Switching energy suppliers just got faster and easier
Switching energy supplier is now faster:
- Domestic customers can switch in 2 working days.
- Business customers in 3 working days.
- Prepayment customers in 5 working days.
Tamagotchis. Furbies. Now! That’s What I Call Music.
The 1990s was chock full of iconic cultural moments, and was also the last time the energy industry updated the way it handles customer switching.
It’s previously taken up to 3 weeks to switch your electricity or gas to a different supplier, but no more.
As of the 18th July 2022 switching has been turbocharged.
Customers can now switch in as little as 2 working days, thanks to Faster More Reliable Switching - or FMRS for you cool 90's kids. This is an industry wide initiative led by Ofgem, so all energy suppliers now offer faster and more reliable switching.
Why was this done?
Three weeks is a really, really long time.
But also: less time between switching supplier = less time paying on your old rates. If you’re switching to a cheaper supplier, you’ll see immediate savings.
Switching times are down across the board.
- Domestic customers in 2 working days.
- Business customers in 3 working days.
- Prepayment customers in 5 working days (to give your supplier time to send out replacement top-up cards & keys).
Good to know
- You can still delay your switch to a later date if you want.
- You still have a 14 day cooling off period, regardless of your start date - let your new supplier know you don’t want to switch.
- You can cancel your switch up to 5pm the day before you switch.
- Your first payment will be collected 6 working days after signing up, or on your switching date - whichever is later.
- Once you’ve switched, you need to stay with your new supplier for 5 days before you can switch again - this was previously 28 days.
Read more about Ofgem’s FMRS project here.
Published on 4th August 2022 by:
Hey I'm Constantine, welcome to Octopus Energy!
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