If you are not moving home, your electricity & gas accounts will be transferred to your newly chosen supplier on the dates your electricity and gas meters are next read NOT on the date you apply to switch via the Switchwise website. Electricity meters and gas meters are read every 3 months in most areas. This means that your switch to a new supplier might not be finalised for up to 3 months.
So if your contract with your current supplier is about to expire and you wish to switch to another supplier without the risk of being charged an early termination fee by your current supplier we recommend the following:
- If you DO know when your electricity meter and gas meter are next likely to be read - you could find this out by looking at your last bill and adding 3 months (or 2 months for gas in some areas):
- If the meter read date is AFTER the date on which your current contract expires then you could apply to switch suppliers now
- If the meter read date is BEFORE the date on which your current contract expires then you should wait until after your meter read date to apply to switch suppliers
- If you DO NOT know when your electricity meter and gas meter are next likely to be read, we recommend that you wait and only apply to switch suppliers at most 1-2 weeks before your current contract expires.
Please note that there is a 10 business day (i.e. 2 week) cooling-off period after you submit your application to switch - only at the end of this 10 day period will your new supplier start the transfer process.
If you are still unsure what to do we recommend calling your current supplier and asking them to move you across to a different, non-contracted plan after your current contract expires to ensure that your contracted plan is not automatically renewed and you are locked in again. Then you can take your time and make a decision about which company you want as your new supplier.