New Tenants - who do we go with?

Baconroll

Hi,

My Girlfriend and I moved into our first property yesterday, a terraced 2up2down place. It's also our landlord's first letting as well, so there's a bit of a learning curve on both sides.

The landlord only purchased the property 2 weeks ago, so the turnaround to get us in was very quick, so he's had no real experience of how much the place costs to run.

He signed up to Scottish Power for Gas & Elec. I don't know as to the reasoning behind it, but he said he just asked for the cheapest, bog-standard contract.

He said we can choose to go with whomever we like once we're in, but we don't have any data as yet to make a decision on whether we should switch to another provider or not.

Are we best to just get a few months' bills under our belt to see what we should do with regards to switching, or does anyone have any recommendations for a provider or package that may be good for anyone just moving in for the first time?

Thanks in advance.

Paul_01

If you check out uswitch, they have a tool that will give you an estimate of your likely usage based on your circumstances - they will also calculate who will be cheapest for you based on the estimated usage.

To be more accurate, just take a few meter readings over the course of a week or so and this will give you an indication of current usage, but bear in mind you will be using a lot more at this time of year than the yearly average.

[Deleted User]

In my area, South Yorks, Scot Power have been probably the cheapest electric supplier. I would try other comp sites also, not just Uswitch

keith1950

Hi, I hope you rang Scottish Power and registered with them the day you moved in and gave them your opening readings on that day.

After that you can switch to whoever you want, I have usually found the best time is to switch March/April , although you never know which way the prices are going to go.

macman

As above, you are already in a deemed contract with SP, so you can't switch until you have registered with them and submitted opening readings. Nothing to do with your landlord. Do that and then use any comp site with your estimated annual kWh readings to find the best tariff. Then switch via a cashback site, it will take 4-5 weeks.

zzzLazyDaisy

I like Scottish Power - I am on an online tariff, I put my readings in regularly so can keep on top of my usage, and once every three months they send me a reminder. My DD is pretty close to my actual usage, and when they once tried to increase it, they quickly dropped it back down when I phoned them.

I am on an old fixed rate tariff that is no longer available, but for the past five years they have been the most competitive anyway.

If you find after checking that they are coming up competitive, I suggest that you phone and get them to check out the cheapest online tariff for you, and then stay on it a year. You will then have a record of your usage through the changing seasons and you will be better placed to do an accurate comparison.

Same goes for any other provider that you might switch to.

Also, if switching, don't forget to check out topcashback to see if you can get some money back.

hth

Dx

Wywth

Baconroll wrote: »

Hi,

My Girlfriend and I moved into our first property yesterday, a terraced 2up2down place. It's also our landlord's first letting as well, so there's a bit of a learning curve on both sides.

The landlord only purchased the property 2 weeks ago, so the turnaround to get us in was very quick, so he's had no real experience of how much the place costs to run.

He signed up to Scottish Power for Gas & Elec. I don't know as to the reasoning behind it, but he said he just asked for the cheapest, bog-standard contract.

He said we can choose to go with whomever we like once we're in, but we don't have any data as yet to make a decision on whether we should switch to another provider or not.

Are we best to just get a few months' bills under our belt to see what we should do with regards to switching, or does anyone have any recommendations for a provider or package that may be good for anyone just moving in for the first time?

Thanks in advance.

The LL should have signed up with whichever company supplied energy to the previous owner/occupant, and you must do likewise.

I wish you all the luck in the world on your first tenancy - I fear you are going to need it with the LL you chose.