Moving house is the moment most people think about energy for the first time in years. And the industry, to its credit, has built a reasonably functional set of rules and processes to handle it. The problem is that almost no one explains what those processes actually are - which means millions of movers make avoidable mistakes, end up on the wrong tariff, or get billed for someone else's usage because they didn't know what to do on day one.
This article walks through the whole thing: what happens at the old address, what happens at the new one, what's going on behind the scenes that you never see, and - using Octopus Energy, Fuse Energy, EDF Energy, E.ON Next and British Gas as worked examples - how five suppliers with very different operating models handle the same journey.
The Jargon You Need to Know First
Before anything else, it's worth knowing the terminology. These aren't obscure acronyms - they're the identifiers that determine who bills you, how much, and for what.
What Happens at Your Old Address
The moment you know your move-out date, your old supplier needs to hear from you. The legal minimum is 48 hours' notice, but most suppliers ask for more - Octopus prefers 17 days, and most others recommend at least two weeks where possible. The earlier you notify them, the cleaner the closing account process.
Notify your supplier
Tell them your move-out date and your new address (so they can send the final bill). If you're on a fixed tariff, ask whether an early exit fee applies - most suppliers waive this for genuine home moves, but confirm it explicitly. If you're staying with the same supplier at your new address, the process is usually handled as a single "home move" rather than a close and reopen.
Take meter readings on the day
The single most important action. Take photos of all meters (gas and electricity) on the day you hand over keys - ideally showing both the reading and the date on your phone's camera. These readings are the boundary between what you owe and what the next occupant owes. Without them, your supplier will estimate, and disputes become difficult to win later.
Submit the readings and close the account
Send your final readings to the supplier. Your direct debit will remain active until the final bill is settled - don't cancel it immediately. The final bill typically arrives 7-10 days after your move-out date. If you are in credit, the refund should follow shortly after.
If you don't notify your supplier: You may remain liable for bills at the old property until they can confirm a new occupant has taken over the supply. In theory, you could be held responsible for up to two days of usage after you've moved if the new occupant doesn't register promptly. More practically, disputes over closing reads can delay the return of any credit balance for months.
What Happens at Your New Address
When you walk through the door of your new home, the energy supply is almost certainly already running. The previous occupant had a supplier, and that supplier will continue to provide energy to the property until a new arrangement is made. You are now, by default, on a deemed contract with whoever supplied the property before you.
Your first actions at the new address:
Find the meters
Usually in the kitchen, hallway, or an external meter box. New builds: ask the developer - meters in blocks of flats are sometimes in communal cupboards and it's not always obvious which is yours. Take photos of readings immediately, before you use any energy.
Find out who supplies the property
Ideally, this was on the TA6 property information form from the vendor's solicitor. If not: for gas, use the findmysupplier.energy tool (enter your postcode). For electricity, contact your local Distribution Network Operator (DNO). Alternatively, many suppliers' own websites can identify the incumbent from a postcode lookup.
Contact the incumbent supplier
Register as the new occupant, give them your move-in date and opening meter readings. This establishes where your liability begins. Even if you plan to switch immediately, this step ensures you're not billed for the previous occupant's usage and that the deemed contract is correctly attributed to you from your move-in date.
Decide: stay or switch
You're not obligated to stay with the incumbent. You can switch to any supplier - including your existing one from the old address - from the moment you move in. Compare the market against what you'd be on (the deemed rate is almost always SVT, the most expensive option). A switch takes 17-21 days from initiation under the current process, though the Central Switching Service introduced in 2021 allows faster switches in many cases.
What about prepayment meters? If the property has a prepayment meter (a key or card meter), don't top it up before contacting the supplier. Any debt on the meter from the previous occupant could be charged to you if you top up first. The supplier has an obligation to clear historical debt before you take over - but this only works if you register before adding credit.
What's Happening Behind the Scenes
When you move house and notify a supplier, a series of industry data exchanges fires off that most customers never see. Understanding the rough shape of this helps explain why some things take the time they do - and what can go wrong.
Your property's MPAN (electricity) and MPRN (gas) are registered in central industry databases. When you register with a new supplier, they submit a request to these databases to become the registered supplier for your MPAN/MPRN. The outgoing supplier is notified and has a period to object - typically if there's an outstanding debt. The meter reading you provide on move-in is submitted to the industry and becomes the settlement point: everything before it is the previous occupant's responsibility, everything after is yours.
With a smart meter, some of this is faster and more automated. If your new property has a SMETS2 smart meter already enrolled in the DCC (Data Communications Company) network, your new supplier can often pull readings directly rather than relying on you to submit them. In some cases - as MSE forum users have noted with Octopus - the supplier's app can show the correct new address and opening readings within hours of the registration, with no manual reading submission required.
The MPRN prefix check. When you register at your new address, it's worth checking whether your MPRN begins with 74 or 75. This indicates your property is connected via an Independent Gas Transporter (IGT) network rather than the National Grid. IGT customers typically pay higher standing charges - sometimes significantly so - and not all suppliers serve IGT properties. This is most common in new build developments from the 2000s onwards. See our earlier piece on the home mover energy trap for the full picture on IGTs.
Five Home Move Journeys Compared
The mechanics above apply to all suppliers. What differs enormously is how easy - or how painful - the process of executing them is. Below are five suppliers across the market spectrum, from a 1990s-era incumbent to a three-year-old fintech, covering roughly 80% of UK households between them.
