unrequested transfer to utilitypoint

marinheiro

I get both gas and electricity from Octopus. I noticed in my last bill that there was no mention of electricity consumption, and asked them why. They told me that my electricity was transferred to UtilityPoint in July. I have never talked to Utility Point, never received any emails or phone calls from then (and on the transfer date I was abroad on holiday).



Octopous say I must "ask Utility Point why they have taken your supply". Really? Don't Octopus have any duty to notify me of a transfer away from them? Can Utility Point really have made a transfer with no contact with me at all? Is this a common thing - suppliers being switched silently with no contact at all?


Graham

worried_jim

Mistakes happen.

Give UP a call- Members Relationship Team on 03455 57 78 78 Lines are open Mon-Fri 9am-6:30pm, weekdays.

marinheiro

But this is more than just a 'mistake'. How can a company I have never had any contact with at all have enough information about me to request a transfer away from Octopus? Is there a database of all of us the energy companies share with one another?



And after a transfer does no-one (either company transferring to, or company transferred from) have any duty to notify you? In this case, Octopus not only didn't notify me but continued to take my fixed direct debit based on an estimate for both gas and electricity.



I don't feel like just quietly fixing things for people who are either grossly negligent, or scamming me, and are clearly in breach of the GDPR. I want to understand how this can happen.


Graham

EnergyRookie

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-supply/youve-been-switched-to-a-new-energy-supplier-without-your-agreement/

Bertles

It's called an erroneous transfer and they are common in the industry.

It is likely that someone who lives close to you has made an application with utility point and they have used the wrong MPAN from the national database.

The national database does show all the information about the supplies but it doesnt contain any customer information.

Octopus energy are wrong to advise you speak to utility point to ask why this was done. They should have just initiated the regain process to get your supplies back. As you are not the registered customer with utility point they won't speak to you about the account.

worried_jim

marinheiro wrote: »

But this is more than just a 'mistake'. How can a company I have never had any contact with at all have enough information about me to request a transfer away from Octopus? Is there a database of all of us the energy companies share with one another?



And after a transfer does no-one (either company transferring to, or company transferred from) have any duty to notify you? In this case, Octopus not only didn't notify me but continued to take my fixed direct debit based on an estimate for both gas and electricity.



I don't feel like just quietly fixing things for people who are either grossly negligent, or scamming me, and are clearly in breach of the GDPR. I want to understand how this can happen.


Graham

So call them then you numpty!:rotfl:

D_M_E

Who have you been paying since the transfer?

Have you been paying Octopus by DD and have you checked your bank statements to see if they have been taking the money?

You need to get back on to Octopus and demand that they invoke the Erroneous Transfer Protocols, it's them that have to call your supplies back, not for you to interrogate Utility Point and ask them to send them back, Octopus should do the work, not you.

marinheiro

It looks like a series of mistakes and awful processes:


1. One of my neighbours requested a transfer to Unity Point, but got his house number wrong (not as weird as it sounds, we have a lot of HMOs round us with a fast turnover of people)


2. The transfer protocol is so awful there are no immediate checks at all that the data is correct (eg a phone call to the account phone number to verify with the original customer). If banks can require 2 factor authentication, why can't transfers require something similar?



3. Octopus say they emailed me to tell me after the transfer had completed, but that particular email bounced - I can't imagine why, as their emails before and after all arrive fine


4. Octopus say if they fail to email someone there is no fallback to sending a paper letter; that's it. The very helpful person in their help centre said she'd pass this on as a change request


5. The Octopus website allowed me to carry on entering meter readings for electricity even when they thought I had only gas with them. The help centre person said she'd also pass this on as a change request


6. Now I'm told this will probably take 'a couple of weeks' to resolve.


Thanks to all the people who gave me advice.


Graham