ACS has hailed a new consultation from energy regulator Ofgem as the beginning of the end for rollover contracts.

In the consultation, published today, Ofgem have announced that they will be monitoring the activity of suppliers who still use automatic rollover contracts for their customers over the next six months. Ofgem have stated that if it cannot be proven that rollover contracts provide a tangible benefit to business consumers, there will be no place for them in the market in the future. 

The consultation also sets out a number of other measures to help small businesses with their energy contracts, including a requirement to tell business users about their annual consumption to help with price comparisons, standardising the termination notice period to 30 days and requiring suppliers to acknowledge termination notices from a business. 

ACS Chief Executive James Lowman said: “A number of the measures announced today in the consultation are measures that we have campaigned for, so we applaud Ofgem for listening to the concerns of small businesses. 

“Our members do not believe that there is a place in today’s marketplace for automatic rollovers, especially as the rates that retailers are being rolled on to are significantly above what they would pay if they were to shop around. We urge Ofgem to move swiftly to outlaw automatic rollovers altogether in the coming months.” 

ACS will be making an official response to the consultation in the coming months.