Utilities for House Renovation

scrivomcdivo

Hi there. We are due to complete on a house purchase next week. The house needs quite a bit of cosmetic work and as we have the luxury of living with the parents at present, we are not in a rush to move in and so will modernise the house as and when we have the available funds. I anticipate we'll spend a few hours a week doing up the house.

Now, whilst doing up the house, we'd like utilities such as electricity and water just to use the toilet and have lighting whilst decorating during the evening. I'm just wondering is there a way we can get a supplier to supply these without paying a standing charge?

Thanks

cattie

Regarding the water, you can have a water meter fitted & with gas & electric it is possible to find tarrifs with no standing charge, but the thing to watch out for is how much per unit you are paying.

If you are only using facilities occasionally, then the bills are not going to be high anyway & for electricity & gas you could always consider one of the card type meters, which you have to preload at local outlets.

ognum

Your main bill is going to be council tax, make contact with the consil to get it nil rated while you renovate, depending on the council and if it has been empty before you may get six months or a year without payment

tbs624

ognum wrote: »

Your main bill is going to be council tax, make contact with the consil to get it nil rated while you renovate, depending on the council and if it has been empty before you may get six months or a year without payment

Note that the OP only mentions "cosmetic work", rather than renovation of the structural variety

ognum

Id the house is empty it can be nil rated for council tax!

DVardysShadow

scrivomcdivo wrote: »

I'm just wondering is there a way we can get a supplier to supply these without paying a standing charge?

Thanks

Don't cheap skate! The effort you put in on this might save you £15 over the time you are renovating, but cost you an evening to investigate, which in turn will probably cost you loads more than the £15 when you look at what losing that evening will cost your renovation.

tbs624

ognum wrote: »

Id the house is empty it can be nil rated for council tax!

....as in unoccupied and "substantially unfurnished":)

ognum

tbs624 wrote: »

....as in unoccupied and "substantially unfurnished":)

Yes empty!

scrivomcdivo

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Don't cheap skate! The effort you put in on this might save you £15 over the time you are renovating, but cost you an evening to investigate, which in turn will probably cost you loads more than the £15 when you look at what losing that evening will cost your renovation.

I'd have to disagree with this. Standing charges for water, electricity and gas are estimated around £60 - £70 when I've looked per month so, if we carry out work over a 6-month period, that could reach up to £420 wasted not just £15.

Thanks for the replies and I'll look into the council tax too

ic

As pointed out, you can get a water meter fitted, but remember that you have 13 months to change your mind and go back to rates - BUT the next time the account changes name, the next account holder has to go on to the water meter. However, most people save a lot of money on meters so this shouldn't be a problem.

Gas and electricity, go for a none-standing charge tariff. I suspect as a very low user, you'll be best off with somebody like Ebico. You can change supplier again when you actually move in.

Talk to your council, if the house is unoccupied and unfurnished, then you should qualify for up to six months free.

Look closely at your insurance, if the house is unoccupied for a length of time then your cover could lapse. What classes as unoccupied for this purpose I'm not sure - after all the house will be empty most of the time (assuming your sleeping elsewhere and still working). Should a claim arise, insurance will do whatever they can to get out of paying, so bare this in mind.

poppysarah

Whoever the house is with it'd take 28 days to swap energy companies with anyway - ask about the best tarrif for low use.

re: water - if you're not living in it they don't want paying. Ring them and tell them you're not there.

More than a month and you will have insurance problems.

TBH though once you have the keys you may feel differently about not moving in.