bought first home but not sure what to do

Mrs_Rachel_Trelfa

Hi all,

This is my first time posting on gas and electric forum so please be gentle, have posted in other places but I am hoping you lovely people can help me out.

Me and hubby have just bought our first house - well we complete on Monday eek I know that when we get the keys we should go in and take meter readings and contact the current owners supplier in which is NPower to give them the reading and open an account with them. I also know that unless we state otherwise we will ne put on the expensive standard tariff.

What I initially wanted to do was to fix until 2017 and get cashback through the club thing on here. But as I am not in the house I can only guess my consumption and I do not know what tariff the current owners are on (all they said were that they pay aprox £70 a month for both). Does the cashback only work for new customers through that website or can I get it when calling up or do I need to initially go on standard and then switch through this website if that makes sense?

However I have since thought that as you pay much more per unit wouldn't it make more sense fixing for a shorter period of time with no exit fee and then when the fix is up or if something better comes along change then?

I look forward to all suggestions and advice.

[Deleted User]

I had a look at a 4 year fix with Npower and was horrified by the kwhr rate the fix would ve got me on. I had just come off a 9.5 p per kwhr electric rate and Npowers would have had me on something like 16.5 p per kwhr. OK its for 4 years but for at least 3 of those years I d be paying a lot more, plus Labour party have mentioned the price energy freeze they intend to do if they got in, so settled for a 11.4 p per kwhr one year with Npower. Since then I ve noticed First Utilitys excellent 2015 fix at 11.4 p per kwhr electric and only 3.7 p per kwhr gas which would ve been better

victor2

If you will already be with nPower, then you will not be entitled to any cashback from switching unless you do actually switch to a new supplier.
You will probably be put on their standard (read expensive!) tariff to start.
You obviously won't have any usage history to reflect your lifestyle and even if nPower tell you what the previous 12 month usage was (which I doubt anyway), it may not be relevant.
I'd consider a relatively short term deal on a variable rate until you can establish some usage (which is ideally a year). Then you can start looking at fixed rates once you know what you are likely to use.
If you pick a fixed tariff and find it doesn't suit you, even if it has no exit penalty you will probably have been paying above typical variable rates for the initial period of the tariff.

Mrs_Rachel_Trelfa

Thanks sacsquacco and victor2 for your responses. Looks like its going to be best to just stick it out for 12 months on the variable to get an annual usage then look to switch. Is there any chance of fixing for say 12-18 months so that I can build up a usage history but at least safeguard against a price hike next winter? Or are you not able to chose a fix deal when I phone up to register? Would I still be able to get discount for dual fuel and direct debit etc. Sorry for all the questions - like everyone on here we want to save money.

[Deleted User]

All suppliers give a lower rate for direct debit eg. heres BG s latest rates coming in on 23 rd Nov- Direct debit gas=4.73 p per kwhr Cash/cheque =5.05 p per kwhr with 26 p a day standing charge. electric is 12.82 kwhr DD against 13.75 p per kwhr cash/cheque 26 p a day standing charge. Whats wrong with just doing an intelligent guestimate into your useage , feeding it into a comp site for best rates and switching ( after checking their rates T and Cs ) and switching thro a cashback company such as Topcashback or Quidco and getting onto a cheaper fixed rate now before they ve gone. EDF quoted me only 3.7 p per kwhr for gas plus 18 p a day standing charge a couple of days ago. F.U.s rate seem unbeatable at moment on a June 2015 fix.

Mrs_Rachel_Trelfa

sacsquacco wrote: »

All suppliers give a lower rate for direct debit eg. heres BG s latest rates coming in on 23 rd Nov- Direct debit gas=4.73 p per kwhr Cash/cheque =5.05 p per kwhr with 26 p a day standing charge. electric is 12.82 kwhr DD against 13.75 p per kwhr cash/cheque 26 p a day standing charge. Whats wrong with just doing an intelligent guestimate into your useage , feeding it into a comp site for best rates and switching ( after checking their rates T and Cs ) and switching thro a cashback company such as Topcashback or Quidco and getting onto a cheaper fixed rate now before they ve gone. EDF quoted me only 3.7 p per kwhr for gas plus 18 p a day standing charge a couple of days ago. F.U.s rate seem unbeatable at moment on a June 2015 fix.

I would not have w clue what an intelligent guess would be. At the moment we pay £25 per month for electric although it probably should be a little more as we owe money on the account but the oven and hob are electric. And we are on a prepayment meter where £10 was lasting almost 3 months in summer and about 1 month now the weather has turned. (we have been really stingy to save up for deposit for the house). The house we have bought is obviously bigger and has gas jobs on the cooker and we will be less stingy with the heating.

[Deleted User]

Whatever annual usage I enter into a comp site (Ukpower ) the same kwhr rates and daily standing charges come up for First Utility. 21 p a day for both gas and electric 3.7 p per kwhr gas and 11.4 p per kwhr electric. Thats monthly debit debit on a 2015 fix. Compare your current rates to that available now
Read your electric for a week. see how many units you use and thats how many kwhrs of electric you use in a week ( multiply by 52 for a rough annual usage. One electric unit = one kwhr . Do the same with gas but have to get the calculator out to convert the gas units used either metric( cubic metres ) or imperial ( cubic feet ) into gas kwhrs
Seeing as you are on a prepay meter(s) you are never going to get the best rates, if possible change to credit meters asap if your credit history allows
P.S. your electric prepay read is on screen "G" ( total kwhr ). the tariff is a couple of presses further on at screen "I"

Mrs_Rachel_Trelfa

Thanks for the advice about the electric. We rent at the moment - well for the next few days until we get the keys to our house we have bought and are on what I call normal bills for the electric I.e. give meter readings and pay a monthly dd. Because the tenant that lived here 3 years ago racked up a huge gas bill and didn't pay it the house has got a 'black mark' against it and had the prepayment meter installed 3 years ago. I was not a fan as I know its more expensive but the house was very cheap rent which has meant that we have saved and able to buy a house. I think I have a letter from bg saying how much gas we have used in the last 12 months when they told us about the price rise. I guess I could use that? Where we were living before here we were on 'normal' bills so I cannot see that being a problem when we move?

[Deleted User]

Register with the current supplier when you move in with your meter readings, find out what tariff s its on then try the comp sites asap but dont switch through them, just get the tariff details and T and C s. Switch thro a cashback site. ( £42 with topcashback ) I think new occupiers default to the current suppliers "standard " tariffs .

victor2

When you call nPower, see what they can offer you with no commitment or exit penalty. Assuming you have gas for your heating, and use energy efficient light bulbs, you electricity usage will vary little over the year, so a month in the new house multiplied by 12 will come close to your annual electricity usage. The same cannot be said for your fuel which supplies heating though, as you will obviously use much more in the winter than the summer - that's what really needs a full year to get an idea of your annual usage.


There are shorter term fixes available, but you're probably better off going with a variable rate for the time being as this winter's price increases have already been announced.

Mrs_Rachel_Trelfa

Thanks. I have been looking at NPowers website and they say that their price fix 2015 us 3.5% cheaper than their standard and 2017 fix is cheaper than the standard by 2% how does that work as I thought it was more? Can someone explain?