Moving into our first house, confused by utilities!

Wiley

Hello all,

Me and my fiance are moving into our first house the weekend after this weekend. It is a brand new build 3 bed house we are renting from a family friend that built it. We are currently staying with my parents and have never lived on our own. The house is well insulated, has a combi boiler and every light in the house is all energy saving bulbs.

I am trying, and struggling, to get my head around all these tariff's and what is best and what to take. I really need some help and advice about what i need to be looking for...

Please help,

many thanks in advance

victor2

See who it is currently with and if you can get an idea of the annual usage from that supplier in kWh for both gas and electricity.
Of course, there's no guarantee that will be what you'll use, but it's a start and could be relevant if the previous tenants had a similar lifestyle to you.
With that, use one of the comparison sites, like uSwitch to get an idea what is likely to be a good deal for you. There is generally a better price on dual fuel options, so concentrate on those.

It's up to you to decide between a fixed price tariff for a set period and a variable one. Prices have recently gone up, so it's probably worth going for a variable rate one that you won't be locked into for too long, as prices are not expected to increase again in the near future. Fixed ones cost a little more, but the price will not go up for the duration of the contract.

Edit:
Sorry, just noticed it's a brand new build, so there probably isn't any history of usage. People on here with a similar house might be able to give you pointers to what usage you might expect.

Wiley

Thanks for the reply. The property is a brand new build. It only just got signed off by building control yesterday and we are the first tenants in it so there has been 0 usage so far!

Pincher

On any comparison site, choose medium user.
In case they ask, choose to see all the suppliers,
because they try to hide the ones they don't have a deal with.

Wiley

Thanks so far folks

just been on uSwitch.com picked a medium user and paying by monthly direct debit.

The cheapest that has came up is with First:Utility @ £1028.49 iSave Dual Fuel V9

No cancellation fees
Prices guaranteed for a minimum of 3 months
Online or paper billing (paper billing option charged at £1 per month)

2nd was npower £1031.93 Sign Online 24

Mandatory paperless billing
Guaranteed 2% discount against standard offline variable until 3rd February 2013
Cancellation fee of £40 if contract terminated before 3rd February 2013
Prices guaranteed over the winter period

and 3rd was ScottishPower £1039.49 Online Energy Saver 16

Prices will remain 11.9% below standard rates until 31st December 2012
Cancellation fee of £30.64 for electricity and £20.42 for gas if contract terminated before 31st December 2012
Mandatory online account management

all of this is pretty gobbledygook to me at the moment while im trying to get my head around it.

The kind of lifestyle we have is we both work monday-friday 9-530 jobs so heating will be used morning evening and weekend. Very energy conscious so lights off behind you, everything switched off at the mains when not in use etc etc

jalexa

Wiley wrote: »

just been on uSwitch.com picked a medium user and paying by monthly direct debit.

The cheapest that has came up is with First:Utility @ £1028.49 iSave Dual Fuel V9

No cancellation fees
Prices guaranteed for a minimum of 3 months

OK, just dealing with First:Utility (others later), why did you not post this clearly stated on the FU website?...

"After your first year with First Utility we will credit 13% of your annual spend back in to your account!"

Do you undertstand the implications?

Wiley

jalexa wrote: »

OK, just dealing with First:Utility (others later), why did you not post this clearly stated on the FU website?...

"After your first year with First Utility we will credit 13% of your annual spend back in to your account!"

Do you undertstand the implications?

being honest, i have no clue what-so-ever!

jalexa

Wiley wrote: »

being honest, i have no clue what-so-ever!

OK. This is an example of a "deferred discount":eek: tariff. The effect is that if you leave before the discount is earned you forfeit the discount. So, consider what-if FU increased the rates after 3 months. Well you would receive notice and could switch but you would forfeit the discount. Do you trust FU not to increase the rates after 3 months?

Wiley

jalexa wrote: »

OK. This is an example of a "deferred discount":eek: tariff. The effect is that if you leave before the discount is earned you forfeit the discount. So, consider what-if FU increased the rates after 3 months. Well you would receive notice and could switch but you would forfeit the discount. Do you trust FU not to increase the rates after 3 months?

Good point, thank you, so possibly not the best option there. What about the next best 2 that came up on the list? anything that i should be considering between them?

Thank you so far Jalexa, as you can probably tell, this is my first venture into the big bad world, i have never had to deal with this before. I greatly appreciate any and all help

jalexa

Wiley wrote: »

What about the next best 2 that came up on the list? anything that i should be considering between them?

Well NPower Signonline 24 is also a "deferred discount":eek: tariff and it has early termination charges, so a double whammy.

The Scottish Power one is a "guaranteed discount" tariff and unusually features quite a generous initial discount. Remember, subject to timing, you can avoid early termination charges on the occasion of a price increase on a "guaranteed discount" tariff.

You might also want to extend your search to include "fixed price" tariffs. Peace of mind at possibly a slightly higher rate. Personally I usually go for a fixed-price tariff. A fix may well be a good choice for an energy newbie.

Wiley

jalexa wrote: »

Well NPower Signonline 24 is also a "deferred discount":eek: tariff and it has early termination charges, so a double whammy.

The Scottish Power one is a "guaranteed discount" tariff and unusually features quite a generous initial discount. Remember, subject to timing, you can avoid early termination charges on the occasion of a price increase on a "guaranteed discount" tariff.

You might also want to extend your search to include "fixed price" tariffs. Peace of mind at possibly a slightly higher rate. Personally I usually go for a fixed-price tariff. A fix may well be a good choice for an energy newbie.

This is what i'm hearing alot of and have been recommended by several and i think it might be our best bet as this is our first home. in a years time we'll find out what our usage is like and be able to decide if we would be better off on another tariff, and at the end i'll get money back on the energy we've not used (if there would be any left! lol)