Change of Tenancy, part 2: the first 90 days after you get the keys

Part one of this series was about what to do before a pub or restaurant starts trading. This is the bit after the keys change hands: the first 90 days, when an energy account can be opened cleanly or become an expensive mess.

The avoidable mistakes are usually small. The responsibility date is unclear. The first reading is estimated. A second meter was never included. Or the supplier keeps asking for one more document, so nobody can say when its ten-working-day review period began.

There is no standard Change of Tenancy pack that works everywhere. Suppliers can ask for different evidence. The practical job is to get the fixed things right: the date, the meter photos, the list of what is still needed, and the first bill.

Day one: photograph every meter

Tell each energy supplier that you have moved in as soon as you can, with a reading if you have one. On handover day, take a clear photo of every electricity and gas meter showing the reading and the meter serial number. Add a note about where it is and what it serves if the site has more than one.

Those photos are the line between the last occupier's usage and yours. If the supplier has no reliable opening read, it will estimate. A good estimate may be corrected later; a dated photograph gives you the evidence to correct it quickly.

Write down the responsibility date as well: the date you became liable for the premises under the lease, licence or completion. Keep the signed evidence ready. A supplier may ask for a lease or tenancy agreement, sale documents, business-rates paperwork or a letter from a landlord, solicitor or bank. The exact list varies. The date does not.

Before you leave the site, make sure you have found every supply. A pub may have a separate electricity meter for an outbuilding, kitchen extension, flat or cellar equipment, alongside the main electricity and gas supplies. Each meter needs its own account position checked. The meter nobody has listed is the one most likely to stay on default terms unnoticed.

Week one: get the outstanding list in writing

Start by identifying the current supplier for each supply. A recent bill is the easiest route. For electricity, keep the 13 digits along the bottom of the supply-number box: that is the MPAN, the meter point reference. For gas, keep the MPRN. They make it much easier to make sure everybody is talking about the same supply.

Send the supplier the responsibility date, opening readings and photos, plus the evidence of occupation you already have. If NEC is helping, a signed Letter of Authority lets us speak to the supplier about the account; it does not commit you to a contract.

Then ask one question in writing: what else do you need from us to complete the Change of Tenancy?

This matters because Ofgem does not set a universal evidence pack. Once a supplier has the documents it asked for, it has ten working days to close the old account and open yours, reject the change with a reason, or ask for more information and explain why the documents are not enough. If the requests keep arriving one at a time, there is no clear date to hold it to.

Get the remaining list closed in an email, and keep the date you sent the final item. That is the clock you need if the account later stalls.

First bill: check the period, reads and contract

Do not file the first bill without checking it. It is the first place the handover becomes visible in numbers.

Period. It should start on your responsibility date. If it starts earlier, ask the supplier to separate the previous occupier's usage and send the lease or completion evidence with the day-one photo.

Readings. Check whether the opening read is actual or estimated. If it is estimated and you have the photograph, send it and ask for the bill to be corrected.

Account. The legal entity, site address and supply number should all be right. A sole trader and a limited company are different customers in the supplier's system; a small naming error is worth fixing before it becomes a dispute.

Contract position. Moving in opens an account. It does not create an energy contract. If you use electricity or gas before agreeing terms, Ofgem says you are placed on a deemed contract. That keeps the supply live, but it is not a position to leave unchecked. Ask the supplier directly whether the site is on deemed or out-of-contract terms and what rate is being applied.

If there is a brought-forward balance on a first bill, ask which period it relates to before treating it as yours. The same applies to any charge that predates the responsibility date.

Month two: agree proper terms

The Change of Tenancy and the contract are separate jobs. They can run alongside each other, and they should. Waiting for the first bill before asking for quotes is how a site spends weeks on default rates.

When comparing options, put the same five things next to each other for every quote:

• unit rate;
• standing charge;
• contract length;
• payment terms;
• what happens at the end of the term.

The headline unit rate is not the whole answer. A low rate with a high standing charge, awkward payment terms or an unsuitable end date can still be the wrong deal for a hospitality site. A deemed contract can normally be left without an exit fee; a fixed-term contract deserves a proper read before it is signed.

By day 90: close the gaps

By the end of the first quarter, every electricity and gas meter should have an account in the right name, a known contract position and a first bill that has been checked. Take another reading from every meter and compare it with the bills. It takes a few minutes and catches an estimate before it grows into several months of wrong billing.

This is also a good point to check the supplies that are easy to ignore. A low-use outbuilding, seasonal supply or separate flat may have a different VAT and Climate Change Levy position from the main meter. HMRC's automatic threshold is 1,000 kWh a month for electricity and 4,397 kWh a month for gas, measured per customer at the premises. If someone lives on site, a qualifying-use certificate may be needed before the supplier can apply the right treatment to the domestic share. We cover that in more detail in our guide to which pub supplies qualify for zero VAT on electricity.

Keep one folder with the signed evidence, meter photographs, supplier emails, account confirmations and first bills. Nobody needs it until something goes wrong. When it does, it is the whole case.

If the supplier is still stuck

Raise a formal complaint in writing rather than carrying on with an open-ended chase. Eight weeks after that, or immediately if the supplier issues a deadlock letter, a qualifying small business can take the case to the Energy Ombudsman. It is free, and its decision binds the supplier, not the customer.

Ofgem specifically names delays beyond the Change of Tenancy review period and unreasonable evidence requests as reasons to escalate. The useful record is simple: the supplier's full list, the date you sent the last item, and every reply after that.

What NEC does at a handover

For a site we are helping, this is the sequence: identify the supplies, submit the evidence and readings, close the outstanding list in writing, chase each account against the ten working days, then check the first bills before they become normal.

If you have taken on a site in the last three months and are not sure where the accounts stand, send us the responsibility date, a recent bill for each supply and any meter photographs you have. We will tell you what is open, what is on deemed terms and what needs to happen next. 02476 328995.