Almost all fixed deals out there have an exit fee for leaving early. Think of it like a mobile phone contract. You buy in to secure a deal, and when you decide to leave early, the company charges you an early exit penalty. 

You're basically paying an upfront cost to access an even better deal!

Sometimes you'll see promises of no exit fees; these are for variable tariffs. Variable tariffs don't secure you a deal; they're more expensive and don't protect you against the market, i.e. if there's a cold snap in Asia which causes the price of wholesale energy prices to go up, that would mean if you're on a variable tariff, your prices would also go up.

As an auto-switchers we work to keep you on the best deal, this means sometimes switching halfway through a contract with an energy company. We always make sure the exit fee you pay is absolutely trumped by the savings you'll make over the year. But we get this isn't for everyone. 

Paying the exit fee when auto-switching means an unexpected cost for many and not everyone will be in a cash flow situation that can allow for that easily. Typically we see exit fees of £30 per fuel + VAT, this means £72 if you're switching both your gas and electricity (dual fuel switching). But if you're not sure, you can find this information in your Welcome pack from your supplier, or if you've filed that email away, simply check out your Tariff pricing page on your Switchd dashboard. 

These fixed tariff deals do let you switch without exit fees when you're 49 days before the end of your deal. By selecting to not pay exit fees, you won't miss out on the good deals, we will still switch you to the same deals as everyone else that charge exit fees, we'd just wait until that 49 day grace period to find you your next deal. 

Here's how you can adjust your exit fee setting:

1) Make sure you're logged into your Switchd dashboard;

2) Use the sidebar on the left to navigate to your Switchd settings;

3) Under Saving preferences, toggle to select whether you're happy to pay exit fees to save more over the year. 

Note: If you're doing this on your phone and using our app, click the menu on the right instead and scroll down to find your Switchd settings.

To read more about your other settings and how you can personalise your switching experience click here!