PE Solutions Out-of-Contract & Deemed Rates

PE's current bill guidance describes Out of Contract as the position where your fixed contract has ended, you have not renewed and the account is on PE's variable Out-of-Contract Rate.

That means the first thing I would check is:

What was the old Contract End Date?

When did the new rate start?

What Contract Type is shown on the bill?

Has a renewal already been agreed?

Has another supplier been appointed?

Do not assume your old fixed price continues after the fixed agreement ends.

PE's current terms say a Deemed Contract can arise when you become responsible for a property PE already supplies, or otherwise become legally responsible for the metering at that property.

PE's bill guidance describes Deemed as being supplied by PE without explicitly agreeing a contract with PE.

A common example is:

You move into a business premises.

PE already supplies the meter.

You start consuming energy.

But you have not yet agreed a fixed PE contract.

That is very different from:

“I signed a three-year PE contract and it has just ended.”

Both situations can currently lead to PE's published Standard Out of Contract & Deemed rates.

But the route into them is different.

PE's current terms say a Deemed Contract comes into force on either:

The date PE began supplying you with energy

or

The date you began taking supply from PE.

In a move-in dispute, the important question is therefore:

When did your business actually become responsible for the premises or meter?

Gather:

• Lease or occupancy evidence
• Opening meter reading
• Meter photograph
• Meter serial number
• MPAN/MPRN
• Move-in date
• PE correspondence

Do not simply accept or reject the date on the first bill without checking the evidence.

PE's current non-domestic terms say that if you have a Deemed Contract, you are not required to give PE a Termination Notice in order to complete a Supply Transfer to another supplier.

PE also says it will not charge a Termination Fee for that supplier transfer.

A PE Deemed Contract can also end when, for example:

You enter into an agreement with PE

A transfer to another supplier completes

or

You stop being responsible for the premises or metering and the applicable leaving process is completed.

This section is specifically about PE's current Deemed Contract terms.

Do not apply it automatically to a fixed PE contract.

You are still being supplied with energy.

PE's current terms provide for charges under the Deemed Contract.

If you have moved into the premises:

Tell PE who is responsible.

Provide the opening reading.

Check the responsibility date.

Then decide what you want to do with the supply.

Ignoring the account does not make the energy free.

PE's current published electricity OOC/Deemed unit rate is:

45p/kWh.

That means:

10 kWh = £4.50

50 kWh = £22.50

100 kWh = £45.00

500 kWh = £225.00

1,000 kWh = £450.00

before the Standing Charge, VAT and any other applicable charges.

The Standing Charge currently adds:

£1.50 per day

at the published standard rate.

At 45p/kWh, electricity consumption can build cost quickly.

A business using 100 kWh/day would incur an illustrative electricity energy charge of £45/day plus £1.50/day Standing Charge, giving £46.50/day before VAT and any other applicable charges.

Over 30 days at the same consumption:

3,000 kWh

Energy: £1,350

Standing Charge: £45

Illustrative total: £1,395

before VAT and any other applicable charges.

That does not mean:

“Sign the first contract offered.”

It means:

Do not leave the account unchecked.

When comparing a PE fixed quotation with the published OOC rate, be careful.

We have seen PE quotations where applicable fixed daily charges are presented across separate lines such as:

Standing Charge

Transmission

Distribution

So do not compare:

OOC Standing Charge

against

Fixed quote Standing Charge

and stop there.

Add every applicable fixed daily charge on the proposed quotation.

At PE's published £1.50/day standard rate:

Annual Standing Charge: £547.50.

At 2,000 kWh/year that fixed cost alone is equivalent to 27.375p/kWh.

At 5,000 kWh/year it is equivalent to 10.95p/kWh.

At 10,000 kWh/year it is equivalent to 5.475p/kWh.

At 50,000 kWh/year it is equivalent to 1.095p/kWh.

That is before adding the unit rate.

This is why low-usage businesses should never compare unit rates alone.

Check the bill.

Find:

Contract Type

Contract End Date

Current unit rate

Current Standing Charge

Other applicable charges

Then establish:

When the fixed agreement ended

When the OOC rate started

Whether a renewal was agreed

Whether a supplier transfer is already underway

and

what options are available now.

Do not assume the account can be backdated onto whichever fixed rate you would have preferred.

