Business Energy Change of Tenancy

It's the process of telling the energy supplier that the occupier of a building has changed — so the account closes for the outgoing business and opens for the incoming one. It's not a switch, and it's not a change of ownership of the building. It's purely about who is responsible for the energy from a given date.

The account stays in the previous occupier's name while your business uses the energy. That causes trouble in both directions: they get billed for your usage, and when the supplier eventually catches up you get a single backdated bill for everything since you moved in. It also gets in the way of changing supplier — the current supplier has to accept that the occupier really has changed before a switch can complete, so without the evidence a switch can be delayed or rejected outright .

Generally no — energy debt belongs to whoever used the energy, not to the building. But you have to prove when your occupation started , and if you can't, the supplier's default is to bill the account for the whole period. That's why a dated meter reading and a copy of the lease matter: they draw the line for you rather than letting somebody else draw it.

Deemed rates — the supplier's published prices under a deemed contract, which is the arrangement that exists because you're consuming the supply rather than because anyone agreed terms. Backdated to the day you took the premises, and normally well above a fixed deal. It's a real contract, and a binding one — but it doesn't lock you into an agreed fixed term the way a negotiated deal does: usually no exit fee and no notice needed to switch. Your supplier's published deemed terms confirm it either way. You can see what individual suppliers publish on our out-of-contract rates pages.

No — and waiting is the mistake that costs the most, because every week spent waiting is a week on deemed rates. The registration and the new contract run alongside each other : your incoming supplier needs the same evidence of occupation that the current one does, and the current supplier has to accept that the occupier has changed. So we price it alongside the registration, with a start date about two weeks from the day the change of tenancy goes in — ready to begin as the account lands. If yours has already been accepted, we ask for the earliest start available. What can't happen is a switch completing while the supply is still recorded to the previous occupier, which is why the evidence matters more than the speed.

There's a standard for the first part: the supplier should review your evidence within 10 working days and then accept it, reject it with a reason, or tell you what else they need. If it goes past that, that's grounds for a complaint — and it's the point at which we stop chasing politely and escalate. A switch, once the change of occupier is accepted, takes up to 5 working days . We won't promise you a date we don't control; we will tell you when your supplier has gone past the one they're held to.

Very common, and not a problem — an empty unit rarely comes with a helpful folder of paperwork. Give us the full address and postcode and we'll identify the supply and the supplier for you . You don't need a bill, a meter number or anything from the previous occupier to get started.

Take a final meter reading on the day you leave, with a photo , and give the supplier a forwarding address for the closing bill. Those two things are what stop you being billed for the next occupier's usage. Tell us who's taking the unit on if you know — it makes the handover cleaner for both of you.

We don't charge for handling a change of tenancy. No fee for registering it, dealing with the supplier, chasing it or sorting the readings.

How we're paid instead: if you go on to agree a contract through us, the supplier pays us a commission, and you'll see exactly what it is in writing before you sign anything . If you decide to go elsewhere — or stay put — the change of tenancy has still cost you nothing. We'd rather tell you how we get paid than have you wonder what the catch is.

Yes, and it's worth doing them together. Closing the old supply and opening the new one are two separate processes with two different suppliers, and the thing that goes wrong is the gap — a final reading missed at one end, a start date that doesn't line up at the other. Fill the form in for whichever move is first and say in the notes that you're relocating ; we'll pick the other end up on the call and run both to the same dates.

No. Deemed rates carry no tie-in, so once the account is in your name you're free to go wherever you like — including somewhere that isn't us. We'd rather tell you that plainly than have you find it out later and wonder what else we didn't mention.