What happens when your contract expires
A fixed-rate contract ends on a date. If you do nothing on that date, your service continues on a different product with different terms, and the change happens without you choosing it.
The default is not a continuation
When a fixed-rate term ends and you have not chosen a new plan, your service does not stop. Your retailer moves you onto a default month-to-month product and keeps billing you.
That default product's price can change from one billing cycle to the next, which is exactly what a fixed rate does not do. It is not hidden; you are notified in advance and the terms describe it. It is simply very easy to miss, and every month you do not notice is a month on a price you did not choose.
A customer who does not choose a replacement plan can remain on the default month-to-month product after the fixed-rate contract ends.
How to catch it
Find your contract end date — it is on your Electricity Facts Label and usually on your bill — and put a reminder in your calendar for a month before. That single habit is worth more than most of the shopping advice on the internet.
Your retailer is required to notify you before the term ends. Those notices arrive by whatever channel you signed up with, which for many people is an email address they no longer read.
What to do when it happens
If you are already on a default rate, there is nothing to wait for: a month-to-month product has no term, so there is normally no early termination fee to leave it. Check your terms, then shop.
Then choose a term you are comfortable committing to and put the new end date in the calendar the same day. The cycle repeats, and the only reliable defence is the reminder.
What replaces a default rate
A contract that lapses rolls onto a month-to-month price. This is what is on offer instead.
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