Buying New House - How do I get electricity?

Little_Miss_Penny_Less

Hi All, please forgive my ignorance in advance, but I have lived so far with parents, or in rented accomodation where choice of suppliers was not an option...

So... we're buying our first house, and need to organise getting the gas and electricity in our name... We know that the seller used BG for both (not sure what plan)... My questions are:

a) Before we complete, do we need to call BG and give them our names etc to change the account to?

b) can I use this opportunity to find the best deal around, even if with another provider? Or do I need to go with BG at least initially for ease of transfer?

c) If I do have to stay with BG, can I become a customer of theirs via a cashback site, e.g. Quidco, to get some kind of return?

Thanks in advance - any help gratefully appreciated as I step tentatively into the realm of utilities!

justtoclarify_2

Little_Miss_Penny_Less wrote:

My questions are:

a) Before we complete, do we need to call BG and give them our names etc to change the account to? :

I would say, wait until you get the keys and take your own meter readings. Completion dates can change so its best to wait until you are in possession before contacting BG. By default to avoid you moving in with no gas or electricity, BG will continue supply the property, your first bill may be addressed to the occupier, if the current owners have given a final reading without letting them know who the new owners will be. But don't assume that the current owners remembered to give final meter readings, it is easy to forget. Without a final reading BG will estimate, this could be in your favour or not, assume not and take your own readings.

b) can I use this opportunity to find the best deal around, even if with another provider? Or do I need to go with BG at least initially for ease of transfer? :

Yes, by all means do your checks now, concentrate on the charges per kWH, not the promised saving. You will be with BG for the time it takes you to organise a switch, switching usually takes around 28 days to complete. Just make sure you do not sign up with any special tariffs with minimum contracts lengths unless you have selected BG as your long term supplier. You will need your meter reference numbers to switch.

You could check your meter readings for the first few weeks using http://www.ukpower.co.uk/smartmeters/ to get an idea of how much energy you are using and how much it will cost with different suppliers.

c) If I do have to stay with BG, can I become a customer of theirs via a cashback site, e.g. Quidco, to get some kind of return?

Not sure about this, since you have to give your current supplier when you fill out the form to switch, I think that they would realise that they were already your supplier. The utility companies computers are easily confused in the companies favour, adding to their confusion is probably not a good thing.

Good luck with move and remember which box contains the beverage of your choice on moving day!

One last thing, if the current owners are taking the washing machine or dishwasher, buy a couple 3/4 inch brass central heating end/stop caps (do not buy metric caps, they don't fit) and PTFE tape. Why you may ask, the taps for these items are fine when you want water to flow, however they can leak when closed to stop water. It may not be apparent until you draw water from one of the other taps, but to avoid a flood this works.