First house!

cath708

Hi. So I'm moving into a house soon and as a first time buyer I am so confused about what gas/electricity plans and companies I need to be with. The lady who already lives there is with British gas for both and she says she spends around £40 cash and £30 electricity per month - she lives on her own. Does anyone have any tips on what plans/companies are good and who I should stay clear of. Would really appreciate any advice! Thanks

Fishingtime

Stay clear of them all.

Oh wait you can't
There will be loads of different views coming up

keith1950

Until you know what your usage turns out to be just enter average usage figures of 16000kwh for gas and 3500kwh for electricity into a comparison site such as 'ukpower'.

Remember when you move in you are in a 'deemed' contract with British Gas so you should ring them the day you move in and register with them on a standard tariff ( so you are not stuck with them ) and give them your opening meter readings.

You can then start a switch with whoever you like which can take between 3 and 8 weeks ( usually about 5 weeks ).

I would have thought £80-£90/month would be a realistic figure for your situation.

At the moment M&S have a decent one year fix and you can get £100 cashback and £20 of M&S vouchers through Quidco.

macman

You are most unlikely to use as little as £70pm/£840pa. Budget for the average dual fuel bill of nearer £1250pa.
There are no national 'best' deals, it depends on usage and region, which is why need to hit the comp sites with your estimated annual kWh figures.

ViolaLass

macman wrote: »

You are most unlikely to use as little as £70pm/£840pa. Budget for the average dual fuel bill of nearer £1250pa.

Really? We spend just over £50, in a 3 bed house. Nt saying the OP WILL spend that little but is it so unlikely?

OP, in your position, I would do one of two things:

1. Use a comparison site e.g. USwitch to find the best deal.

OR

2. Stay on BG's standard tariff for a couple of months until you have some usage figures and then do step one.

I'd be inclined to go for 1 because it'll probably get you a decent deal. After a year, you'll have lots of figures and you can try step 1 again.

[Deleted User]

You will take over as a British Gas customer when you move in, dont forget to get your outgoing meter readings when you move out and pass them on, likewise grab the incoming reads as soon as you move in. I see plenty of people putting end reads in to their supplier well before they move out, trying to pinch a couple of weeks free energy. 4-6 weeks is the approx time if you would like to revert back to your old supplier

macman

ViolaLass wrote: »

Really? We spend just over £50, in a 3 bed house. Nt saying the OP WILL spend that little but is it so unlikely?

OP, in your position, I would do one of two things:

1. Use a comparison site e.g. USwitch to find the best deal.

OR

2. Stay on BG's standard tariff for a couple of months until you have some usage figures and then do step one.

I'd be inclined to go for 1 because it'll probably get you a decent deal. After a year, you'll have lots of figures and you can try step 1 again.

I clearly stated that £1250 was an average. Some will use more, some less. Your usage is exceptionally low.

ViolaLass

macman wrote: »

I clearly stated that £1250 was an average. Some will use more, some less. Your usage is exceptionally low.

I'm happy to take your word for it, I'm just surprised. I don't see us as particularly frugal with elec or gas.

macman

Then your property is exceptionally energy-efficient. They aren't my figures.
The UK averages for a property with gas CH and DHW are 16,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity. What are you using?

ViolaLass

macman wrote: »

What are you using?

We haven't been here a year yet but extrapolating looks like 3000kWh elec and less than 40m3 of gas.

macman

40cu m gas is tiny-barely 455kWh (which is how you need to compare for billing, which is not by volume).
That means you've hardly had the heating or hot water on at all.
You can't pro rata to get a year unless you include the winter usage, which can be 80% of the total.
Your electricity usage is about right: 90% of the average.