Change Electricity Supplier

B&D Energy is your current supplier for electricity. However, you have the legal right to change your supplier of electricity. You may be familiar with the process and using switching websites such as uSwitch, for example.. However, swapping away to another supplier from B&D Energy is not the same process as you cannot simply contact a new supplier and move your supply.

This is because your electricity is sent to you over a ‘Private Wire Network’ which means that B&D Energy own the wires in the ground in Weavers Quarter, your electricity meter is not registered on the public supply network  and you do not have an ‘MPAN’ number.

Unfortunately, many electricity suppliers do not understand this setup and may require further clarification.

Therefore, we have put together the information below that you can send a prospective new supplier which lays out exactly what you, they and B&D Energy need to do to get your supply switched over.

The first step, and the one that has to be completed before you can proceed any further, is that you need to find a supplier who has confirmed, in writing to us, that they are willing to supply your electricity over our private wire network. To ensure they understand this and therefore what they need to confirm to us please send them the information below. B&D Energy cannot take any action until we receive this written confirmation. This is not a requirement B&D Energy is insisting upon, this is the process that is set out by the government in their Guidance document shown below.

Information to be sent to alternative supplier by you as the Customer

If you wish to commence the process to switch supplies please send the following to your proposed supplier and ask them to provide the confirmation required below.

 

B&D Energy Limited is an Energy Service Company (ESCo) wholly owned by London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. We supply electricity across a Private Wire Electricity Network which is operated under the Electricity (Class Exemptions from the Requirement for a Licence) Order 2001. As B&D Energy is licence exempt the individual residential meters on our network do not have an MPAN and do not show on the UKPN database.

 To swap suppliers all parties must follow the guidance contained in the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) document GUIDANCE: PROVISION OF THIRD-PARTY ACCESS TO LICENCE EXEMPT ELECTRICITY AND GAS NETWORKS February 2012.

 On page 11 of this Guidance, it states that the first step is for the customer to provide B&D Energy with;

      •  a notice expressing an interest in being supplied by an alternative supplier through our Private Wire Network;
      • and evidence that at least one third party supplier is willing to supply the customer with electricity through our Private Wire Network.

This DECC Guidance states that this process can only commence once the above has been supplied to B&D Energy by the customer seeking to switch.

 Therefore, the first step is for the prospective licensed supplier to understand the DECC guidance and provide the customer with evidence that they are willing to supply over a Private Wire Network.