My capped tariff is coming to an end - what should I do?

Whether trying to beat price rises or wanting to control energy costs, millions have switched their energy to capped or fixed price tariffs. Now with many of these tariffs coming to the end of their fixed terms and suppliers offering these customers a bewildering range of tariff options to move on to, many have been wondering whether they’re still getting a good deal.

We’ve taken account of these concerns by modifying our comparison calculator. Instead of working out your savings based on the prices you’re currently on, we’ve adjusted our calculator to also use the prices you’ll most likely be put on by your current supplier in the next 12 months.

How it works – between 2 and 12 months left on your capped tariff

If your capped tariff is due to expire within the next 12 months, we’ve used the prices you’ll most likely be put on by your current supplier as well as your current capped ones to give you a more accurate price comparison.

So if you’ve got 4 months left to go until your capped prices expire, we’ve calculated 4 months’ worth of energy at these prices, and 8 months at your new prices, added these together and used this to compare against the rest of the market.

How it works – less than 2 months left on your capped tariff

For those with less than 2 months to go on their capped tariffs, we’ve used the prices you’ll most likely be put onto by your current supplier to do your price comparison rather than your capped prices.

Because of the short time until your capped term expires, it makes sense to use the prices you’ll be put on to do a comparison rather than the prices you currently pay, especially as any switch application takes 4-6 weeks to go live. If however, you’d rather still see an energy comparison based on your current capped prices, that’s not a problem. When you get to the results table, follow the links to take you to a comparison based on your capped prices.

What about cancellation penalties?

Unfortunately, some tariffs incur cancellation penalties if you leave before the term expires. With tariffs that have more than 2 months left to go, it may still make sense to switch now and incur the penalty if it is small and your potential savings are big, especially as there have been recent price cuts and new cheaper products introduced.

With tariffs with less than 2 months to go, it may make more sense to wait before switching. However, we’ve made things simple for customers in this situation. Rather than reminding yourself to come back and redo your comparison when your tariff expires, you can still make a switch application today. We’ll only send it off to your new supplier after the capped term on your current tariff expires, so that you don’t incur any early cancellation fees.

Want to see whether switching from a capped tariff makes sense?

to start a price comparison.

If you’re unsure when your tariff comes to an end and whether it has cancellation fees or not, click on the relevant supplier link below to find out more:

British Gas
E.ON
EdF Energy / Sainsbury’s Energy
npower
SSE (Scottish Hydro, Southern Electric, Swalec)
ScottishPower