Switching to a new plan during fixed term contract? Will I face an exit fee?

Thanks again, ​@Abby_OVO 

Yeah, but that wasn’t ​@Bendog’s concern. He was asking about switching now, long before his 49-day renewal period starts. Until last August, it was the case with Extended Fixed plans that any switch prior to the renewal period would incur an exit fee. I don’t know whether the same applied to other fixed plans or, if it did, whether that also changed last year. That’s why I suggested he look up the terms for the specific plan he’s currently on.

It feels odd quoting myself BUT,as you said, this was my question. If I gambled on choosing a new fixed rate now, would I be penalised? This is what my “Terms and Conditions” page says.

This implies that I could change tariff with OVO as I am not changing supplier. I just wanted it confirmed that this was still the case before I make a choice. 

It is interesting how we have “contracts” that have a clause which says that its terms and conditions can be changed and that we just have to accept any changes made!! 

It feels odd quoting myself BUT,as you said, this was my question. If I gambled on choosing a new fixed rate now, would I be penalised? This is what my “Terms and Conditions” page says.

 

Fair enough. Did §6.1 say the same as mine?

You look to be good to go whenever you like, so long as you switch to another OVO tariff. I see that the one- and two-year fixed plans are just about identical, so how’s your crystal ball behaving? Do you foresee electricity prices plummeting in a year’s time?

  

It feels odd quoting myself BUT,as you said, this was my question. If I gambled on choosing a new fixed rate now, would I be penalised? This is what my “Terms and Conditions” page says.

 

Fair enough. Did §6.1 say the same as mine?

 

No. §6.1 says the same as §6.2 apart from it says “before 19 August 2024”. There is no mention of “changing plan”.

I really do not know what to do. I know that, if I do nothing and go onto the Simpler Energy Plan in August that I will, definitely, be hit by the large rise that, I think, is inevitable in July and any fixes will be less “advantageous” than now. However, what, if it happens, will be the effect of the “uncoupling” of gas and electricity prices that is being suggested? 

One thing, unless Ofgem change things again or OVO offers a “no standing charge” tariff, that we can, probably, be sure of is that standing charges are going to increase. I will have to play with some spreadsheets to see which way I should “jump”. 

(Incidentally, I am a “she”. Bendog is an online name that I have been using since around 1998!! There are some people I know who, even when we meet up in real life, still call me “Bendog”!!!)

Abject apologies 🙇‍♂️😳

Firedog is just as old, adopted by coincidence when I suddenly needed an alias at a site which didn’t allow real names. I’d learnt about my Chinese zodiac sign just the night before.

I’m old enough to remember when dogs were all male; ones that weren’t had their own descriptor - but using it quite innocently about my female Labrador retriever elicited a stern warning from the same site aforementioned. 
    

You should remember that the inevitable large rise in July is based on history; Ofgem are busily collecting data on current prices and will do so for another four weeks or so before announcing the new cap in Week 22. Fixes on the other hand are based on predictions, expectations of where wholesale prices and other charges might go in the future. An increase in the price cap will have no effect on fixed-price offerings.
  

I reckon this plan will take a long time to come to fruition. The current system is so entrenched that it will take a lot of unravelling, with hundreds of contracts dating back decades probably having to be renegotiated. I don’t expect any movement on this to affect household electricity bills until next year at the earliest.

Thanks again for this. I have played with the figures for both the 1 year and 2 year fixes. (To be honest, I was worried about taking out a 3 year contract for a new mobile phone, recently, at my age, so do I dare go for the 2 year?)

Whatever I choose to do, it is likely that the £100 per month that I have been able to pay for my gas and electricity for over 2 years (always rejecting any suggestion by OVO that I should decrease this) is now going to be insufficient very quickly, despite the almost £200 balance I have in my account today with my next DD due on Tuesday. The 1 year fix will increase my costs by £191 per year and the 2 year fix will increase them by £207 per year. Electricity costs are responsible for most of this increase. We have, I think, done everything that we can do to reduce our usage. Just this week, we used the barbecue twice to cook our dinner instead of the airfryer!! 

