Who is my gas and electricity supplier?

• ✓The MPAN (Meter Point Administration Number) identifies your electricity supply. The MPRN (Meter Point Reference Number) is the same thing for your gas supply.
• ✓Ofgem says both help energy companies identify your property, and both are printed on your energy bill.
• ✓Your bill also names your supplier, so a recent bill or your online account is the quickest check of all.
• ✓Your MPAN includes a two-digit Distributor ID. The Energy Networks Association uses it to show which network operator looks after your connection.
• ✓Citizens Advice says you might need your MPRN when you sign up with a new gas supplier.

Sources: Ofgem: energy terms explained (read 13 October 2026); Energy Networks Association: who's my electricity network operator? (read 13 October 2026); Citizens Advice: find out who your gas or electricity supplier is (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Search the postcode on Find My Supplier, run by Xoserve. It shows your gas supplier, your Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) and your gas transporter.
• ✓The service is open to the occupier, someone about to occupy the property, or an agent with their express permission, so you can check a home before you move in.
• ✓Prefer to phone? The Meter Number Helpline is 0870 608 1524, Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm. Calls cost 7p a minute plus your phone company's access charge.
• ✓Xoserve holds Britain's gas industry data. If the lookup does not find your supplier, Xoserve says to contact the supplier you want to switch to and let it know.

Sources: Citizens Advice: find out who your gas or electricity supplier is (read 13 October 2026); Find My Supplier, run by Xoserve (read 13 October 2026); Xoserve: information for gas consumers (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Your network operator owns and operates the cables in your area. It does not sell you electricity, and you would usually contact it about a power cut or supply fault rather than a bill.
• ✓Most network operators let you search for your supplier by the property's postcode, though some ask you to fill in a form.
• ✓If you know one company supplies both your gas and electricity, Citizens Advice says the gas lookup is the easier route.

Sources: Citizens Advice: find out who your gas or electricity supplier is (read 13 October 2026); Ofgem: energy terms explained (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Call 105, free, from anywhere in England, Scotland or Wales to be connected to your local network operator. It is also the power cut number.
• ✓The Energy Networks Association says your network operator should be able to tell you who your electricity supplier is.
• ✓The two-digit Distributor ID in your MPAN matches one of the regions in the table, from 10 for Eastern England to 23 for Yorkshire.
• ✓Behind the answer is a register called the Meter Point Administration Service (MPAS). National Grid Electricity Distribution says its MPAS can tell you which electricity company is registered to supply a property, and since when.

Sources: Energy Networks Association: who's my electricity network operator? (read 13 October 2026); National Grid Electricity Distribution: Meter Point Administration Service (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓The Energy Networks Association says some homes are connected to independent distribution networks, run by an Independent Distribution Network Operator (IDNO) that looks after a smaller part of the electricity network.
• ✓IDNOs have Distributor IDs from 24 upwards. Examples on the Energy Networks Association's list include GTC, ESP Electricity, Last Mile Asset Management, Fulcrum and Vattenfall.
• ✓An IDNO runs the wires, not your supply. You still pay an energy supplier for the electricity you use, and for gas the Find My Supplier route is the same.

Sources: Energy Networks Association: who's my electricity network operator? (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Citizens Advice says you are automatically put on a deemed contract with the current supplier, on its default or standard variable tariff.
• ✓Ofgem says a deemed contract normally exists when a customer moves into new premises and starts using gas or electricity without agreeing a contract with a supplier.
• ✓Contact the current supplier to say you have moved in, and give it meter readings taken on the day you move in. Citizens Advice says this helps it send you an accurate first bill.
• ✓You do not have to pay for energy used before you moved in. If a bill includes it, tell the supplier when you moved in, and send your tenancy agreement or mortgage contract if it asks for proof.
• ✓Renting? If your landlord pays the energy bills, Ofgem says they deal with the energy supplier directly.

Sources: Citizens Advice: moving home, dealing with your energy supply (read 13 October 2026); Ofgem: guidance on deemed contracts (November 2023) (read 13 October 2026); Citizens Advice: check if you're responsible for paying an energy bill (read 13 October 2026); Ofgem: switch your home energy supplier (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Look at the post. A letter from an energy company at your new address usually names the supplier: ScottishPower, for example, says a letter from it means it supplies your new home.
• ✓Ask the letting agent or landlord, check your legal pack, or contact the previous owner, as OVO suggests.
• ✓Run the lookups: Find My Supplier or the Meter Number Helpline for gas, and 105 or the Energy Networks Association's postcode search for electricity.
• ✓Contact the supplier with your move-in date and the meter readings you took on the day you arrived.
• ✓Then decide whether to keep its default tariff or switch. Citizens Advice says you can switch once you become responsible for the property.

Sources: ScottishPower: moving home (read 13 October 2026); OVO: moving home (read 13 October 2026); Citizens Advice: moving home, dealing with your energy supply (read 13 October 2026); Energy Networks Association: who's my electricity network operator? (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓ScottishPower says a letter from it at your new home means it supplies your energy, and asks you to tell it you have moved in so it can set up your account.
• ✓British Gas has a set-up route for anyone who has received an Occupier letter from it.
• ✓Post in the previous occupier's name is different. E.ON Next says not to open it, and to post it back marked Return to sender and No longer at this address.
• ✓A bill for energy used before you moved in is not yours to pay. The previous tenant guide covers what to send.

Sources: ScottishPower: moving home (read 13 October 2026); British Gas: moving home (read 13 October 2026); E.ON Next: moving home (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Citizens Advice says you have to wait until the day you become responsible for the property before you switch supplier or tariff.
• ✓Ofgem says a switch must then be completed within 5 working days, or your new supplier must pay you £40.
• ✓Add your new address and move-in date, and Taupia tells you which supplier already serves the property, before you move.
• ✓Taupia compares the market against that starting point and lets you line up a switch dated for your move-in day. Nothing changes without your approval.
• ✓If the switch is declined, usually over a balance on the account from before you arrived, Taupia tells you what to say, what to send and which reading to give. You make the call to the supplier yourself, with that wording in front of you.
• ✓There is no middleman and no markup. You pay the supplier's own rates directly, and the supplier stays yours.

Sources: Citizens Advice: moving home, dealing with your energy supply (read 13 October 2026); Ofgem: switch your home energy supplier (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Find My Supplier is run by Xoserve, which holds Britain's gas industry data, and the free 105 number covers England, Scotland and Wales.
• ✓For electricity in Northern Ireland, the Energy Networks Association says to call 03457 643 643, the number for Northern Ireland Electricity, the network operator.
• ✓Citizens Advice's guidance does not cover Northern Ireland. For an energy problem your provider has not resolved, it points you to the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland.

Sources: Energy Networks Association: who's my electricity network operator? (read 13 October 2026); Xoserve: information for gas consumers (read 13 October 2026); Citizens Advice: get advice in Northern Ireland (read 13 October 2026)