Warning to Business Energy Consumers – Be vigilant about your contract renewal!
At Energy Advice Line we have a number of clients every day that come to us for advice on business electricity and business gas prices. Often this is after they find that they have been rolled over on to a new contract term on significantly higher prices without warning by their current business electricity or business gas supplier.
This trend is common place in the poorly regulated UK energy supply sector where supplier’s terms and conditions offer very little in terms fairness and transparency to consumers. The business electricity and business gas regulator is of the opinion that as commercial entities, small and medium sized energy consumers do not need the same protection as their domestic counterparts. This lack of protection allows business electricity and business gas suppliers to be more aggressive with their contract terms, which unfortunately results in many small businesses in the UK paying the price.
Julian Morgan continues “Customers find out too late when they receive a bill from the supplier and their costs have, in a lot of cases, doubled overnight. After speaking to them they are left bewildered by the response when they are told that they should have read the small print.”
Most of the UK’s small and medium-sized business electricity and business gas customers are offered what are called “evergreen” or “roll over” contracts. This means that business energy suppliers can assume renewal if their client does not terminate the contract prior to the contract expiry date. This method of contracting is very onerous and it tends to catch a lot of very busy small business owners out – especially when the renewal offer can be worded in such a way as to look like junk mail.
In today’s climate of very high electricity and gas prices small and medium-sized businesses cannot afford to be caught out by the suppliers hard nosed tactics, especially when they are seeing their bills double if they have been subjected to the contract roll-over tactic.
The Energy Advice Line is an online business electricity and business gas price comparison and switching service dedicated exclusively to the needs of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK.
Being entirely independent of any particular business electricity or business gas suppliers, and focused on the specific requirements of a customer, the Energy Advice Line is uniquely placed to provide good, impartial advice. The process of assessment of need through to switching of supplier is seamless and, critically for the customer, the service is provided at no cost.
Julian Morgan concludes: “If the client is unsure of their contractual obligation to their current business electricity or business gas supplier, please call the Energy Advice Line for free impartial advice or telephone your current supplier as soon as possible. Your business electricity or business gas supplier will be able to provide information on when your price deal expires and how many days termination notice you have to give to avoid the contract roll-over. Given that most of the UK’s suppliers roll their client over onto a new fixed price for a minimum of 12 months it is important that the client gains control of their energy spend as soon as possible.”