Moving from electic-only flat to dual fuel house...help!

miss_cupcake_2

Hi all :hello:

I need some advice about switching energy suppliers and finding the cheapest deal for me, I hope someone can help. My boyfriend and I have recently moved from a 2-bedroom flat to a small 3-bedroom end of terrace house. I want to make sure we're getting the best energy deal in the new house, but I'm not sure how to to this. Our flat was electric only (with E-on), but the new house is gas and electricity (currently with British Gas). It could very well be me being stupid, but most comparison sites ask for average usage of gas and electricity in order to find the best deal... we have no average usage of gas! How can I accurately compare energy comparison results when I don't have anything to base it on?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated. We're a young couple moving house for the first time and it's proving a lot more difficult/expensive than we imagined :eek:

Foggy

I think the average is 3500kwh for electricity and around 20000kwh for gas. It depends on things like your boiler efficiency, usage, lifestyle etc but I would think if you are out at work through the day, have good insulation - cavity wall, double glazing then these may be higher than you will use.

You could enter them knowing the costlier months are coming up so you won't fall behind with payments set too low and then adjust after 6 months or so when you have a better idea.

latecomer

One of the comparison sites (cant remember which) allows you to base it on the type of house i.e. detached/terraces, number of bedrooms, kinds of insulation etc if you dont have figures for usage.

miss_cupcake_2

latecomer wrote: »

One of the comparison sites (cant remember which) allows you to base it on the type of house i.e. detached/terraces, number of bedrooms, kinds of insulation etc if you dont have figures for usage.

Ah, I've just found energyhelpline.com which does this. Thanks

Premier_2

miss_cupcake wrote: »

Ah, I've just found energyhelpline.com which does this. Thanks

So it does! I hadn't noticed that option before.

uSwitch is another site that does something similar. Always good to get a second opinion, especially when you are into estimating usage.

chrissy_stevo

there is a good section on the site about this, if you follow the tips given here you wont go far wrong.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

Making sure you keep meter readings up to date is a good piece of advice, when i used to work for npower this was one of the main causes of big build up of bills for people on direct debit, when u first sign up you obviouslty set an amount, however until you have been through thr harsh winter months you can never be sure if you are set correctly. In summer you will build up large credits as you use less on heating etc however in the winter these will be eaten up so its key that you make sure you set an amount that will average well over the year

Foggy

latecomer wrote: »

One of the comparison sites (cant remember which) allows you to base it on the type of house i.e. detached/terraces, number of bedrooms, kinds of insulation etc if you dont have figures for usage.

Ah but where is the box to tick asking if you wear 3 jumpers when it's chilly instead of putting the heating on and turning the shower off during the soapyup bits.

If there was such a box I would be ticking it