EE's mobile contracts are not fixed-term ones that end on a date, the natural consequence of that would be every phone going "out of contract" being automatically disconnected. The complaint volumes would be horrendous.
What you have is a rolling contract that needs 30days notice to cancel, but has a minimum-term of (normally) 2 years. In order to disconnect on the 2year date, you can give 30days notice 30days prior.
The only reason you would have "a new one until next year" is if you've upgraded to a new phone, or changed payment plans and - in doing so - taken a new minimum-term.
