What are your final bill rights when you switch or close an energy account?
You’re entitled to a final bill within six weeks of switching supplier or closing your account, and any credit balance you’re owed back within ten working days of that final bill. These aren’t supplier goodwill gestures, they’re Ofgem’s standard rules for every domestic energy account in Great Britain, and they apply whether you left for a cheaper deal, moved house, or the account simply closed.
Most switches go through without a hitch and this never comes up. It matters when it doesn’t, because a final bill that never arrives usually means a credit balance that never gets refunded either, sometimes for years.
The Octopus Energy case: what actually went wrong
Ofgem’s own enforcement record gives a real example of how this breaks down. It found that more than 34,000 prepayment meter customer accounts at Octopus Energy, between 2016 and October 2023, didn’t receive a final bill within the required six weeks after the account closed. Octopus agreed to pay a total of £1.483 million, made up of £231,000 in refunded credit and £1.25 million in compensation, averaging around £43 per affected account.
Worth being precise about what that was: a redress settlement Octopus agreed to pay, not a penalty imposed after a contested case. Ofgem published the decision in July 2025, so this isn’t breaking news, it’s a settled matter. What makes it worth revisiting now is what it shows about who these gaps tend to hit hardest: prepayment meter customers, who Ofgem specifically noted are more likely to be in financially vulnerable circumstances.
Key takeaways
- You’re entitled to a final bill within six weeks of switching or closing your energy account.
- Any credit balance owed to you should be refunded within ten working days of that final bill.
- Octopus Energy agreed to pay £1.483 million in redress after more than 34,000 prepayment accounts missed this deadline between 2016 and 2023.
- Prepayment meter customers are disproportionately affected, since credit can sit unclaimed on a closed account.
- If your final bill or refund is late, the Energy Ombudsman is the free route to a resolution.
How long should a refund actually take?
Ten working days from the date of your final bill, assuming you’re owed a credit balance. If six weeks have passed since you switched or closed your account and no final bill has turned up, that’s already outside the rules, and you don’t need to wait patiently for it to sort itself out.
Contact your old supplier first and ask directly for the final bill and any refund owed. Most cases are a genuine administrative gap rather than a deliberate withholding, and a direct request resolves it quickly in the majority of cases.
What to do if your final bill or refund is late
Put the request in writing if a phone call doesn’t get a final bill moving, since a written record matters if you need to escalate later. Give the supplier eight weeks from your original complaint to respond, which is the standard window before you can take a complaint further.
After eight weeks, or sooner if you get a deadlock letter, the Energy Ombudsman can investigate for free. It has the power to order a supplier to pay you both the money owed and compensation for the inconvenience of the delay, which is exactly what should have happened automatically on those 34,000 Octopus accounts.
Final bill rights when you move house
Moving home is one of the most common ways a final bill gets missed entirely, since attention is naturally elsewhere and post to an old address doesn’t always get forwarded. Give your old supplier a meter reading and your new address on the day you move, and the same six week final bill rule applies from that point.
If you’re the one moving into a property, it’s worth taking your own meter reading on day one too. It protects you from being landed with a previous occupant’s usage, and it gives your new supplier an accurate starting point rather than an estimate.
Frequently asked questions about final bill rights
- Can a supplier just keep my credit balance if I don’t chase it?
- No. The credit remains legally yours regardless of how long it goes unclaimed, though in practice you may need to actively request it if a final bill was never issued.
- Does this final bill rule apply to every energy supplier?
- Yes. The six week final bill requirement and ten working day refund rule are set by Ofgem and apply to every domestic energy supplier in Great Britain, not just the ones that have faced enforcement action.
- What if I closed my account years ago and never got a final bill?
- It’s still worth contacting the supplier directly. As the Octopus case shows, some credit balances go unresolved for years before being identified and refunded.
- Is prepayment meter billing different from credit meter billing?
- The final bill and refund timelines are the same, but Ofgem has flagged prepayment customers as more likely to be affected by these gaps, since less contact happens with the supplier day to day.
- Does making an Energy Ombudsman complaint cost anything?
- No, it’s a free service for domestic energy customers, and you don’t need a solicitor to use it.
Rules like this only work if people actually use them, which is the point of writing this down plainly rather than leaving it in a regulator’s enforcement notice. If you’re mid-switch right now, our guide to what happens when your energy deal ends covers the process end to end, and if a complaint does need to go further, our Energy Ombudsman complaint guide explains the eight week route in full.
Sources
- Ofgem: Octopus Energy pays £1.5 million over prepayment meter billing errors (decision published 8 July 2025)
Checked September 2026.
