Can't switch supplier as national database incorrect??

wavelets

mummyof5 wrote: »

I haven't yet managed to speak to my neighbour as the business hours are similar to my own working hours so I've not yet caught up with him and don't think he is even aware it is an issue.

I only know as I tried to switch away.

The weird thing is I am paying for what I am using on my own meter, but when they put my meter serial number and MPRN number in the database it comes up with the house number for the business and vice versa.

If there is no issue with the meter serving your property, and it's just a case of correcting the address on the database, that is something your supplier needs to sort out ... as I mentioned above some time ago. (post#47)

[Deleted User]

wavelets wrote: »

If there is no issue with the meter serving your property, and it's just a case of correcting the address on the database, that is something your supplier needs to sort out ... as I mentioned above some time ago. (post#47)

Yes and that's why I've put in an official complaint to them !
I started to switch away 13/10/18 and have been battling to get this sorted ever since.

JtF

Despite human assurances from old supplier NPower to new one, my switch was blocked. The Address (incorrectly on National database) didn't match my supply address - the one that NPower had been supplying for ten years. A conference call was arranged between myself and the two companies with them having sight of the database telling me the correct address (line 1) had been updated. Switch number two has failed as this hasn't been done. I have now missed out on the very good tariff of supplier two - not one they could administer but available from Auto Sergei - this does now not work. Replaced by a Version 3:- is not so good but still £140 cheaper than NPower. I can not even switch thru Sergei now as it won't accept my bank details - I've tried so many times maybe it thinks I'm a robot. This has all been a nightmare. I wonder how much of a ploy this is by companies allowing you to check out but never leave . . . . and as to Auto Sergei - neither successful or simples!
PS: I called the london office database who could not change details for me. I am completely at the mercy of my current supplier. Girl says this is happening all the time and that I should get supplier to send me a screenshot of changes. :eek:

ArnieUK

Saw this thread and thought I'd add my 2 pennies worth as I have just recently (finally) resolved my issue.

It all started back in May 2018, when I moved from my default supplier (British Gas) to a new one (Scottish Power). I had moved in 2 months earlier and the property had prepay gas and electric meters which I wanted changed to credit meters. British Gas wouldn't even entertain the idea of swapping me over until I had been a customer for 6 months, so I went shopping and was promised by Scottish Power they would change my meters over within 2 weeks of switching, for free. I switched and 2 weeks later made the request. I was told to wait another 2 weeks before asking, so I did. Two weeks later and I asked again. They did a credit check, which I passed, then booked me in for the work 3 weeks later. On the day, my then pregnant Mrs had an emergency and I had to take her to hospital. I managed to get home just 10 minutes after the appointment time. I had called and texted the engineer several hours earlier to let them know I might be slightly late, with no response. I called them again when I got home but they didn't answer. I called Scottish Power and asked them if he could come back (presumably they hadn't even reached their next job yet & the appointment was for 2 hours anyway), but they told me "no, you need to rebook". I asked if the engineer could come at the end of the day after their other commitments (presumably they were finishing 1:45hrs early), but again I was denied. Fair enough I thought, it's a tad pedantic, but it was my fault I suppose. I rebooked, this time for 1 month later and this time I was home and the meters were changed without fuss. This is where the real nightmare began...

I was on Scottish Power's standard tariff, which I shouldn't have been on and on top of that, my gas and leccy were on separate accounts. I tried to choose the better deal I should have been on originally, but their website was broken and it wouldn't let me choose a dual fuel deal because my accounts were separate and evidently not linked! I made numerous calls to customer service as well as live chats and nobody was able to resolve these issues, so I thought 'fudge it' I'll just change supplier again. I found a really cheap deal with Octopus Energy and applied to switch, but they couldn't do it because apparently I was still showing as prepay on the national database! Again I faffed about with customer service for too long and after failing to rectify the issue I then lodged a CEO complaint. From this I got a more positive response, but unfortunately after trying to switch again I found that the database was still out of date and their website was still broken. I then lodged an Ombudsman complaint, as it had been over 8 weeks with no resolution from Scottish Power, several failed switches and many broken promises - and not so much as a single apology. When asked what I wanted as a resolution, I asked for the national database to be amended, my gas and leccy accounts to be merged in to dual fuel and for Scottish Power to revise my bill (I hadn't paid a penny since joining them, because they hadn't set up a direct debit) and backdate all charges to the rates I could have got from Octopus Energy, a deal which had since expired. I gave all of my evidence over and was told to wait 3 months for the Ombudsman to rule. In the meantime, the Ombudsman told Scottish Power to not ask me for any money until this was resolved. Four months later, the Ombudsman ruled in my favour and told Scottish Power to also pay me £75 on top of that for three 'failures of service', as well as a written apology and lastly, to not prevent me from switching. Of course, Scottish Power appealed and it was another 2 months or so until the Ombudsman made a final ruling, upholding their original verdict. Scottish Power had 28 days to implement all of this, which they fully utilised, but finally I had a written apology, written confirmation the national database was up to date, a credit of £75 on my account, plus the revised rates applied for all of my energy usage. I then tried to switch and this was objected! The Ombudsman was no help after their final ruling so it was back to customer service who told me they wouldn't block another switch. So I tried again, and again, and both times the switch was objected. Unhelpfully, you don't get a specific reason as to why a switch is rejected, but eventually I was informed by Scottish Power that it was because I had an outstanding balance. But the Ombudsman had ruled I didn't have to pay anything until every criteria had been met, including switching successfully. At this point, all of the good deals I had seen were over and even the cheapest ones were £20-30pm more than before. With the threat of energy price hikes looming I caved and just paid off my entire balance to Scottish Power, even though they shouldn't have been objecting my switch requests on those grounds!

