Scottish & Southern Energy have become the third major energy supplier to announce an end to automatic contract rollovers for businesses.

SSE’s decision means three of the Big Six have now decided to stop using sneaky tactics to lock customers into new contracts

They join British Gas and E.ON Energy UK, with half of the Big Six now stating their commitment to not automatically locking customers in at the end of their fixed term if they don’t terminate their contract within a certain window.

Currently, suppliers’ terms and conditions all state a “termination window” of between 28 and 90 days before the end of the contract. The organisation must notify the supplier formally during that window that they do not wish to automatically roll into a new contract term, but that trap seems to have had its day.

As noted in our recent story on the first two energy suppliers ending automatic rollovers, this seems little more than the suppliers pre-empting new legislation by Ofgem, the energy regulator.

Always committed to fairness, transparency, and honesty
Utilities Savings is fully accredited by the Utilities Intermediaries Association, so we’ll always give you the best deal we can. Read more

Ofgem is currently performing a Retail Market Review of the business sector, and in it proposed banning automatic rollovers entirely.

Nevertheless, it’s good to see Ofgem pushing suppliers to act more decently. The move was welcomed by Energy minister Michael Fallon:

“Small businesses are leading the generation of ideas, the creation of new jobs and the shift towards a balanced economy.

“It’s vital that we do all we can to help them flourish, grow and keep running costs down.”

Sources: Energy Minister applauds SSE’s move to help small businesses | SSE to stop auto-rollover contracts for small businesses – Utility Week