Renewing with your provider, or switching

A new contract with the same company, at a price they choose, sent to you before your current term expires. Accepting it is convenient: no switch request, no gap, no new account, and no early termination fee because your term is ending anyway.

The convenience is genuine and it is also the entire reason renewal offers can be priced above the market. You are the one customer they do not have to win.

The thing a renewal is definitely better than is doing nothing. If you ignore both the renewal and the market, you roll onto a default month-to-month rate that is usually higher than either.

Find the renewal's Electricity Facts Label — a renewal offer comes with one, just like any other plan. Read the average price at the usage level nearest your own bills, and the contract term.

Then compare that figure against what is currently offered at your address. If the renewal is within a few dollars a year, take it and save yourself the administration. If it is meaningfully higher, the switch takes about ten minutes and costs nothing at the end of a term.

Watch the term as much as the price. A renewal at a good rate for thirty-six months and the same rate for twelve are different products, and which is better depends on how long you expect to be at the address.

There is no early termination fee when a contract runs to its expiry date, so the only cost of switching then is the few minutes it takes. Your power is not interrupted and nobody visits.

Schedule the new plan to start as the old one ends. Most retailers accept a future start date, which is exactly what this situation is for.