Octopus Energy-Take over of Shell customers

Sutty62

I entered into a fixed 12 month agreement with Shell in Feb/March 2024.
Since Octopus energy took control of my account, they had a 12 month agreement which I took advantage of. On my latest bill they have charged me £150 early exit fee for leaving the Shell scheme and fixing with Octopus energy.
My argument is that I entered an agreement with Shell without prior knowledge of the take over by Octopus and therefore my agreement is with Shell and therefore should not be penalised by Octopus energy.

BarelySentientAI

Your argument is, unfortunately, incorrect.

Your contract is preserved during the customer transfer, as it says in the T&Cs they are allowed to do.

Imagine it the other way - Octopus took the customers, ripped up all the old fixed deals and put everyone onto a different (perhaps higher) tariff.  You wouldn't be suggesting that they should be allowed to do that.

badmemory

Actually I am fairly certain that is exactly what BG did do.

BarelySentientAI

badmemory said:

Actually I am fairly certain that is exactly what BG did do.

If it was transfers from a failed supplier (SoLR) like when BG took People's Energy then everyone gets put onto a deemed tariff.

If it is a corporate takeover or business purchase like Shell / Octopus, they don't.

mmmmikey

As @BarelySentientAI says I don't think you have a leg to stand on legally. And given that you are getting the terms you signed up to it doesn't really sound like you have any reasonable grounds for a complaint either. Hopefully you'll save more from the switch than you paid in exit fees, but if not unfortunately I think it's one of those things you'll just have to put down to experience and move on.

stripling

mmmmikey said:

As @BarelySentientAI says I don't think you have a leg to stand on legally. And given that you are getting the terms you signed up to it doesn't really sound like you have any reasonable grounds for a complaint either. Hopefully you'll save more from the switch than you paid in exit fees, but if not unfortunately I think it's one of those things you'll just have to put down to experience and move on.

I see your point but shouldn't Octopus have made it clear that as a Shell incomer they are under Shell T&Cs thus when the OP changed tariffs that they would pay an exit fee?  Due diligence and all that. 

BarelySentientAI

stripling said:

mmmmikey said:

As @BarelySentientAI says I don't think you have a leg to stand on legally. And given that you are getting the terms you signed up to it doesn't really sound like you have any reasonable grounds for a complaint either. Hopefully you'll save more from the switch than you paid in exit fees, but if not unfortunately I think it's one of those things you'll just have to put down to experience and move on.

I see your point but shouldn't Octopus have made it clear that as a Shell incomer they are under Shell T&Cs thus when the OP changed tariffs that they would pay an exit fee?  Due diligence and all that. 

On the FAQ page for Shell customers, which is prominent on the Octopus website, the top link on Google, and mentioned on the Octopus twitter feed:

 

BarelySentientAI

BarelySentientAI said:

stripling said:

mmmmikey said:

As @BarelySentientAI says I don't think you have a leg to stand on legally. And given that you are getting the terms you signed up to it doesn't really sound like you have any reasonable grounds for a complaint either. Hopefully you'll save more from the switch than you paid in exit fees, but if not unfortunately I think it's one of those things you'll just have to put down to experience and move on.

I see your point but shouldn't Octopus have made it clear that as a Shell incomer they are under Shell T&Cs thus when the OP changed tariffs that they would pay an exit fee?  Due diligence and all that. 

On the FAQ page for Shell customers, which is prominent on the Octopus website, the top link on Google, and mentioned on the Octopus twitter feed:

 

And if it wasn't clear - the words there are "your contract will be honoured".  That's what goes against the argument that the contract was with Shell and nothing should apply afterwards.

mmmmikey

stripling said:

mmmmikey said:

As @BarelySentientAI says I don't think you have a leg to stand on legally. And given that you are getting the terms you signed up to it doesn't really sound like you have any reasonable grounds for a complaint either. Hopefully you'll save more from the switch than you paid in exit fees, but if not unfortunately I think it's one of those things you'll just have to put down to experience and move on.

I see your point but shouldn't Octopus have made it clear that as a Shell incomer they are under Shell T&Cs thus when the OP changed tariffs that they would pay an exit fee?  Due diligence and all that. 

Thanks, yes, good point. But IIRC from other threads on this there was a fair bit of communication from Octopus on this explaining that essentially nothing was changing. I guess it hinges on how clear the communication was at the time of the takeover and what was said on the new offer. Normally those offers warn you that there might be exit fees and you need to check.

@Sutty62 - might be worth re-reading the various communications you had and seing if there's an angle there, or whether, unfortunately, you just missed something?

EDIT - looks like we crossed posts and have made essentially the same point....