New Home, New Suppliers?

enived

Hello,

I'm about to move from rented accomodation where rent and bills are all inclusive to my own house. As I don't have an account with a gas or electricity company, I'm assuming I need to start everything from scratch. I've been reading everything about switching to get the best deal from utilities companies, but do all of these principles apply to someone who is starting afresh?

Also, I read that it can take 4 to 6 weeks for a switch to take place - does this apply to someone in my situation? Or could I just call one of the companies, and ask for a particular tariff to start on a particular day?

I realise that these may be very simple questions, but I just don't know he answers so any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

TIMMY85

Switching does apply as the property will already have a supplier (you will need to establish who this is). As soon as you use any energy you will have entered a deemed contract with that supplier and be responsive for the bills.
Take the meter readings and call the current supplier to let them know you have moved in. Ask them about their best tariffs and so on. They will also be able to suggest a payment based on past usage (this may or may not match your likely usage depending on size of family/circumstances). Without knowing consumption, go to a comparison site and use average consumption of 3300 kWh ele and 17000 kWh gas to see who is cheapest in your area.