How do I change my name with Octopus Energy?#
Get in touch with Octopus. Its help article on account details says that communication preferences, your password and "most other account settings" are managed under Personal details in your online account, but that to change your name, email address or phone number you should get in touch. You cannot make the change yourself online.
Octopus's contact page offers email, which it says is answered seven days a week, and the phone. If you email, write from the address linked to your account and quote your account number, as Octopus's own instructions for adding a person do. Octopus's pages give no timescale for a change of name and mention no fee.
What does Octopus Energy ask to see?#
Its help pages do not list a document for a change of name, whether the new name comes from a deed poll, a marriage, a civil partnership or a divorce. Energy, water, phone and broadband shows what other suppliers publish, and most energy suppliers are the same.
GOV.UK warns that some energy providers may accept only an enrolled deed poll, and tells you to check with the organisation. Octopus publishes no such rule. Have your deed poll, or your marriage or civil partnership certificate, ready in case it asks, and if a copy will do, send a copy and keep the original. Will organisations accept a photocopy or a PDF? covers who wants what.
Your own name, or a different account holder?#
Octopus's help pages treat a change to your own name separately from a change of who holds the account. Each has its own route.
| What has changed | What Octopus publishes |
|---|---|
| Your own name, after a deed poll, marriage or divorce | Get in touch; no document listed |
| You want a second person on the account | The account holder emails Octopus and the new person confirms |
| You have moved into a home Octopus supplies | Its online move-in form |
| You are moving out | The move-out page in your online account |
| The account holder has died | Settld's form, or Octopus's contact page |
Adding someone to your account#
From the email address linked to your account, write to hello@octopus.energy with the new person's name, phone number and email address. Copy them in and ask them to reply to all, confirming that they want to be added; Octopus says it makes the change once they reply. The help page does not say whether the added person becomes responsible for paying the bills, so ask if that matters to you.
Moving into a home Octopus supplies#
Octopus says the existing supplier keeps supplying a property until it is told otherwise, so the energy does not stop when you move in. If Octopus supplies your new home, tell it who you are through its online move-in form, which starts with your postcode and address. Its moving guide says a new account starts on Flexible Octopus, its variable tariff.
If the new home has a prepayment meter, the move-in form asks you to call or email instead, with your full name, email address and phone number, your new address and the date you moved in.
Leaving a home Octopus supplies is done from the move-out page of your online account, whether or not you take Octopus with you.
The account of someone who has died#
Octopus works with Settld, a notification service it pays for, so there is no cost to you. Settld tells the other companies that need to know as well as Octopus, and you start it from Settld's online form, linked from Octopus's bereavement page.
If you would rather not use Settld, get in touch with Octopus directly. It asks for:
- the name and full address of the person who has died, and the date they died;
- the details of the person looking after their affairs, usually the executor if there is a will, or the administrator if there is not;
- the date the property is sold or the keys are handed back, with final meter readings where you can.
Octopus says it usually keeps the account open until the property has been sold or the keys returned, and closes it up to that date. If there is no will and you do not know who the administrator is, it asks you to give whatever information you have. Its page does not mention a death certificate, and does not say how the account passes to someone who still lives at the property, so ask when you get in touch.
If something goes wrong#
Complain to Octopus first. Ofgem says an energy supplier must try to resolve a complaint within 8 weeks. Octopus's complaints page says that if it cannot resolve a complaint, or the complaint has been open for 8 weeks, it may reach deadlock: it writes to you with a final offer, and if you decline that, sends a formal deadlock letter you can take to the Energy Ombudsman, whose decision binds Octopus but not you. What to do if an organisation refuses your deed poll has the steps that usually settle it before then.
Questions people ask
Can I change my name in the Octopus Energy app or online account?
Not by yourself. Octopus's help page sends you to Personal details in your online account for your password, communication preferences and most other settings, but for your name, email address or phone number it asks you to get in touch.
How do I change the account holder name with Octopus Energy?
It depends on why. If you have moved into a home Octopus supplies, tell it who you are through its online move-in form. If the account holder has died, use Settld's form or Octopus's contact page. To add a second person, the account holder emails Octopus and the new person confirms by replying.
Do I need to send Octopus Energy my deed poll or marriage certificate?
Octopus's help pages do not list a document for a change of name. Have the deed poll or certificate to hand when you get in touch, and send a copy rather than the original if one is asked for.
Does Octopus Energy charge to change the name on an account?
Its help pages on names, adding a person, moving and bereavement mention no fee.
Something else? Ask us, and a person replies by email, normally the same working day.
