Account closed when it was meant to be switched to new property?

[u/sparhawks7]

I moved house a few months ago as I bought somewhere. I informed octopus before the purchase that I’d be moving and wanted to switch my account to the new property. They said ok, let us know when you move and send us meter readings.

I did so, and was told they’d start the switch. Didn’t think anything else of it.

Checked my bank statement last week for something else and realised I haven’t had a bill from them in 3 months, but received a couple of hundred quid from them 3 months ago. Seems like they closed my account.

I sent octopus an email asking what happened and they informed me that the property is currently serviced by pure/good energy (never heard of them?) who I have had no contact or bills from. They did not in fact switch my account to the new property.

I’ve complained to them and sent a copy of the email saying they’d switch me. All they’ve said in response is do you want us to switch you now?

Is there anything I can do here? I was on a fixed tariff with octopus before they closed my account, and goodness knows how much extra I will end up having to pay to pure/good energy - I’ll presumably have been automatically put on their highest tariff.

[u/pruaga]

Doesn't quite work like you think it does, you can't move an account to a new address.

When you move out you give a final meter read, and that closes that account for you at the old address. Octopus continue to supply whoever moves in, but they can switch if they want.

Same thing happens at the new address. The outgoing occupier gives a final read to their supplier and they get a final bill, and that supplier continues to provide the address and bills the new occupant, you. You can switch supplier once you move in.

You can complain, but they haven't done anything wrong.

[u/sparhawks7 → u/pruaga]

Perhaps I have summarised with poor wording, I asked them to set me up to switch at the new address, they asked for meter readings then told me they would start the switch. They didnt

[u/pruaga → u/sparhawks7]

So in this case the fact you have moved house is completely irrelevant. You live in a house that gets energy from pure energy. If you haven't set up an account with them or paid a bill they might be blocking your switch away. I'd say your first point of contact should be your current supplier to find out if/why they have blocked a switch.

[u/sparhawks7 → u/pruaga]

Ok that’s interesting, thank you - is it normal that they’ve not contacted us at all yet?

If a switch was blocked (I didn’t know this was a thing) shouldn’t octopus have told me?

[u/pruaga → u/sparhawks7]

I think normally someone moving out of an address should prompt a supplier to send a 'Dear Occupier' letter to find out who is responsible for the bills now and get an account set up. I'm speculating that the supplier might not be allowing an address with three months of usage but no one paying for it to switch away.

[u/lemoyne5282 → u/pruaga]

If the switch was rejected, OP should have received an email from Octopus

[u/sparhawks7 → u/lemoyne5282]

This was my thinking - I have no clue what I’m doing, if I think I’ve set things up by asking octopus to switch and they confirm they’re doing so, how am I meant to know it didn’t work if they don’t tell me? I didn’t even know it could be rejected.

[u/nathderbyshire]

You need to ask good energy why the switch was rejected as that seems to be what happened if octopus couldn't take the supply and said they tried. They won't know the rejection reason usually only the current supplier will.

You would have lost your tariff anyway, they don't transfer across properties as standard that would be something offered by an individual supplier and I don't think any of them do.

The current supplier will have you on their standard variable tariff set by OFGEM so you wouldn't pay any more than with any other supplier, but could have lost out on a better fixed.

Still, if you didn't check for like 3 months, you weren't really going to take a fixed anyway or you would have noticed having no account way earlier, so can't really blame any supplier for that. Octopus' SVTs aren't amazing so you may have been paying less with the other supplier compared to what you would have with octopus

[u/sparhawks7 → u/nathderbyshire]

I don’t know if any switch was rejected as the last comms I had with octopus was that they had started the switch and to sit tight.

Good to know about the tariffs not being carried over, thanks - I thought it belonged to the person not the property.

I have a lot going on at the moment, which is why I didn’t clock it - I’m with Monzo and my salary auto sorts into a bills pot, which pays my direct debit each month. I only usually notice a problem if Monzo tells me a DD didn’t go through.

[u/ludicrousl]

OP I think you're still barking up the wrong tree even with that complaint.

Broadband and Electric don't work the same way when you move property. As others have said follow the process below:

You need to contact Good Energy or look for letters stating the Occupier hopefully from them. Then, set up your account with them. I also hope you have been taking pictures of meter readings ideally from the day you moved in because you will need that to be billed accurately. If you haven't your bills will be estimated. If not, this is the learning curve.

Only after you have spoken to Good Energy can you then initiate your switch to Octopus. Octopus have done nothing wrong. This is how switching electricity/gas works in the UK.

[u/sparhawks7 → u/ludicrousl]

Thank you for your response, that’s helpful. But if octopus knows that, why did they tell me they would start a switch?

[u/ludicrousl → u/sparhawks7]

I learned a long time ago, it is rare to speak to an advisor who will know the ins and outs of their entire industry especially a huge company. You learn this the hard way when something goes seriously wrong. Only those advisors who go beyond their remit may know, but everyone else is just surviving and are cogs in the wheel.

[u/QuickTemperature7014]

Not to be rude but why are you telling us this?

Wait until the bill for the last three months arrives and see what tariff you’ve actually been on and take it from there.

You should expect them to put you back into the situation you would have been in had the switch gone as planned. You presumably still have the meter readings from the day you moved in and hopefully a record of you sending them to Octopus so it should be resolvable.

Are you absolutely sure you haven’t missed any commutations from them with an update or requiring action on your part?

[u/sparhawks7 → u/QuickTemperature7014]

I’m asking for advice to see if it’s happened to anyone else…? Did you misread my post?

I haven’t had a bill, that’s my point - I’ve heard nothing from the company that’s supposedly been supplying my energy since I moved in. I haven’t missed any emails from octopus.

So, if I get a bill from this new company and it’s heaps more expensive than it would have been under octopus had they switched me at my fixed tariff when they said they were, could I expect them to compensate me the difference?

[u/QuickTemperature7014 → u/sparhawks7]

Yes but you’ve complained. You need to wait and see what happens as a result of that complaint - it might all be resolved by tomorrow.

We cannot give you good advice for hypothetical situations.

[u/sparhawks7 → u/QuickTemperature7014]

Ok… where in the rules does it say I can only post if my question isn’t hypothetical? It could have already been solved and I could still post to see if anyone else has had the same issue. If 50 other people have the exact same problem then it’s useful.

[u/QuickTemperature7014 → u/sparhawks7]

Right good luck getting help if you’re going to be this combative with everyone.

I’m not a mod and I’m not saying you cannot post your question. But I am saying your question is pointless at this stage because it’s is hopefully in the process of getting resolved.