Help - New House, Who To Go With?

carriestimp

Hi everyone,

New to this posting thing, hope I'm in the right place.
I'm going to be moving into my new flat on 1st Dec, and have no idea who is best to go with for my gas and elec?! There are so many products, it just blows my brains out.

My property is a medium size 2 bedroom flat, with elec oven and hob and central heating.
There will be 2 adults living there who work shifts.

Obviously want the lowest possible rate, but don't mind paying direct debit or prepayment?

Any advice would be appreciated
Thank you

dogshome

Hi carriestimp - If this an old flat and just new to you, as soon as you move in you will be customer of the current supplier - Make sure you read the meters as soon as you move in and phone the supplier with them.
As a 'New' account they will automatically put you onto an expensive Standard tariff - To change this you need to know how many Kwh of gas & Elec. you are using a year to go to the Switch sites.
Ask the present occupiers if you can, or if not post the size of flat and it's insulation quality and some one will give you a working guess to go on

If it's a brand new flat, the builders will have arranged a supplier, so ask who it is and phone them with your opening meter readings- Again you will be on an expensive tariff till you change it
If the Elec meter is located in a service room outside your flat, Double Check that the meter which you are told is yours, really is the right one.
You can do this by turning everything off, then whilst you watch the meter have a friend with a mobile phone switch the kettle on & off - The right one will show bursts of activity in time with the kettle switching

carriestimp

Thank you so much!

It is a brand new flat, there are only three in the block, so hopefully finding my meter wil be easy, and as soon as I know who my supplier is I'll call them straight away.

Question now is, which tariff????

Airmike23

Online tariff paid by monthly direct debit, go to comparison sites, projected consumption will dictate which power companies will come out top, generally low-med users Npower Sign Online 20, Scottish Power Online Energy 11 possibly Go Direct 5 with Southern (might be on there as Atlantic), if gonna be med to high user probably find EDF Online Saver 7 and Eon Save Online 4 will be among top results

dogshome

Hi carriestimp - OK. Your brand new flat should be very well insulated, so the guess figure for your consumption would be:
GAS - 10,000 Kwh a year
ELEC - 4,500 Kwh a year

If you know the post code for this flat, you can use the above figures on the Switch sites to find the best tariff before you move in.
The Switch sites will ask for your current supplier and the tariff you are on, but you can enter anything - Say EDF Standard tariff with Direct Debit Payment

KEEP in MIND that these figures are a GUESS, so record your meter readings once a month to check that your Direct Debit payments are not too high or too low - In winter your Gas use will be about 80% of what you will use for the year, and in Summer your Elec bill be around 20% less than that in Winter
Good Luck in the New Home