What are exit charges?
Exit charges (otherwise referred to as cancellation fees) are given to the penalty you get charged when you decide to leave a fixed-term energy contract early.
When do I need to pay exit charges?
You might owe exit charges if you signed up to a fixed-term tariff and chose to leave it before the full contract time (usually 12 months) is over.
That said, if you are in the last 49 days of your fixed-term contract, you do not have to pay an exit fee. Your energy supplier is obliged to contact you 42-49 days before your contract is due to end, at which point you are free to switch to a new contract or new supplier at any point.
Do I have to pay an exit fee if I move house?
If you’re keeping with the same energy supplier and tariff plan, you can take your contract with you when you move and will not be charged any penalty for cancelling it early.
Can I switch suppliers without exit charges?
In many cases, if you decide to switch your energy tariff but stay with the same supplier, they will waive the exit fee to allow you to change.
In some circumstances, the exit fee may also be covered by an alternative supplier to allow you to switch over to one of their tariffs. This is pretty uncommon, but it happens.
We work with U-Switch, who make it simple to see exactly what you’d be paying to change services. Enter your postcode below to see all of your switching options and exit fees.
Think we missed something? Do you have a different opinion?
Comment below to get your voice heard…
I went on uswitch and put in my last 12 months usage. To be honest even though I had to pay £15 exit fees for both gas and electricity it was still much cheaper to pay the exit fees and leave rather than wait until the contract expired.