Help with moving home please ~ I haven't a clue!

shellsuit

We're moving in a few weeks, I've had prepayment meters here for the past God knows how many years.

In the new property, there are no PP meters.

All I know is that the Gas is with British Gas and the Electricity is with Scottish Power.

I know that I've got to take readings when I leave here ~ do I ring the conmpanies above when I have the new keys, or can I get my gas and elec for the new house from anyone?

I've just been looking at Uswitch and it's asking me things I can't answer.

What am I best doing, and what rate/tier/plan do I go for?

At the moment, we put £20 a week in the Elec, sometimes £5 more, and in the Gas we put about £30 a week in, yet in the summer I can put £5 in which will last a fortnight.

I'm sure we will make a saving, but is there a plan where we can pay a fixed sum every month, yet still get billed frequently, paying anything else that is due??

I haven't got a clue!

dogshome

Hi shellsuit - When you leave the property inform your present supplier of the meter readings, but do this in writing and file away a copy of the letter - it's not unknown for suppliers to present a final bill years later. The same goes for your water meter if you have one.

On the day you move in, make a note of all the meter readings including water if it's metered.
At first You will have to take your energy from the present supplier, but ask them what tariff you are on and move to a better one if there is one, and you can change to another supplier after a few weeks - Obviously your bills in a different property will be different from those in your present home.
You don't give any data on your present home, but the amounts you are paying look odd -
Your electric payments total appx. £1000 a year, which is a huge amount for a home with gas heating.

When you get to the new home, if you put info as to it's size, type(Flat/Terrace/Semi,Det), insulation, gas/elect etc. on this site, you will get advice as to what bills you can expect
Best wishes

shellsuit

dogshome wrote: »

Hi shellsuit - When you leave the property inform your present supplier of the meter readings, but do this in writing and file away a copy of the letter - it's not unknown for suppliers to present a final bill years later. The same goes for your water meter if you have one.

On the day you move in, make a note of all the meter readings including water if it's metered.
At first You will have to take your energy from the present supplier, but ask them what tariff you are on and move to a better one if there is one, and you can change to another supplier after a few weeks - Obviously your bills in a different property will be different from those in your present home.
You don't give any data on your present home, but the amounts you are paying look odd -
Your electric payments total appx. £1000 a year, which is a huge amount for a home with gas heating.

When you get to the new home, if you put info as to it's size, type(Flat/Terrace/Semi,Det), insulation, gas/elect etc. on this site, you will get advice as to what bills you can expect
Best wishes

Thanks for the help!

That's what I put in the meter though, in the summer it does go down to about £15 a week for elec, but now it can be £20-£25 a week.

I'm in a 3 bed house now and I'm moving to another 3 bed house. This is a semi though and the new house is a mid terrace, so not sure if that will make a difference.

Also the back door and back room windows aren't DG here, whereas the new house if fully DG.

I've checked with the water and I can do that online.

With the gas and elec here, I will just ring and give them the readings on the day I hand the keys back.

With the gas and elec there, I need to get on as soon as I get the keys, which hopefully will be Monday or Tuesday, even though we're not moving in until the 14th March, as we'll need the gas and elec on as we're decorating.

I'll ring the companies like you have said, but how do I know what the best tarrifs are?

And does it work out cheaper to pay by DD because I hate those things lol

Premier_2

shellsuit wrote: »

...I'm sure we will make a saving, but is there a plan where we can pay a fixed sum every month, yet still get billed frequently, paying anything else that is due??...

shellsuit wrote: »

...And does it work out cheaper to pay by DD because I hate those things lol

It often is cheaper to pay a monthly amount by DD. If calculated correctly, this should ideally be 1/12 of your total annual spend ... but often it needs adjusting. By agreeing to monthly DD, any adjustment can be spread over a number of months, although if you do need to pay more, you could offer to pay that as a lump sum as so reduce the increase in monthly payments accordingly.

I'm not sure why you then say you don't want to pay by DD though.
You can, of course, opt to pay on receipt of bill and there are a number of ways to pay that bill, but monthly payments are typically by DD.

shellsuit

Premier wrote: »

It often is cheaper to pay a monthly amount by DD. If calculated correctly, this should ideally be 1/12 of your total annual spend ... but often it needs adjusting. By agreeing to monthly DD, any adjustment can be spread over a number of months, although if you do need to pay more, you could offer to pay that as a lump sum as so reduce the increase in monthly payments accordingly.

I'm not sure why you then say you don't want to pay by DD though.
You can, of course, opt to pay on receipt of bill and there are a number of ways to pay that bill, but monthly payments are typically by DD.

