Ovo and EDF urged to waive ‘unfair’ exit fees

Ovo and EDF Energy have been urged to follow other suppliers lead and waive exit fees for tariffs that are above the price cap.

It comes as Utility Week recently revealed that as many as 1.55 million customers could be on fixed tariffs that are more expensive than the latest cap update, seeing their bills rise as government subsidies are withdrawn.

Following the revelation, Octopus Energy has announced it will be waiving some of its exit fees, as is Utility Warehouse.

Both Ovo and EDF have confirmed that they will not be waiving exit fees on their tariffs, despite the former having the only tariff in excess of £6,000, coming in at around £6,200 per year.

Ovo said last year it switched all customers with a fixed tariff higher than £2,500 down to the level of the EPG. It said these customers will continue to pay the same rates once the EPG subsidies are withdrawn.

An EDF spokesperson said customers wanting to switch to an alternative tariff may do so, in line with their contract.

Speaking to Utility Week Simon Francis, of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, criticised the fact suppliers were still charging exit fees up to £300.

“The very least they should be doing is waiving the exit fees. It can’t be right that energy firms are basically just charging customers more for their energy than the Ofgem price cap, there can’t be any excuse for that,” he said.

He pointed to data from Future Energy Associates showing exit fees for some tariffs by Scottish Power and EDF totalling £300.

He added: “These are really sizeable exit fees that customers are going to have to pay in order to get a deal which the vast majority of the population is able to get so it seems unfair that they’re penalising these 1.5 million households who at some point will have fallen for the energy firms’ marketing.

“They’ve actually gone out there and proactively encouraged people to get onto these tariffs and now they’re no longer a decent deal. They’ve played on the fears of people during the energy crisis to get them to fix onto these tariffs and now really they should be offering them a way out.”

Sharing similar views is Jonathan Bean, a spokesperson for the Fuel Poverty Action group, who said not waiving fees “strengthens the case for stronger regulation of energy firms to protect hard-pressed households”.

“Our energy market needs fundamental reform. It’s grossly unfair that some pay double or triple the price cap whilst others are getting huge discounts from smart tariffs,” he added.

Other major suppliers have made moves in recent weeks to waive their exit fees.

An Octopus spokesperson told Utility Week that before the 1 July price cap update it had contacted customers on all fixed tariffs previously reduced by the Energy Price Guarantee and so who might see an increase.

It recommended they switch to Octopus’ standard variable tariff (SVT) if they wanted the lowest price and said no exit fees would be charged if they chose to do so.

Utility Warehouse has confirmed it has scrapped exit fees for both internal and external switches from its older, more expensive fixed tariffs.

Elsewhere both British Gas and Eon say they do not charge exit fees for customers choosing to switch tariffs internally, as does Scottish Power.