You may also wish to consider any offers from your current supplier to continue supplying gas or electricity.

This may mean a seamless transfer, and could help to avoid moving temporarily onto a standard tariff. However, we would suggest checking what alternatives are around first, to make sure you're getting the best deal.

Were you happy with the service?

And of course, were you really happy with the overall service you received from your supplier? And if they were in your eyes providing a rubbish service, why choose to be inflicted with more of the same?

Sometimes, suffering poor customer service can result in stress and wasted time that makes no amount of savings worthwhile.

Unusually large direct debits

If you change supplier, make sure you're aware of this little trick with the final direct debit