Moving into new house

iregretitall

Hi,

We are moving into a new house soon and have never had mains gas before.

I have tried to use gocompare.com however they ask for previous bills and usage . .

The people that were there before had dual fuel with british gas, as i have never had mains gas im not sure if it works out cheapest to get a dual fual deal or if there is any seperate deals that would save more.

There are other different factors as well which may affect the gas and electric usage, we are currentley in a thatched cottage and the heat doesnt stay in very long, whereas the new house is a victorian 3 storey house with a slate roof.

How can I find out what is cheapest as I dont have any previous bills from the new house which is a lot bigger than our current house.

macman

Depends what you are going to use the gas supply for. Gas cooking, gas CH, hot water, gas fires?

iregretitall

Thaks for the reply.

gas will be used for heating and hot water.

Electric just for the usual things like tv, washing, computers, lights etc . . .

macman

As a very rough initial estimate, I would base your consumption on 66% gas and 34% electric. The big cost items are heating, hot water, cooking, tumble drier etc.

iregretitall

Hi, well here we are in the new house.

Electric company and gas company didnt tell us the property was on a pre-pay meter both both gas and electric.

so far since 30/10/09

3 storey victorian house with 7 bedrooms

£20 electric in and still about £12 left
£105 used in gas


They have said 4 - 6 weeks to change meters. I cant afford to get through this much gas, surley this cannot be right . . .

When we moved in I called the electric and gas company and they have said there will be a 4 - 6 week wait, am i stuck ploughing money into the gas meter like this.

We dont have the heating on much either, its just set at 15 degrees, all the radiators have been bled aswell.

I want them to come and fit the credit meter asap as it will be cheaper. do I have any rights with asking for the difference back as they cannot replace the meter soon ???

We are with EON for both now as mum didnt ask me about searcing online for prices first, im not sure if she can still cancel if i manage to find something cheaper for her though.

any responces appreciated :-D

Premier_2

You have no rights to a credit meter at all - it's up to a supplier to allow you credit if they want, and under what terms. You certainly won't get any compo in the meantime.

Why not look to see if you are on the best deal for the meter you have?
Ebico do not charge any extra for PPM customers ... but you need to check if they would be the cheapest option for you and your consumption levels.

Fire_Fox

Are you sure there isn't a debt on the prepayment meter? How well insulated is the property? Are you trying to keep the entire house at 15C all the time or only certain rooms for a few hours a day?

iregretitall

Hi,

I have checked the meter and it doesnt show as anything oweing.

there where two tariffs though one was about

roughly
8.70 the other 4.35

not sure if that helps

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi iregretitall,

Congratulations on the new house :beer:, you must be mega busy at the moment!

When you move into a new home you adopt the type of meter that is in place when you buy, the designated energy company would not be able to contact you to discuss this. They simply would have no way of knowing that a property is for sale, and/or who the potential buyers are.

When you move into any property whether owned or rented it is your responsibility to contact the supplier to tell them you are now responsible for the bills and the energy used.

In regards to your current energy usage, £105 in 10/11 days is very high, although I’m concerned that if you are heating 7 bedrooms plus living room, kitchen, bathroom and dining room, your boiler will be working very hard. :think:

How many hours a day is the heating on for? Are you leaving it on all day? Or is it on for a few hours in the morning and in the evening?

Whilst the usage maybe high due to the way you are using the gas heating, I wouldn’t rule out the gas meter settings being incorrect. The unit prices you have mentioned may not be correct.:cool:

When you contacted us to tell us you’d moved in did we say we’d send you new prepayment cards/keys for the gas and electricity? Or are you using the one left by the previous owners?

In regards to the appointments to have the meter changed, 4-6 weeks seems like a long time, were you given any indication as to why you have to wait this long?

It’s worth mentioning that our gas unit prices are the same as our standard credit meter prices, so the amount you are using at the moment is not high because you are paying more necessarily (unless the settings on the meter are wrong) but simply because the usage is so high.

If you can provide me with some more info, I’ll see if we can help you further.

I look forward to speaking with you more.

Brian