Suppliers for our first home

jch1801

Hi

I was wondering if anyone can give us some advice please?

We have just bought our first home and are trying to source the best supplier for electricity and water, however all the price comparison sites we have visited require you to already be with a supplier.

Are we missing something, or is it just a case of ringing around to see what each individual company will offer us?

Thank you in advance!

Premier_2

Chances are you will already be with a supplier unless you are building the house yourself.

If it's a used house, then you will inherit the previous owners supplier(s). If it's a new house built by a developer, then the developer will have arranged supplier(s) for you.

You are free to switch as soon as you take over the supply, but without any usage knowledge, you may be jumping out of the proverbial fryingpan...

Best to stay with who you get, see how much you actually use then look to the comparison websites to make an informed choice.

Magentasue

I think the only reason you have to put in a current supplier, is so that you can make a comparison and the site can calculate potential savings.

The problem is that you don't know how much you will be using - as premier says, if you wait a couple of months, you can make a guess at your annual consumption and make comparisons.

1carminestocky

To be fair, you can lose plenty of wonga in 2 months by being on a VERY expensive tariff (remember, it will take a further 2 months to effect the switch). Surely it's best to go with one of the cheaper online tariffs straight away and THEN check again 2 months down the line?

Premier_2

Whoops, just realised you included water in your OP. (there's a separate sub-forum for that)

You don't get any choice here - you get the regional supplier for your area.

jch1801

Thank you all very much!

aceades

I wondered this aswell, i have just moved into the house and have no idea who suppliers are, how are they to even know that i have moved there ?

on teh comparison sites i just put in figures form my last house, but i didn't have gas there so io cant get a reccomendation for that.

Can anyone tell me how to find out who my current supplier is so i can check their prices ? If i dont inform them that i have moved in and give new readings how can they bill me , they dont even know my name ?

i am probably just going to sign up with some one, give them my readings and move in date and let tehm bill me, im just trying to work aout who to go with.

Is there really that much difference in the prices though ? it seems to me that the only way people get cheap energy bills is by being very good at turning things off or not usings things at all, its always random suppliers giving out high bills, you never see everyone get an exceptionally cheap bill based purely on teh supplier they are with. I think someone who is very careful will have a low bill no matter who they are with - but i guess all the pennies count