First home advice for bills

TomPerren

Hello,

My girlfriend and I will be moving into our new home soon. Would love any advice on ways to make our bills cost effective, we are unsure on providers and deals. Would like to know what’s best moving forward to get started. Just to note we are moving into a 3 bedroom terraced house and it’ll only be the two of us living there.

Thanks for any tips and advice.

Tom

macman

You will be in a deemed contract with the existing energy providers, so register with them and provide a meter reading on day one. You are unlikely to be offered anything other than a very expensive fix ,or SVT under the price cap, so there is no point in switching.
There simply are no 'deals' at present.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

Your home will already have an energy supplier. When you take possession of the property, read the meters and contact the supplier with your opening meter readings. You'll be set up with an account. Resist any encouragement to sign up for a fixed rate deal and ask to remain on the variable tariff.

Once you're settled in, you can look to see if there are any deals available with your supplier or another,  but be warned that there might not be.

This winter is going to be the most expensive one ever for energy. Keep an eye on your meters, submit readings to your supplier regularly and try to keep your energy use to a minimum.

anniecave

You have no choice over providers for water.  You may have different choices as to whether you can or do do have a water meter or not.
The current energy market is such that there's not much you can do about energy prices. Most providers are similar and fixed prices are a massive gamble rather than being what they used to be (a way of saving money). If the property has a smart meter then some price comparison sites have accurate data for previous usage. If you aren't moving into a new build and the previous occupants were similar to you then that may be a good indicator of your likely consumption, or you may be best to use a site that gives an estimate based on property size, number of occupants and usage etc. You will need to use the existing provider initially anyway even if you decide to switch to another provider.
If you use any comparison site they are usually good for an idea of broadband/landline deals. If you are moving into a brand new (newly built) property it may be trickier.  It's an idea to start this at least a couple of weeks before you move in, as there is often at least a 14 day lead time for new service provision, sometimes more. You can usually cancel if really needed in advance with no penalty but then you'd be subject to the next available appointment with the 14 day lead time so more likely if it's a delay to your moving date you would be better to try to change an installation date if possible.   
Council tax band information should be available on the council website.