Octopus Energy
Online dashboard · 17 days preferred · #3 Citizens AdviceEDF Energy
MyAccount portal · 10-14 days recommended · #13 Citizens AdviceE.ON Next
Dedicated move portal · Contact on move day · #5 Citizens AdviceBritish Gas
Online portal + phone · 48 hrs minimum · #14 Citizens AdviceFuse Energy
App-first · 3-minute move flow · Below Citizens Advice thresholdSide-by-Side: The Key Differences
| Feature | Octopus | EDF | E.ON Next | British Gas | Fuse |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notification channel | Dashboard, phone, email | MyAccount, phone, chat, email | Dedicated move portal, phone | Online account, phone, webchat | App / web only (no phone) |
| Preferred notice period | 17 days | 10-14 days | Move day or after | 48 hrs minimum | 48 hrs minimum |
| 24/7 availability | ✗ Weekdays only | ✗ Mon-Fri limited hours | ✗ Standard hours | ✗ Standard hours | ✓ 24/7 via app |
| Fixed tariff transfers | ✓ Yes (check Intelligent tariffs) | ✓ Yes (unless meter-type conflict) | ✓ Explicitly advertised | ✓ Permitted, confirm terms | ✓ Protected tariff moves |
| Exit fee on move | ~ Usually none - confirm | ~ Not auto-waived - check | ~ Clear balance before leaving | ~ Unlikely but not explicit | ✓ Never - contractually explicit |
| Separate fuel notifications? | ✓ Single process | ✗ Must notify gas + electricity separately | ✓ Single process | ✓ Single process | ✓ Single app flow |
| Smart meter advantage | Near-instant account with SMETS2 | Auto reads - no manual submission | Recommend manual reading anyway | Standard process, weak billing score | Required for TOU tariffs |
| Final bill timeline | 7-10 days | Within 6 weeks (usually faster) | Standard timeline | ~10 working days | ~10 working days |
| Citizens Advice rank (Q4 2025) | 3rd / 16 | 13th / 16 | 5th / 16 | 14th / 16 | Not yet ranked (<25k accounts) |
| Trustpilot score | 4.8 ★ | 4.8 ★ | 4.5 ★ | 4.3 ★ | 4.7 ★ |
What the Comparison Reveals
EDF's separate-fuel notification is a genuine gotcha. If EDF supplies both your gas and electricity, you have to notify them for each fuel separately via MyAccount. Most customers don't know this, and the consequence of missing it is an incorrect closing account and a disputed final bill. No other supplier on this list has the same requirement - it's an artefact of EDF's legacy billing systems.
E.ON Next's stance on notice is unusually relaxed. Telling customers to contact on the day of the move or as soon as possible afterwards is a notably more customer-friendly position than Octopus's 17 days or EDF's 10-14 days. The flip side is that it means E.ON Next is less likely to have your move pre-processed and ready - but it does remove the anxiety of having to plan energy admin weeks in advance during an already chaotic period.
British Gas's billing and metering score (1.4/5 in Citizens Advice Q4 2025) is the starkest single number in this comparison. For a supplier handling more than a fifth of UK homes, that score - the lowest in the table on that metric - suggests systematic failures in billing accuracy that make the home move process riskier. An incorrect opening read that goes unchallenged leads to an incorrect first bill, which then takes months to unwind. The advice to "keep records of all communications" in British Gas's own guidance is telling.
The most instructive real-world evidence on Octopus's home move process comes from a MoneySavingExpert forum thread in which a user reported something that contradicted conventional wisdom: after using Octopus's "moving home" service, their In-Home Display was already showing Octopus as the supplier by the evening of their first day in the new house - with the opening electricity reading already populating their Octopus account. No contact with the previous occupant's supplier was needed at all. This works cleanly when SMETS2 smart meters are enrolled in the DCC and the data transfer is smooth - but it illustrates where the industry is heading.
Fuse's app-first model treats the home move as a discrete app flow - the "3-minute move out and move in" - which handles notification, reading submission, and contract initiation in a single session. There's no call centre queue, no waiting for office hours, and no ambiguity about what to do next. The limitation is the same as Fuse's overall limitation: if you don't have a smartphone or aren't comfortable managing energy entirely through an app, the supplier is genuinely difficult to deal with.
The underlying pattern: The home move is one of the clearest stress tests of a supplier's operational design. Legacy suppliers built on 1990s telephony infrastructure show their age here - separate fuel notifications, ambiguous exit fee terms, week-long administrative transfer windows. App-native suppliers have rebuilt the flow around digital self-service, which is faster when it works but excludes customers who aren't online. Neither model is universally better. What matters for you depends on which property you're moving into, which supplier is already there, and whether you have the time and digital confidence to switch on day one.
Your Move-House Energy Checklist
Print this out. Stick it on the fridge. Use it.
📋 The Move-House Energy Checklist
The Bottom Line
The industry process for moving house is well-defined and, with smart meters, increasingly smooth. The failures that cost people money are almost always not about the system - they're about not knowing what to do, not doing it on day one, and ending up on a deemed contract for months because the kitchen boxes weren't unpacked yet.
Of the suppliers covered here, Octopus offers the most mature, well-documented home move process with multiple contact channels and a growing track record of near-instant moves with smart meters. Fuse offers a faster, cleaner digital flow with explicit no-exit-fee terms and 24/7 availability - but requires you to be fully comfortable with an app-first relationship. E.ON Next scores well on customer service and has the most relaxed notice requirements. EDF has the dual-fuel gotcha to watch out for. British Gas, for a supplier of its scale, has the weakest billing score in the group.
None of them will leave you without energy. All of them will leave you on a variable tariff by default. The question is how quickly and cleanly you get to the right deal after that.