Gas and electricity deal for empty property

itzisimo

Good afternoon,

I am writing from Somerset where I own a house which has been rented until very recently. I have decided to have a break from renting it out and I am looking for a company which won't charge much, or at all, for gas and electricity, as no usage will be made, since the property is currently empty. 

I have come across Utilita (pay as you go service, no contract, no exit fees) but in order to join them, they want British Gas (the company the tenant was with) to take the DCC off the meters. I have contacted BG and they insist that any company can take over without the need to remove the meters, as the meters belong to the property. If I were to insist in taking the meters off BG would change me £160 for the gas meter and an equal amount to take off the electricity meter. 

I was wondering if anyone has faced a similar situation.

Thank you very much and keep safe!

Farway

Without having the meters removed you will still have a Standing Charge to pay, using energy or not

If you have meters removed someone will have t pay to have them refitted which depending on t your plans is you or a buyer

From what I've read on here the cheapest & easiest option is to find a suppler with the lowest standing charge, sometimes separate supplies are cheaper than dual

Just put annual usage as say 1KW into a comparison site, which or CAB's for whole of market

Hasbeen

itzisimo said:

Good afternoon,

I am writing from Somerset where I own a house which has been rented until very recently. I have decided to have a break from renting it out and I am looking for a company which won't charge much, or at all, for gas and electricity, as no usage will be made, since the property is currently empty. 

I have come across Utilita (pay as you go service, no contract, no exit fees) but in order to join them, they want British Gas (the company the tenant was with) to take the DCC off the meters. I have contacted BG and they insist that any company can take over without the need to remove the meters, as the meters belong to the property. If I were to insist in taking the meters off BG would change me £160 for the gas meter and an equal amount to take off the electricity meter. 

I was wondering if anyone has faced a similar situation.

Thank you very much and keep safe!

Would advise going for company with lowest standing charge.

Empty property still has to be insured? And will be eventually liable for 200% to 300% council tax? So it will cost you!

Gerry1

Good luck when it gets cold and the pipes burst...

jbuchanangb

It has been stated elsewhere that if zero gas is consumed from the date you took over responsibility for the property then there is no deemed contract with the gas supplier, and nothing to pay. The moment the meter turns though, that's when the contract starts.

Hasbeen

jbuchanangb said:

It has been stated elsewhere that if zero gas is consumed from the date you took over responsibility for the property then there is no deemed contract with the gas supplier, and nothing to pay. The moment the meter turns though, that's when the contract starts.

Would think so but on the date the tenant moved out.

The gas heating etc would not know that and would still be supplying the property so the landlord is responsible for any usage after that?

Has there been any usage?

itzisimo

No gas has been used since the 31st March. By accident, we left a light on in the corridor for a couple of days until I went back to the property, so it has been some usage of electricity. 

MWT

itzisimo said:

No gas has been used since the 31st March. By accident, we left a light on in the corridor for a couple of days until I went back to the property, so it has been some usage of electricity. 

It isn't quite that simple, there are a few requirements to meet, this is the list from SSE, but they are all pretty much the same as they have to follow the same Ofgem rules:

• You're on our Standard tariff or have a Pay As You Go meter
• You haven't used any gas and/or electricity since you took on the property
• You haven't expressly entered into an energy supply contract
• Your supply when you moved into the property was already with SSE

So if you've already contacted BG and opened an account with them it is too late...

bagand96

If Utilita cannot supply you for whatever reason, then the cheapest currently according to the comparison sites is an EON fixed tariff with a Gas standing charge of 7.46p/day and the same electricity standing charge of 7.46p/day. 

Comes to £54.46 per year. Go via a comparison site you might be able to get cash back on the switch. The tariff may require a smart meter though which might be a pain to arrange if the property doesn’t have already have.

itzisimo

I have not opened an account with British Gas yet, as I was waiting to see if I could find a solution to the conundrum of taking off the meters. Definitely I will leave the meters untouched.

Since the tenant was with British Gas, even I have not registered with them, surely they will send me a bill for these days I am taking to make my mind over suppliers. I am tempted to leave it until the end of the month to see how much they would change.

I will then switch to EON, thank you so much for all your so very useful advice!!!

Gerry1

You'll have to register with BG, at least for electricity, before you can move to E.On, and in the meantime you'll have been on an expensive deemed tariff.  The longer you leave it, the more the extra cost will eat away at any savings you might hope to make.