Just moved house. What's the process nowadays?

bigpat · 20 June 2022 at 6:06PM

It's been 23 years since I last moved so I'm a bit rusty on this. The previous owner was with Scottish Power and we took agreed readings when I moved in a few days ago.

I've been on various comparison sites and have settled on Utility Warehouse, but do I need the existing Scottish Power account to be transferred to my name before I can switch to Utility Warehouse? If not, and if I go ahead and set up my UW account now, presumably it will take some time before they start supplying me, so what happens in the interim?

Do I need to register with Scottish Power first? If so, can I set up a new account but go on their standard price-cap tariff, rather than taking a fixed term deal?

pochase · 20 June 2022 at 6:16PM

You are already with Scottish Power on a deemed tariff which is the same as the SVT.

You need to phone them with your meter reading and open the account. Don't let them talk you into a fixed tariff, you are already a customer!

After 21 days you can change to a new supplier.

t0rt0ise · 20 June 2022 at 11:36PM

pochase said:

You are already with Scottish Power on a deemed tariff which is the same as the SVT.

You need to phone them with your meter reading and open the account. Don't let them talk you into a fixed tariff, you are already a customer!

After 21 days you can change to a new supplier.

Where does the 21 day wait come from? Is it new because I've never waited.

[Deleted User] · 21 June 2022 at 10:54AM

Agreed - a switch can be initiated once the deemed/existing supplier has the new consumer’s details. The actual transfer of supply to the new supplier may take 21 days. The deemed supplier will raise a Final Bill to cover this period on supply.

There is an industry block on switching which if I recall is 28 days. For example, EDF as a SoLR formally took over my supply on the 15th December. I switched a few days later and the new supplier had to choose an ‘on supply’ date outside of the industry blocking window to prevent the transfer request being rejected. The industry procedures that underpin supply transfers are of a bygone era.

This constraint would not apply to the OP as his property is already on supply with the deemed supplier.

EssexHebridean · 21 June 2022 at 1:14PM

I'd suggest perhaps having a read through some of the threads on here before committing to UW - they seem to be gaining an increasing number of customers right now who are desperate to escape!