That’s a bit odd. I’ve only looked at electricity prices (no gas near here); the latest dated 21 April still show the 1-year and 2-year fixes as identical, and surprisingly significantly lower than the preceding ones dated 01 April. The exit fee is higher for the 2-year fix, though - £95. Anyway, the cost of 2700kWh of electricity (the median value for a dual-fuel household) has come down from £942 to £898 for a DD-customer in my part of the world (East Midlands). The only difference in price is the standing charge, 0.02p/kWh higher for the 2-year fix - less than 8p a year.

Have another look at the latest prices ...

These are the costs for me for the 1 year and 2 year fixed plans (21/04/26). They are based on the OVO estimates for my usage: 2838 kWh for electricity and 5403 kWh for gas. We use gas only for heating and hot water.

​@Abby_OVO I think you missed the point of my question, and we both got side-tracked …

We have established that sliding seamlessly from one plan to another - as happened on 1 April - doesn’t alter the ‘joining’ date which determines the conditions for an exit fee to be payable. Sliding seamlessly from my Extended Fixed plan to another during the renewal period won’t attract an exit fee, but the sterner terms - “Exit fee: £75.00 if you end your contract” - will apparently still apply. Switching to a different plan - e.g. Simpler Energy - just for a day before entering into a new Extended Fixed contract should generate a new ‘joining date’ and so ensure that the exit fee conditions are the more favourable ones -  “… if you change your supplier.” 

Does your specialist agree with this assessment?

PS I asked Bendog about the specific exit fee terms of her contract. I looked them up for myself and was a bit surprised to see this:
  

[I may seem to be making heavy weather of this, but I had to fight last time I switched tariffs to get a wrongly-applied exit fee reversed.]

Hey ​@Firedog & ​@Bendog,

I’ve picked this up for ​@Abby_OVO and spoke with our contact in tariffs. 

They’ve came back with the following response: 

“Customers are free to change tariffs at any time, but the application of an exit fee depends on the specific tariff and the date they joined it.

Referring to the original post about Extended Fixed, the key phrase is "change your supplier or plan," specifically the reference to "plan."

If the customer's contract for that tariff began at a point when the exit fee only applied in the case of "if you change your supplier," then there is no internal switching fee, and they can "tariff hop" without penalty.

I know there has been some discussion regarding the levy changes and how they might affect contract dates; however, for these purposes, there is essentially no break in the contract, and the relevant date is when the customer first signed up for the tariff.”

Looking at the wording of the screenshots above it specifically draws attention to changing suppliers would incur an exit fee. I hope this helps! 

Thanks, ​@Chris_OVO - but we’ve still not cracked this one yet.

Timeline:

1. March 2025: Customer joins Extended Fixed, with expiry August 2026
2. August 2025: Terms change
3. April 2026: Levy change - by decree, no effect on ‘joining date’
4. June 2026: Customer switches to the latest Extended Fixed.
   Will the ‘Extended Fixed joining date’ remain the same - i.e. prior to (2) above, and so render the tariff subject to draconian exit fee terms, or
   will the ‘Extended Fixed joining date’ now be in June 2026, so that the tariff then enjoys the less stringent exit fee terms? 

I suppose it comes down to what meaning is attached to ‘join’ in this context. Does ‘I joined Extended Fixed on 3 March 2025’ mean something other than ‘My Extended Fixed plan started on 3 March 2025’? Have I joined an exclusive club, so that I remain a member until I enter into a different sort of contract with OVO or another supplier? 
  

Only in certain circumstances. What happens if the customer ‘joined’ OVO 1-year Fixed Loyalty after 19 August 2024? In the absence of specific conditions, §10.4 of the Core Terms must apply, and they’re still as ambiguous as they were the last time we discussed this!

IARGIANAL 🙂