Utilities costs in Norfolk

Cate1976

Going to keep this as short as possible. My husband & I are moving to Norfolk with our twin girls later this year, if all goes to plan it'll be mid October. Move is to be nearer to my family (I grew up in Norfolk), my parents and my sister's family live in Norfolk. We currently live in Northern Ireland (met my husband when I was over for a Christian festival July 2002, moved over to be with him 6 month later and we were married April 2004).

I've started trying to work out estimates of how much we'll have to pay for gas, electric, water and whatever is used to heat the house we move to.

My Husband & I are on benefits but I work 4 hours a week in Next because I'd rather be working, getting a transfer is possibly doubtful.

So far by going on Anglian Water's website, I've found that we should qualify for their Aquacare Plus scheme. I googled how much water does a family of 4 use in a year and then used google again to convert the gallons to cubic meters. It came out at 945.586 m³. Looking at the current tariffs, it looks as though our water bill is going to be around £17 week.

We'll be renting a 3 bedroom house (need 2 double rooms as girls share a room).

At the moment we pay for our electric with pre paid meter as that's the cheapest way to get electric here in Northern Ireland but am aware that it's the most expensive in England. At the moment we put £10 week on to last the week and there's nearly always some left when we buy more although it's usually less than £1. Obviously, there's a chance that the house will have a pre paid meter installed but we'd want to change it (can landlords say we have to keep the pre paid)? Assuming that the electric supplier allows us to have a credit meter, how much roughly should we expect to pay each week (if we pay by D/D, I'll make sure money is kept back each week to cover it).

If cooker is gas, how much roughly would that cost each week?

Heating, at the moment we're on oil for heating and hot water but am aware that in towns, gas or electric is more usual for these. I already know that storage heaters are the worst but that Economy 7 can be ok if set right (when I was renting a flat with it the first few months that I was living here in Northern Ireland, that had Economy 7 but the electric company sent out a leaflet explaining how to set it to be most efficient). How much should we expect to pay for gas or electric depending on which heats house & water?

Which electric/gas co's have the best customer and which are best avoided?

Thanks to anyone who can give any answers?

macman

PPM's cost the same as the supplier's Standard tariff.
Gas is about a third of the cost of electricity per kWh.
All the big 6 have customer service issues, best just to use a comp site with your estimated kWh figures to find the cheapest for your region. but until you know the heating system available in the property, you can't do that. You should be looking to rent somewhere with gas CH and DHW to get the lowest costs.

Cate1976

Thanks for that, might be obvious but what does DHW stand for, I think the HW might be Hot Water but stumped on the D.

Current meter for electric is PPM, how easy is it to work out how many kwh we're using? Guessing that one of the numbers on the keypad will do it?

Realised after pressing submit that paragraph about water should have been in Water discussions.

Cate1976

Just seen Dfects thread about problems switching electric & gas supply. That gives me another few questions. Can landlords/letting agents insist on us using a certain supplier for gas/electric? Also can they insist on which type (PPM or credit) of meter we have? If we're unlucky enough that previous tenants have left owing bills, can the gas/electric companies refuse to allow us to have credit meter or is that a no no under legislation, also related to that if meters are PPM's and previous tenants have been paying off bill by losing a certain amount of what they buy, how hard will it be for us to get it changed so that we don't lose money? For example buy £10 electric but only get £6. I know that under some financial act of which I can't remember the name that you can't be held liable for somone elses debt but I have heard of people moving into house with PPM and gas/electric co saying that until previous tenants paid bill, money would still be taken.

Terrylw1

You are not legally responsible for the previous tenants debt, the supplier will ensure that debt is wiped off the meter.

No one can insist on a supplier, its the responsibility of the legal bill payer. So, the only way they can do it is by not allowed a tenant to be responsible for utilities in the tenancy agreement, hence the landlord is and passes the value of the bills on...however the supplier holds the landlord liable for the bill, regardless of whether he/she gets paid by the tenants. Usually, landlords avoid this mess by giving the tenants responsibility, hence they can switch as they are legally responsible.

The whole issue with landlords/developers is that companies like Spark are giving them kickbacks. The landlord can't override the utility act with his/her own contract.

In terms of getting rid of a PPM, you will get some conflicting views on here. Some believe you should be paying for the meter to be changed just because the previous occupant was a bad debtor and the supplier loses out. My view is different as I don't think its your fault and using this excuse it attempting to penalise a new customer to save on their costs. You will find some will do it free and in some threads its been clear that if you threaten to switch, they waive the fees sending a signal that they are not that bothered about the fee. They may want to do a credit check, requests deposits, etc. Be careful with deposits...other threads have shown they sometimes ask for these when they know that its a blah and not supportable by any act, SLC, etc.

Cate1976

Thanks for that Terry, you've given me the answers I was hoping for. I guess that if the meters are PPM's, I'll only find out if previous tenants were paying off debts when the code is put into the meter.

I do know that BT are known to be awkward about people moving into properties where previous occupants have unpaid bills. I also know that if line has been disconnected, they'll charge me £300 to get it reconnected, (happened to neighbours of ours, they moved in and found line disconnected, didn't have the £300 upfront, they moved out a few months later, no idea how new occupants got the line reconnected though).

When we're looking at houses, I'll be asking what kind of meters are being used for gas/electric and if it's PPM will contact the supplier myself after signing tenancy agreement to make sure that meter is adjusted if it needs to be. If it's credit meters which I'd prefer, then I'll get the readings immediately after signing the agreement. Next step would be to contact suppliers with the readings.

Hopefully I won't need them but if i do what acts are relevant if any companies do get awkward?

Terrylw1

The best place to look to understand how your supplier is expected to operate is the Standard Licence Conditions (SLC) which are Ofgem's site here:

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Licensing/Work/Pages/licence-conditions-consolidated.aspx

You want the supplier links.

The utility acts can be useful as well which you can look through on legislation.gov.uk

You can also look for the codes on ERA such as the billing code, consumer direct confidence code, etc...which are useful reads.

There are other operating policies, namely the Master Registration Agreement (MRA) and the Balancing & Settlements Code (BSC) but these are more industry aimed and very technical, so best to post threads and let the folks on here help out.

Cate1976

Thanks Terry, good to know where to find the information if I need it which I'm hoping I won't. Ideal situation would be for whichever house we get to have credit meter and for the previous tenants to have paid for whatever they've used.