Octopus Energy ignoring my request to correct my address.

PeakProblems22

Hi,

I have recently moved into a new property and have been trying to register myself with Octopus Energy as the new occupier.

Unfortunately, when I contacted them, I was told that the meter for my property is currently linked on the national industry database to a different address — an address which does not actually exist.

I have checked this carefully with the previous occupant, who confirmed that they were correctly registered and billed for the legal address of the property and that the meter shown on their bills was the correct meter. I therefore do not understand how the meter/address information on the national database has subsequently been changed.

I have been trying to get this corrected by phone and email for several months, but despite repeatedly raising the issue, I have received no resolution or meaningful response

while this issue remains unresolved because I do not want to risk being billed against an incorrect property or meter. I am, of course, willing to pay for energy that I have actually used from the date I became responsible for the property, once the correct supply point has been identified and my account can be set up accurately.

I am just unsure what to do now, any advice would be appreciated

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

I have recently moved into a new property and have been trying to register myself with Octopus Energy as the new occupier.

Hold your horses there. The first thing to do is to register with the existing supplier, as you're currently their customer.

Also, only the existing supplier can change the details on the national database, if in fact they need changing.

Who are the existing supplier? Have you contacted them at all?

Swipe

Google your DNO's name (Distribution netwiork Operator) and "find my electricity supplier". You will then be able to see if Octopus Energy is pulling your plonker or not. The website query will tell you your MPAN, supply address and who your current supplier is. Your DNO may also allow you to search via your meter's serial number too to rule out any discrepencies.

Netexporter

The meter address can sometimes be what was entered for the builder's temporary supply, when the house was built. The billing address will be correct and as long as the correct meter number is on the bill it may not be worth worrying about.

HalfFull

We have this too. Our MPAN is attached to "Old Barn, Behind Farm X, Nr Village Y" when we finished our build we got a proper address from the Post Office, "My New Barn, Name of Hamlet, Middle of Nowhere". It's all OK untill you want to change something or supplier, as there is no MPAN attached the legal address. You have to find someone who will work on MPAN, not postal address. So in our case the supply address and billing adress, although different, are the same house. Even worse the legal address, MPAN address and finally MCS address are all different. There is a process to align them, but after two or three long and unsuccessful attempts I've almost given up, and have better things to do with my time…

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82125895#Comment_82125895

PeakProblems22

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82125844#Comment_82125844

octopus is the exciting supplier - so they are giving us the runaround.

Scot_39

A couple of the posts above maybe have been misled by your reference to a "new property" - where unique problems can occur with builders allocating say a batch of meters to plots - and sometimes incorrectly - and not addresses - or when plots allocated to addresses - they become mismatched. So you get a neighbours meter and now meters if work and report readings smartly - their bills too - if not careful (like checking the physical meter serial number actually matches the one on the bills.)

But frankly I have no idea why it would have been OK for the previous occupant - and not you.

But meter database errors often only show up when a change is needed.

Example - a friend was blocked from switching a good few years ago after his supplier failed to clear one of his 2 old meter MPANs when went twin single rate meters to dual rate e7 on a single smart. It took about 2-3m to resolve iirc.

Everything worked fine on his bills as far as he could tell it was fine - with the big 6 supplier who upgraded the meter. They initially claimed they had requested the change - but when complaint handler checked - actually requested it.

Are you sure Octopus are ignoring you - or simply waiting for the company that administers the meter database to investigate and report / fix the issue ?

As above have you checked using your address and your supply number / mpan etc with "find my supplier" or your local DNO to find out what their records say ?

HalfFull

Re-inspired by the thread I've had another go.

I sent the same supplier as above, my MPAN number, previous incorrect address, new address, proof the address was real, a location map and a photo of my meter with he serial number showing

I asked them to update their records and the national database and tell me what the national database said.

This time within 10 or so days they came back and said they have updated their records ( it now shows correct on the account) and confirmed the national database reflected the correct address

I used the land registry title plan as proof of the address, as I have a copy of the change of name from when we named the house

So the process does work…

Next step is to do the same for my MCS certificate!!