Sainsbury's Enenrgy refusing to transfer tariff to new home

Huisie

I am currently with Sainsbury's Energy for dual fuel, tariff is Sainsbury's Energy 1 Year Fix and Reward v19. Tariff ends 25 September 2022.

My landlord gave me notice (she is moving back in) and I moved 17 March to a new property nearby in the same village.

E-On Next are the existing supplier (to the previous tenant) at my new residence.

I requested Sainsbury's Energy transfer my tariff to my new residence but they have refused to do so.

Their reason is that Sainsbury's Energy is just a trading name for E-On Next and as E-On Next are the existing supplier at the new residence, they could not transfer my tariff.

This seems illogical to me - if it is essentially the same supplier, there should be no obstacle to transferring my tariff, surely?

I have had a letter from E-On Next, inviting me to sign up with them at the SVT for my new residence.

I have searched online extensively about this issue but the great majority of links are for changing providers, not transferring existing tariff to new address.

I am not sure of the legality here - is an energy supplier obliged to transfer tariff to a new address (if the customer is in good standing) or can they refuse to do so?

I did call Citizen's Advice and they put me through to Sainsbury's Energy's complaints department.

The gentleman I dealt with seemed to think there shouldn't be an issue with transferring my tariff.

He was, however, unable to do so. He said he could see the tariff applied to my account but could not find the tariff on his system, so could not action a transfer.

He gave me an account number for my new property and advised me to contact Sainsbury's Energy with this account number and request they action the transfer.

I asked why I needed to contact Sainsbury's Energy when I was already talking to him but he said he was actually with E-On Next and couldn't assist further.

I did as he advised but Sainsbury's Energy again told me that E-On Next werre currently supplying the new property and, being it was the same supplier, they could not action a transfer of tariff.

I'm not sure how to proceed so hope that wiser and more experienced members could advise. Thank you in advance.

Gerry1

Sadly you can't insist on transferring a tariff to a new property.  You need to sign up with E.On Next, give opening readings and go on E.On Next's capped Standard Variable Tariff.  You can then try to switch supplier, but unless you can persuade Sainsbury's to take you on again on your old tariff (unlikely) there'll be nothing cheaper available.

[Deleted User]

As suggested above, suppliers are not required under Standard Licence Conditions to offer portable tariffs. Given the present market conditions, I suspect that most suppliers will be happy to see customers on cheap fixes leave. It is also extremely important to appreciate that the supplier to the new property has you on a contract from the time that you take responsibility for the property. If your existing supplier does offer a tariff transfer then there is still a 21 day or so period on supply with the deemed supplier  that will have to be paid for. You have to set up an account with the deemed supplier and then initiate a switch back to your old supplier. 

 

Huisie

Thanks very much for the advice, Gerry1 and Dolor.

I had a suspicion that would be the case.  Ah, well - SVT it is.