One possible reason is that a fixed contract has ended.

PE's bill guidance says an Out of Contract account is one where the fixed contract has ended and the customer has not renewed.

If the bill suddenly changes:

Check the Contract End Date.

Then compare:

Last fixed bill

First higher-rate bill

Contract Type

Dates

Unit rate

Standing Charge

Other charges.

If the fixed contract had not ended, investigate further.

Do these five things.

1. Photograph the meter.

2. Record every relevant register.

3. Record the meter serial number.

4. Keep evidence showing when your responsibility began.

5. Tell PE who is now responsible for the supply.

Then decide whether:

You want to agree a PE contract

or

Move the supply to another suitable supplier.

Do not leave the responsibility date or opening reading to guesswork.

That is a responsibility-date investigation.

Compare:

Date PE says your responsibility started

with

Date your business actually became responsible.

Evidence can include:

Lease

Completion documents

Landlord correspondence

Opening meter photograph

Opening reading

COT correspondence

Do not argue only about the rate if the real problem is:

PE has started billing the wrong customer from the wrong date.

Separate:

Your company's energy use

from

the previous occupier's account.

Gather:

• Your legal business name
• Move-in date
• Occupancy evidence
• Opening reading
• Meter photograph
• PE account information

Then identify exactly which dates and charges PE says your business owes.

If the issue remains unresolved after the evidence has been supplied, use PE's formal complaints process.

Do not assume a zero reading difference means the account has no cost.

PE's current Deemed Contract terms say the Standing Charge is payable from the Deemed Contract Start Date even where no energy is used at the property from that date.

That makes the responsibility date particularly important for vacant premises.

If the premises is empty:

Photograph the meter

Keep readings

Check responsibility

and deal with the supply rather than ignoring it.

PE took responsibility for Opus Energy customer contracts from 1 May 2025 with Ofgem approval.

PE said contracted customers transferred on the same or equivalent terms.

PE also said Deemed, variable and Out-of-Contract Opus customers transferred to PE rates.

So if you were previously supplied by Opus and now see PE:

First establish what Contract Type you had at the point of transfer.

Do not assume:

Every former Opus customer moved immediately onto PE's OOC rate.

This needs different treatment.

PE currently has a licence restriction preventing it from supplying energy to domestic premises.

PE says that where a genuine domestic customer moves into premises it supplies, that customer may initially be placed on a commercial Deemed Contract at commercial deemed rates.

PE strongly recommends moving to a domestic supplier.

PE says a domestic occupier on that deemed arrangement is free to switch, with no cancellation fee or notice required.

Do not present PE's commercial rates as an appropriate domestic tariff.

PE's current non-domestic terms say a customer on a Deemed Contract does not need to provide PE with a Termination Notice to complete a Supply Transfer to another supplier.

PE also says it will not charge a Termination Fee for that transfer.

That does not mean:

Every PE customer can leave without a termination charge.

A fixed PE contract has a different contractual position.

Check your Contract Type.

Maybe.

But don't decide from the Deemed rate alone.

Compare:

PE fixed quotation

Other supplier options available to the business

Unit rate

Every applicable fixed daily charge

Estimated annual cost

Contract length

Contract terms

Termination position

Business plans

Likelihood of moving premises

Credit position where relevant.

The objective is not:

“Get off Deemed at any cost.”

It is:

“Get the business onto a suitable contract.”

There is a balance.

Leaving a business on an expensive variable rate unnecessarily can cost money.

But signing a poor three-year contract because somebody frightened you with the current OOC rate can cost more.

Get the information quickly.

Compare the options properly.

Then make the decision.

Yes.

PE currently publishes historic Standard Out of Contract & Deemed rate tables alongside its current rates.

For example, PE's published electricity rate tables show different standard rates for earlier effective dates.

That is why this page always states the effective date.

Do not use an old PE rate found in a previous bill, email or search result as proof of today's published rate.

Use the rate applicable to the billing period you are investigating.

Do not immediately assume the bill is wrong.

Check:

• Contract Type
• Contract End Date
• Billing period
• Rate effective date
• Whether the account is Fixed, OOC or Deemed
• Whether the supply has several registers
• Whether another applicable charge is being confused with the unit rate

Then compare the evidence.

If the PE bill genuinely appears inconsistent with the applicable contract or published rate, raise the exact difference.