Today, I have finally completed my switch to Utility Point. The deal isn't as cheap as the 24 month fixed one I could've had last year, but I am free of Scottish Power's glaring ineptitude. From start to finish this whole fiasco lasted almost a year. The Ombudsman was (eventually) fair.

Morals of the story:

1. Beware when buying a house with prepay meters if you want credit meters.
2. Avoid Scottish Power like the plague if customer service and competence are high on your list of priorities.
3. If you need to use the Ombudsman, know that they are fair, but also don't do anything in a hurry.
4. Interesting fact - the national database administrators get 4 MONTHS by law to process any changes - no, seriously. If you think that changing some numbers on a database is a quick thing like in any other walk of life, think again. They also only release an update list once per month, so if your change happened the day after the last round, expect to wait another month on top of the statutory 4 before your chosen supplier can see the changes.
5. If you are having a dispute with your energy supplier, you can ask them for a 'promise to pay' to be put on your account. This means they won't take any money from you (or shouldn't, anyway) until your issue is resolved. You can ask for this before the 8 week period after which you can contact the Ombudsman. They usually last 28 days by default, but they can repeat it. They don't have to do this, but it is good etiquette to do so and the Ombudsman can make them do it, as in my case. Good to know it's an option ayway.
6. Keep everything recorded - the Ombudsman can't rule in your favour if you can't support your argument with proof. Try and keep contact to emails or live chat, where evidence is in writing and take note of times and dates, as well as names from any phone calls. Take screenshots of deals you are missing out on, as they change often, as well as of any account probelms online.

If anyone is having similar issues, hopefully this will at least give you an idea of how things can play out and manage your expectations a bit, as well as give you some knowledge and tools to make things less stressful.

Ta muchly.:money:

BarrySt

Helena,

I have a similar problem and need E.on to correct my MPRN entry on national database. Please can you send me a PM so I can provide details

Thanks, Barry

techno1

Hi,
I have similar problems but mine is not due to prepay or change of address.
I'm approaching the end of my current dual fuel deal(my current supplier are tonik energy who've been great) so I did a comparison on-line and found a deal which would have been a bit cheaper and pressed the button to switch - no problem. A few days later I received an update to my swich request saying that it could not be progressed as my electricity meter is showing on the industry database as a commercial/business meter. It went on to say that if that was incorrect(which it is) that I should contact my supplier and ask them to update the database to reflect my actual meter type.

I've emailed tonik but haven't yet had any response so as it stands my current deal ends in c4 weeks time and I may not be able to switch supplier due to a data error.
I had a problem when I switched to tonik from Eon. Seems like this national database is almost impossible to update.
My house used to be split between a shop and a flat and at that time there were both residential and commercial meters, but it was converted back into solely a house over 10 years ago.

Al

[Deleted User]

I've had a call today regarding my complaint and Utility Warehouse tell me the only way forward is to get together with my neighbour and call NPower to make them do what Utility Warehouse can't !
I give up !!!!

PhilRob

Hi Helena,
I am an EON customer that was looking to change supplier to Octopus Energy only to be told that I was registered as a Business address on the ECOE's Database.

I moved in about 18 months ago and took over as an SSE customer and found out it was an Economy 7 meter, I rung them and they changed the meter for me, I thought a normal residential one.

I then went to EON and they initially said they could'nt do it but said they could if I went to a smart meter so I did that thinking everything was now ok.
Unfortunately 12 months on my deal has just finished and I can't swop energy companies because of the database not showing up as residential.
Please help asap
Kind regards PhilRob

gatita

I also am having the same problem trying to change from First Utility (Shell) to BULB. Bulb tell me that they can find my gas meter, but not my electric meter! They (BULB) suggest my house has been converted to flats, or is a new build! Its a bungalow from the 1930's and I have never had a problem. What a mess

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

BarrySt wrote: »

Helena,

I have a similar problem and need E.on to correct my MPRN entry on national database. Please can you send me a PM so I can provide details

Thanks, Barry

PhilRob wrote: »

Hi Helena,
I am an EON customer that was looking to change supplier to Octopus Energy only to be told that I was registered as a Business address on the ECOE's Database.

I moved in about 18 months ago and took over as an SSE customer and found out it was an Economy 7 meter, I rung them and they changed the meter for me, I thought a normal residential one.

I then went to EON and they initially said they could'nt do it but said they could if I went to a smart meter so I did that thinking everything was now ok.
Unfortunately 12 months on my deal has just finished and I can't swop energy companies because of the database not showing up as residential.
Please help asap
Kind regards PhilRob

Hi Both,

Reps on the forums don't have access to PM's I'm afraid.

It's always the current supplier that has to make the updates to the national data base. It has also changed recently how we do this.

Please contact us, on the phone or you may prefer Live Chat through the website, with all of your correct meter details and this will be requested for a change. We'll let you know from there if we need any more information from you.

Thank you

Helena