Deemed Business Rates
What are deemed business rates?
A deemed contract arises when you move into a property and there's no formal agreement in place as to gas or electric charges. As you're using their electricity or gas supply there will be a standard “deemed rate”, they need to charge you something so suppliers have these rates clearly outlined on their websites.
The deemed contract rates are a default rate and much higher than the rates you'll agree in your contract. But as they usually occur by default when you move in to a property so it's important to be organized to avoid unnecessary costs.
How are they different to out of contract rates?
Deemed contract rates will be significantly lower than out of contracts rates. This is usually because you aren't able to establish an energy contract until you're the registered tenant, so suppliers appreciate you don't have the ability to have a contract in place before then.
These rates will be payable when your contract comes to an end or has been terminated until you have a new contract in place
How could it affect me?
We compared suppliers' deemed rates, and found a massive difference in charges.
Surprisingly, the smaller companies offered the lowest deemed rates. If their contracted rates are considerably lower, then it's certainly worth considering the underdogs of the industry.
Our research showed the value in calculating the combined cost. Gazprom are the perfect example of that, when you look at their standing charge cost it's by far the highest, but with their unit charge being by far the lowest they work out at one of the cheapest.
You should think careful about how quickly you need to act based on these prices, it will depend dramatically on which supplier your new premise is with.
What should I do?
Be organized! Don't leave it too late after moving in to find out which supplier your property is with. If you do you could face massive unnecessary charges. If possible try and have everything ready before you move in, find out the earliest date you can set up a contract.
So be smart, be organized and avoid paying a penny more than you have to!
Prices are subject to change