It is a fact that all gas and electricity suppliers in the UK are required to give you, the customer, notification when your existing contract is nearing the end of its term.
This notification is sent in the form of a renewal offer detailing the new proposed contract rate(s), the date on which these rate(s) will take effect and the term of this new contract. These renewal contracts are often referred to as “rollover” contracts and are usually accompanied by correspondence stating that you need take no action, as the renewal process is automatic.
This can be very misleading for the customer as rollover rates are usually much higher than those currently being applied and to do nothing at this stage will result in significantly higher bills for the duration of the rollover contract- which can be up to 2 years.
Suppliers also have written into the terms and conditions of their contracts, a paragraph stating that in order to “opt out” of these rollover rates, and therefore be allowed to either renegotiate rates with the current supplier or source an alternative supplier, the customer must give them a termination notification to effectively reject the renewal offer.
The timescales in which these notifications should be received vary with each supplier but can be as much as 90 days prior to the current contract end date. This period is known as the “Renewal Window”.
In many cases the supplier renewal offers do not arrive in time for you to respond by this cutoff date, or sometimes do not arrive at all. This can then lead to you being tied in to the new contract without realising it.
It is therefore essential that you are aware of your particular suppliers’ requirements regarding their renewal window and that you act in plenty of time to prevent yourself becoming an unwitting victim of these rollover contracts. |
