How am I supposed to compare elec when they ask for usage and just moved in?

dogshome

The Comp sites only ask for consumption figures so they can trumpet the possible savings - All a bit too clever by half.

The way to go is the Citizen Advice energy site, they also ask for consumption figures, but they list every company there is and don't get 'Kick backs' for recommendations

Who is your supplier?  Just answer British Gas

What is your tariff?       Click the 'Don't Know' button

Energy you use?          If an ECO7 meter say 8,000, split 40% day, 60% Night - If standard meter say 3000

Because you have put Garbage in, you will get Garbage out, but what you are really after are the prices per Kwh and the Standing Charges, which will be 100% correct.

Before you decide which supplier is for you, Check the customer feed back, there is no point in having the very cheapest price if you are being driven barmy by crazy bills or no bills at all

GervisLooper

A_Lert said:

Try to cut through money estimates and find the price per kWh and the standing charge. As mentioned electricity is expensive for heating - 3 to 4 times the price of gas! - so focus on low price per kWh.

(Unless the property has a heat pump system that's correctly sized and in good working order. In that case the cost will be similar to gas. But if heat pumps are undersized or faulty, which is common when housebuilders cut corners, they end up expensive.)

Well the property was built only 1 and a half years ago and from the welcome pack that came with it it seems they are very efficiency focused - recycled wood for the laminate flooring, blurbs telling you the importance of recycling/conserving energy, economy shower head so it only trickles out even on 'full', so I would like to think they also followed through on that philosophy with the electricity and heating setup too.

Don't new builds also have to meet stricter requirements for energy efficiency by law?

dogshome said:

The Comp sites only ask for consumption figures so they can trumpet the possible savings - All a bit too clever by half.

Aye, that is exactly what I was thinking though couldn't quite put it into words.

GervisLooper

victor2 said:

Contact whoever your current supplier is

...

That also is a tricky one as I was told, by that national grid number you ring to find your supplier, that I was with yorkshire energy, however the company has gone defunct since I moved in. I looked on their website and it said that all their customers are being passed over to scottish power. Now when I rang scottish power they told me 'strange you don't have an account either with us or with yorkshire energy' then I was told to call another of their numbers dealing with the changeover of previous yorkshire energy customers which they then told me I am not with them and have actually been sent over to SSE!

I didn't ring SSE yet so will have to see what they say. I didn't ring them though because my rationale was that since the closing of the account would be handled by whichever new supplier I went with that I would just arrange with the new supplier and the old account would be closed by them (that is what scottish power told me when they asked me if I wanted to setup an account with them anyway there an then which I declined in favour of doing some research).

dogshome

GervisLooper

It's a fair bet that your Letting Agent was paid a few bob by SSE to Switch the account to them whilst your new home was in limbo between tenants

With the date of the actual Switch unknown, best to assume that SSE were the supplier when you moved in, so you should contact them and give the meter readings on the day you moved in

I'm dealing with this same problem at the moment on behalf of the daughter of a friend - Supplier on data base Octopus, but actually SSE

Looking at tariffs on SSE's website is worrying, but if you go the Citizen Advice website, there is an under-the-counter tariff available from a ? comparison site 1 Year Fix & Cover v2 paperless  billing  - In the Eastern Region this is 15.981p a Kwh with a 19.44p Standing Charge - The out of contract SVR prices are 17,157p a Kwh with a 24.50p Standing Charge

In my case because this is flat is all electric with no ECO7 meter, I'm opting that she lives with the SVR and I'll switch her to another supplier a.s.a.p.