Electricity connection/provider in new home

Phone up any supplier you want, tell them you are a new tenant (new occupant) and want to take on the supply at that address. They can register you as the customer from tomorrow. This is simplier that using the existing supplier and changing suppliers within a few weeks.

Eh! Spriro are you saying that if the property is currently supplied by Npower, but he doesnt phone them, instead just calls E.On and registers, then he would become E.Ons customer as of tommorow and not the usual 4 to 6 week period?? If so, this is totally incorrect!!!!!!!!!

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/EnergySupplyandPost/energysupply/563247/movinghome

After you move into a new home

When you move into a new property, you will be given a supply under a ‘deemed contract’. This means that the gas or electricity supplier of the previous occupant automatically becomes your supplier at the property.

When you move in, you will need to contact the current supplier at your new property to provide your details and the meter reading for the day that you took over. This will allow the supplier to send an accurate first bill.

If you wish to change supplier, the existing supplier will generally require at least 28 days notice. You will need to check the notice period in your contract to make sure.

When you decide which company you want to supply your gas and electricity, you will need to ask them for a contract.

To get the most out of switching supplier, you should try to change to your chosen supplier as soon as possible.

If possible find out the gas Meter Point Reference Number and Electricity
Supply Number for your new home by asking the previous owners, landlord or letting agency. This will speed up your change of supplier.

If you need to find out who supplies gas to your new home, or your Meter Point Reference Number, contact the meter number helpline on 0870 608 1524.

To find out who previously supplied the electricity to your home, or your
Electricity Supply Number, contact the local electricity distribution company. The number is normally in the telephone directory under ‘Electricity’. You should ask for the company’s Meter Point Administration Service (MPAS).

On the day that you change supplier, the company will ask you to read your meter or arrange for your meter to be read.

In this instance the property is the OP's first home so there is no current supplier at property A.
Even if you are responsible at your existing property the industry standard timescale for a transfer to be completed from the initial contact is 4-6 weeks.
For example, if you were moving into a property on the 1st of the month and you contacted your chosen supplier on that day, they can process the application straight away (if they are really efficient) but the actual transfer date when they would be responsible for the supply would be at the end of that month not the beginning when you moved in.

There is also the issue of meter readings. The new supplier is obliged to obtain a reading on the date they take over the supply not the date when you agree a contract with them so there will be at least 4 weeks between these two dates. Do you think the existing supplier has no right to bill for this period?

You could get around this by agreeing a contract with your chosen supplier a month before you intend to move in but that can also cause difficulties.
If the previous occupant has contacted their supplier to close their account and there has been no contact from the new occupant the site will be marked as VSO (vacant supply left on). If another supplier then applies for that site the existing supplier may treat the application as an erroneous transfer because their records show that no one is currently responsible for the supply.

At the end of the day there is always a way to get around the system but for the few that manage it there are hundreds (if not thousands) more who encounter problems by not following the agreed industry processes.