New Home Owner Bills

SlowLoris_3

hello,
we are currently looking at properties as first time buyers so the whole process is filled with a large amount of mystery for us as such I may be back with many questions but one which has dawned on me recently is that some of the houses we have been considering have been occupied, for example, by families with 2+ children now as there are only to be two of us moving into a property I am a little concerned that we will be facing Gas / Elec bills based on the previous owners usage which, hopefully, will have been much higher than we would use as a working couple. As such can anyone please clarify for me how our initial bills would be calculated as we would have no historical data for it to be based on?

Thank you for your help in advance

irnbru_2

SlowLoris wrote:

I am a little concerned that we will be facing Gas / Elec bills based on the previous owners usage

Open a quarterly payment account instead of direct debit.

If estimate for direct debit is based on previous householder you can always negotiate the payment level to reflect the change in usage profile.

SlowLoris_3

thank you.
Whilst I know it is difficult to estimate is there any way to obtain an indication of the likely bills (or at least an indicative maximum) as we are heading in blind and could prove tricky for agreeing on a payment level. If it helps at all the house is most likely a 3 bed semi detached house with central heating?

Cardew

It is cheaper on Direct Debit - if they let you have that payment system as a new customer.

The problem is that it will be very difficult to establish your annual consumption until you have been in the house for a year as your bills are much lower in the summer.

I would ask to pay 60 pounds a month(for Gas/electricity) but be prepared to be in debt(or hopefully credit) at the end of the first year.

irnbru_2

SlowLoris wrote:

If it helps at all the house is most likely a 3 bed semi detached house with central heating?

Have the brass neck to ask the estate agent for the running costs of the existing householder You could assume that to be your upper costs.

Use Cardew's £720 or the, supposed, national average of £1K and see how that suits your budget.

SlowLoris_3

thank you for the replies knowing that we will hopefully have the opportunity to readjust for our circumstances is good to know.... also took the step of asking the current owners so hopefully have an upper threshold to work to