Sorry, what I meant was, my Aunty was telling me a couple of weeks ago that she pays £20 a week on a card for her gas, but then gets billed every so often and she is either in credit, or owes a little.

I think it may be a payment plan?

I don't want to pay by DD, as I like to budget and pay everything weekly.

KimYeovil

shellsuit wrote: »

I'm sure we will make a saving, but is there a plan where we can pay a fixed sum every month, yet still get billed frequently, paying anything else that is due??

You mean, standard quarterly billing?

Just choose 'pay on receipt of bill' on the comparison site calculator to see what standard tariffs are cheaper. (Note Scottish Power offer a dual fuel prompt payment discount of £150 (£37.50 per quarter). That won't be included on the results.)

(But run through them again and compare the price with monthly direct debits - you may want to change your plans then.)

dannymccann

Pay everything weekly? I cant see the logic in that unless you get paid weekly? Direct Debits are frankly a godsend, I wonder how much you spend tootling down to the post office in your car or on the bus every week to pay a bill which could and should really be taken electronically every month. Once you have been on this system for a year your payments should not change at all between the months, and its a nice way to build up a buffer for the winter months. I would really suggest paying by Direct Debit.

As above though, give final meter reads to your current property suppliers and starting readings to your new ones. It is your choice who to go with as a supplier, just use USwitch to find the cheapest tarriff, make sure you read the small print that you arent being locked into a 12 month contract when you may only be in the new property for 6 months! You may get a cancellation charge in this circumstance.

Good luck

shellsuit

KimYeovil wrote: »

You mean, standard quarterly billing?

Just choose 'pay on receipt of bill' on the comparison site calculator to see what standard tariffs are cheaper. (Note Scottish Power offer a dual fuel prompt payment discount of £150 (£37.50 per quarter). That won't be included on the results.)

(But run through them again and compare the price with monthly direct debits - you may want to change your plans then.)

That's great Kim thanks, I'll ask for that when I ring them

dannymccann wrote: »

Pay everything weekly? I cant see the logic in that unless you get paid weekly? Direct Debits are frankly a godsend, I wonder how much you spend tootling down to the post office in your car or on the bus every week to pay a bill which could and should really be taken electronically every month. Once you have been on this system for a year your payments should not change at all between the months, and its a nice way to build up a buffer for the winter months. I would really suggest paying by Direct Debit.

As above though, give final meter reads to your current property suppliers and starting readings to your new ones. It is your choice who to go with as a supplier, just use USwitch to find the cheapest tarriff, make sure you read the small print that you arent being locked into a 12 month contract when you may only be in the new property for 6 months! You may get a cancellation charge in this circumstance.

Good luck

Yes, of course paid weekly, else I wouldn't budget weekly

I wouldn't spend any extra time going out to pay a bills weekly, as I do that now topping up cards for the prepayments meters!

I'd ideally like payment cards for the Gas & Elec, the rent will be paid by card too, plus the CT can be paid weekly at the same time, so it saves a lot of hassle doing it this way.

I'll check Uswitch out again, but as I said before I didn't get far with it as it was asking me questions I couldn't answer.

worriedman68

"Just choose 'pay on receipt of bill' on the comparison site calculator to see what standard tariffs are cheaper. (Note Scottish Power offer a dual fuel prompt payment discount of £150 (£37.50 per quarter). That won't be included on the results.)"

I seriously think you have got your decimal place incorrect Kim... I work in this industry everyday and no one offers prompt pay of that value (just checked sp website nowt on there about it. please check your facts

worriedman68

P.S Kim as per new OFGEM regulations ALL discounts must now be included on QUOTES.

KimYeovil

worriedman68 wrote: »

"Just choose 'pay on receipt of bill' on the comparison site calculator to see what standard tariffs are cheaper. (Note Scottish Power offer a dual fuel prompt payment discount of £150 (£37.50 per quarter). That won't be included on the results.)"

I seriously think you have got your decimal place incorrect Kim... I work in this industry everyday and no one offers prompt pay of that value (just checked sp website nowt on there about it. please check your facts

Yes they do. Check your facts yourself - oh, hang on, you work in this industry - who would have thought - an energy industry worker not knowing the facts!

See page 17/18 of: http://scottishpower.co.uk/pricing_pdfs/general.pdf

13.699p electricity, 27.398p gas, multiply those by 365.

Of course, this is just off the standard tariffs, so for an average user will not be a great deal. But being a flat rate of £150 regardless of consumption it can work out for more modest users.

(I'll have to double-check whether or not the discounts are now included but prompt payment discounts were explicitly excluded from comparison site annual quotes (and had to be left off to comply with the code).)