A site that changed supplier and lost its relief
A client's site had a declaration lodged with its previous supplier so that its bills were charged at the treatment the client's adviser confirmed applied. The site moved to a new supplier at renewal. Nobody sent the new supplier a declaration. The bills from the new supplier are charged at the standard treatment, and have been for most of a year.
The client's finance team notices during their year end. The declaration form is somewhere in an email from years ago.
Why declarations get lost between suppliers
Declarations and certificates are lodged with a supplier, for a site, and they do not travel automatically when anything changes.
- A change of supplier needs a new declaration with the new supplier.
- Changes at a site, such as a change of use, may affect what the client's adviser says applies.
- Forms and certificates differ between suppliers.
- Declarations are stored as PDFs, with no record of which supplier holds one.
- Bills do not make it obvious which treatment has been applied.
A quiet error that grows each month
When a declaration is missing, the site is charged differently on every bill, and the difference builds up. Recovering it later can involve correspondence with the supplier and, depending on the circumstances, may not be fully possible.
Clients reasonably expect their energy consultant to keep track of this at renewal. When it is missed, it undermines confidence in the whole switching process.
The admin is also easy to underestimate. A multi-site client may have a mix of sites with different treatments, lodged with different suppliers over different years. Rebuilding that picture from emails and old PDFs at the point of a question takes an analyst a long time, and the answer is only as good as the documents they happen to find.
A declarations register tied to each switch
We build a declarations register into your site and contract records.
- Each site records the treatments the client has told you apply, as confirmed by their own adviser, with the date and a copy of the supporting paperwork.
- For each site and supplier, the register records whether a declaration or certificate has been lodged, when and with what acknowledgement.
- When a site moves supplier, a task is created to lodge the declaration with the new supplier, using that supplier's form, and it stays open until acknowledged.
- Bill validation checks the VAT and levy lines on each bill against what the register says should apply, and flags differences.
- Periodic reminders ask the client to confirm nothing has changed at the site that their adviser would want to review.
| Moment | Usually | With the register |
|---|---|---|
| Declaration lodged | Email and PDF | Recorded per site and supplier |
| Change of supplier | Often forgotten | Task created until acknowledged |
| Bills | Treatment not checked | VAT and levy lines checked |
| Change at site | Not noticed | Client asked to confirm periodically |
| Finding the paperwork | Search old emails | Stored against the site |
Whether a site qualifies for any relief is a matter for the client and their tax adviser. The register records what they have confirmed and makes sure suppliers have the paperwork.
Switches that carry everything across
When a renewal moves several sites to a new supplier, the register lists which declarations need lodging with the new supplier, and the tasks are open until each one is acknowledged. The first bills from the new supplier are checked for the expected treatment.
When a client's finance team asks which sites have declarations in place, you can answer from the register, with the paperwork attached.
Are declarations falling through the gaps?
- Declarations are stored as PDFs in email.
- You do not know which supplier holds which declaration.
- Declarations are not re-lodged when sites switch.
- VAT and levy lines on bills are not checked.
- Clients have found the problem before you did.