3 day energy switch from 18th of July (Octopus)

Toki

I was on the phone to Octopus yesterday as I'm thinking of moving to them due to potential solar and battery installation.

During the call, it was mentioned Octopus are hoping to be able to switch people in 3 days from Monday the 18th.  Not sure how this works with the 14 day cooling off period but wondering if anyone else had heard this?

Mstty

Faster switching is something the industry is working on.

Good to know Octopus have a date they start making this happen👍

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-policy-and-regulation/policy-and-regulatory-programmes/switching-programme

[Deleted User]

Toki said:

I was on the phone to Octopus yesterday as I'm thinking of moving to them due to potential solar and battery installation.

During the call, it was mentioned Octopus are hoping to be able to switch people in 3 days from Monday the 18th.  Not sure how this works with the 14 day cooling off period but wondering if anyone else had heard this?

You still have the same ‘cooling off’ period. If you decide to cancel the contract, then the supplier just transfers your supply back to your old supplier and you pay it as if you had never left.

Edit: Things have moved on since I last looked at the guidance. The 14 day ‘cooling off’ period remains as a contractual right but Ofgem has, I think, a 30 day block on subsequent switches to allow the industry to take all the follow up actions. It would seem that Ofgem has/will be adding new conditions to contracts: 

Quote: Cooling off: in addition to fulfilling their statutory obligations suppliers would need to meet two new regulatory obligations. Firstly, they would be required to offer terms equivalent to those the consumer would have faced, had they not switched, to any consumer who makes a switch, cools off and decides to return to their former supplier (Supplier A). Secondly, when a consumer cools off, Supplier B would be required to continue to supply energy at the tariff in force prior to cooling off, for a minimum period of 30 calendar days. After this period of grace has expired, if the consumer has not switched, Supplier B would be permitted to apply an alternative tariff in line with the existing licence conditions relating to deemed contracts. Unquote (Source: Ofgem)

I confess that I have no idea how this will work in practice. It would seem that the consumer will be given the right to transfer back to their old supplier or switch to A N Other 

brewerdave

Reading @[Deleted User]'s reply, I have a strong suspicion that rejecting a switch within 14 days after the switch has completed ,is going to lead to a whole new world of pain !!!

Alnat1

I'm fairly sure there won't be too many people who change their minds within the 14 days.

Most will be pretty keen to move away from a company who gave bad customer service, have poor choice of tariffs etc.

stewie_griffin

The Centralised Switching Service (CSS) is due to go live on the 18th and is run by the DCC. It will initially reduce the time it takes to transfer to 5 working days and later on 24 hours.

[Deleted User]

stewie_griffin said:

The Centralised Switching Service (CSS) is due to go live on the 18th and is run by the DCC. It will initially reduce the time it takes to transfer to 5 working days and later on 24 hours.

Presumably, for smart metered customers only given the involvement of the DCC?

stewie_griffin

I’ve not been able to find anything that says it’s for smart metered customers only.

Xbigman

How is any of this better? Do people really need to switch in 5 days or less - no. Faster payments from bank accounts has allowed a whole scam industry to arise. Will faster energy switching allow another scam switching referral fee industry to do the same?
I bet you can't opt out and I bet anyone who might want to will get the usual stupid tin foil hat comments.



Darren

Mobtr

You will have the choice to switch in 3 weeks or 5 days. If you opt for 3 weeks you still have the cooling off & can cancel within 14 days & you will stay with your existing supplier. If you opt for the 5 days, you still have 14 days to cancel but if you choose to do so you have to pay the new supplier for the time you were with then before going back to your original supplier. You should be asked which one you want to do when you sign up & agree to the T’s & C’s of how it works. 

Alnat1

@Xbigman Why/how is switching faster a scam?