new home, do we have to go with the vendors previous providers of gas, elec etc?

A_Nice_Englishman

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

You need to be careful with some properties as the groundwork infrastructure (the supply to your house) can be supplied by one of these independant companies.

We found this out last year when we tried to switch away from British Gas. We were informed by the new gas supplier, Powegen, that they would charge an additional £60p.a. odd for our infrastructure. A charge which British Gas did not levy. So I cancelled the transfer. And with BG we have stayed. They're the preferred suppliers for the local infrastructure so we're kind of stuffed. Talk about anti-competition. We knew nothing of this when we exchanged.

Same here, except it applies to all suppliers as far as I know.

As I understand it, what happens is that the independent company pay for the infrastructure instead of the builder and get the money back by charging occupiers through their gas bills.

Is the initial saving reflected in the price of the houses or in the builder's profits? I'd hazard a guess at the latter!