When a switch goes wrong, and what to do about it

Most business energy contracts let your existing supplier object to a transfer while there is money overdue on the account. Unlike the domestic market there is no universal debt threshold, so what counts as "overdue" depends on your own contract terms.

The objection is not personal and it is not a judgement about your business. It is a contractual right the supplier is exercising, and it disappears the moment the balance is settled.

This is not a block on switching, it is a block on switching early. You can almost always agree a new contract now and have it start the day after the current one ends - most business energy contracts are signed months in advance for exactly this reason.

The trap is that the switch was submitted with the wrong start date, not that you are not allowed to move.

Business energy contracts usually require written termination notice inside a defined window before the end date. Miss it and the supplier can roll you onto out-of-contract rates and object to the transfer.

Suppliers do sometimes lose notices. If yours was sent by a broker rather than by you directly, the original may not be in your own records at all.

While a balance is contested, the objection tends to sit there. Suppliers will not usually withdraw it on a verbal disagreement.

Paying the part you do not dispute, while formally contesting the rest, both protects your position and shows good faith. It often unblocks the transfer while the argument continues.

Your MPAN (electricity) and MPRN (gas) are the unique identifiers for your supply point. They are the single most important field in a switch, and they are frequently copied down wrong - transposed digits, or the number from a neighbouring unit in a shared building.

Sites with several meters, industrial estates and converted buildings are where this goes wrong most often.

A great many small businesses trade under one name and are registered at Companies House under another. Energy contracts have to be in the name of the legal entity that is responsible for the supply.

A mismatch here also trips credit checks, because the new supplier cannot find the trading name in any credit file.

Moving into premises does not automatically move the energy account. Until a change of tenancy is registered, the supplier's records show the previous business, and any switch you try to arrange looks like it is coming from a stranger.

This is also how you can inherit a debt that was never yours.

When a change of tenancy has not been recorded cleanly, the old account and the new one merge in the supplier's system and the previous occupier's balance lands on you.

The whole argument turns on one thing: the date your responsibility for the supply started, and the meter reading on that date.

Where a site has more than one MPAN, the meters can sit on different contracts with different end dates, and switching one in isolation can leave the others stranded on expensive rates.

Automated switching handles single-meter sites well. Multi-meter portfolios are a case where we would rather put you in front of someone than force the automation.

Larger sites are settled half-hourly, which means the price depends on your actual consumption shape rather than a published rate. These cannot be quoted from a matrix and not every supplier serves them.

You can tell from the first two digits of your MPAN - the profile class. 00 indicates a half-hourly supply.

Business prepayment supplies are served by a smaller set of suppliers, so the choice is narrower. Any debt loaded onto the meter itself also has to be dealt with before or during a transfer.

In some cases the answer is a meter exchange rather than a switch.

Meter configuration is recorded in national data, and a supplier can decline a supply their systems do not handle. It is not a reflection on you.

The fix is either a different supplier, or a meter exchange arranged through the Meter Operator.

If nobody reads the meter on the changeover date, the closing bill is estimated - and an estimate that is too high creates a debt that then blocks the next switch.

A photograph of the meter on or near the switch date is the single most useful thing you can have.

An erroneous transfer is a supply moved without the customer's consent - usually because two similar addresses or MPANs got crossed, which is common in flats, offices and new-build sites where several meters were registered at once.

The supplier who took the supply in error should write to you within 5 working days setting out what they intend to do, and within 20 working days either reverse the transfer or explain why they believe it was correct.

Be aware of the gap between markets: domestic customers get an automatic Ofgem-set compensation payment for switching failures. There is no equivalent standard compensation for business customers, so anything you recover is negotiated.

The current standard is five working days from the point of registration, with a two working day window for your existing supplier to object. That objection window is much shorter than the old regime, where gas allowed 7 working days and electricity 5.

If nothing is moving, the usual cause is an objection nobody has told you about, or a failed data validation sitting in a queue.

A failed switch has a cause, and it is recorded. It is either an objection with a named ground, or a data validation failure on a named field.

Ask the question specifically. Vague enquiries get vague answers; asking "which field failed validation" or "on what contractual ground was the objection raised" tends to produce a real response.

Suppliers assess credit differently. A business declined by one is routinely accepted by another, so a failed check is a reason to look elsewhere rather than to give up.

A credit decline is also sometimes a data problem in disguise - a mismatched company name or address that means the credit agency cannot find you at all.

Business energy is routinely contracted months in advance. Agreeing a rate now and starting it the day after your current deal expires is normal practice, not an edge case.

The two dates that matter are your contract end date and your notice deadline. Miss the notice deadline and you can end up on out-of-contract rates, which are typically the most expensive tariff a supplier offers.

A micro business is broadly one with fewer than 10 employees (or full-time equivalent) and annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than £2 million. There are also consumption-based routes into the definition.

If you qualify, brokers must disclose exactly what they earn from your contract, and you can take an unresolved complaint to the Energy Ombudsman. Larger businesses have neither protection.

Broker commission in business energy is usually built into the unit rate rather than invoiced separately, which is why it can be invisible. For micro businesses, disclosure of what the broker earns is required.

It is a fair question to ask of anyone arranging your energy, including us.

Half-hourly meters, multi-meter sites, unusual meter configurations and suppliers we are not integrated with all get handed to a human rather than pushed through automation that would produce a worse answer.

We would rather tell you honestly that your supply needs a conversation than give you a quote that falls over at registration.

Every supplier has to have a complaints procedure. Use it formally and get a reference number - an informal phone call does not start the clock.

After eight weeks without resolution, or as soon as you receive a deadlock letter, a micro business can take the complaint to the Energy Ombudsman free of charge. The Ombudsman's decision is binding on the supplier.

Businesses above the micro threshold do not have Ombudsman access and would need to pursue it commercially.