Moving house - Energy Supplier / Switch - What do I do?

sheffield_soldier

So after watching Martin Lewis yesterday he was screaming "do nothing". Well We are possibly moving house in December - what do we do? Are we able to just transfer our energy supply at the current rate to new home? Do we just move to whatever the house is on currently?

I haven't move houses in year so I am unsure of the process.

Neil_Jones

sheffield_soldier said:

So after watching Martin Lewis yesterday he was screaming "do nothing". Well We are possibly moving house in December - what do we do? Are we able to just transfer our energy supply at the current rate to new home? Do we just move to whatever the house is on currently?

I haven't move houses in year so I am unsure of the process.

Contact existing energy provider (when you move) and say I'm moving out of 221B Baker Street as of <whenever>, can you close my account please, my meter reading for gas is <whatever> and my electricity is <whatever>.

Move into new house, find out who supplies it:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/finding-your-energy-supplier-or-network-operator

Phone them up and say I've just moved into 17 Cherry Tree Lane, can I have a new account please, my opening meter readings are <whatever> and <whatever>.  If you do nothing else, do this as a minimum, because otherwise you will have problems down the line.

You will probably end up on the standard/default tariff.  Normally these would cost the earth to boil the kettle but as things have turned out the energy cap will be doing you a favour.

MWT

Just make sure when you open the account that you do not let them encourage you to pick a tariff.

You will already be on their deemed tariff, which is capped by Ofgem, just make it clear that you wish to remain there. 

sheffield_soldier

Thanks, I didn't know if I could just keep my current supplier on my current rate. 
Cheers

MWT

sheffield_soldier said:

Thanks, I didn't know if I could just keep my current supplier on my current rate. 
Cheers

No harm in asking them if you can switch back to them on your current tariff after you've signed up with the existing supplier at the new address, it was something that a few suppliers supported in the past, but in the current climate I would be surprised if you got anything more than a polite refusal.

... never hurts to ask though...

PRAISETHESUN

sheffield_soldier said:

Thanks, I didn't know if I could just keep my current supplier on my current rate. 
Cheers

Generally no - your current tariff is a contract to supply energy to you at your current address only. No harm in asking if you can transfer it to your new address but I'd be suprised if they agreed to it, especially in the current energy market.

As above though, definitely make sure to provide meter readings on move out/move in, to ensure you don't get billed for the new occupants at your old address, or the previous occupants at your new address.

Hesketh74

Just picking up on this thread. We are due to move house in the next couple of weeks. Our current energy supplier is Bulb on their Vari-Fair tariff, and the current providers at the new house are British Gas and Eon. 

From the above answers I understand that I will have to close the account with Bulb and it's unlikely that they would allow us to open a new account at the new house on the same tariff rate. I also understand that we must take on the incumbent suppliers at the new house, and should ask to go on to the deemed tariff as this is likely to be at lower rates than anything else they offer.

The questions I have is, how much higher are these deemed tariffs going to be compared to the rates we are on at the moment? how long can you stay on these deemed tariffs? and how do we find a cheaper rate given that most providers sites now only have high rate fixed term rates advertised or in the case of Octopus don't even provide any options?

Thanks

jbuchanangb

The deemed tariffs will be close to the OFGEM cap. This cap continues until 31 March 2022. As to how much of an increase the capped rates are compared to previously fixed rates with other supplier... My electricity unit rate as capped by OFGEM is 64% higher than that of my recently collapsed supplier Symbio. The daily standing charge is 208% higher. I have calculated that my electricity cost for October to March inclusive will be about 66% higher with the Supplier of Last Resort than it would have been with Symbio. Which explains why Symbio went bust!

macman

The reality is that you'll be paying much more on the incoming supplier's SVT. You can stay on this for as long as you want, or until some sanity returns and fixed tariffs drop below the cap (if that ever happens).
How do you find a cheaper rate? You can't. No supplier wants new business at present, as they make a huge loss on every new customer while the cap remains in place at current wholesale prices.

macman

The reality is that you'll be paying much more on the incoming supplier's SVT. You can stay on this for as long as you want, or until some sanity returns and fixed tariffs drop below the cap (if that ever happens).
How do you find a cheaper rate? You can't. No supplier wants new business at present, as they make a huge loss on every new customer while the cap remains in place at current wholesale prices.

MWT

macman said:

You can stay on this for as long as you want, or until some sanity returns and fixed tariffs drop below the cap (if that ever happens).

Don't forget that it is a variable tariff though and it will go up at the end of March next year...