Help! New home owner

tonidriscoll89

Hi everyone 
Im due to complete on a house sale with my husband in a couple of weeks, we are first time buyers. we are so confused on what to do about energy. There is no gas in the house it’s all electric and we also have an oil tank in the garden. Would you recommend on getting a smart meter? And don’t know wether to go with fixed or variable rate! Please help! 

[Deleted User]

First thing to do is take photos of the meter reading and get in touch with whatever company supplies the house at the moment to open an account and give them your starting reading.

Its only after that you can think about switching company and tariff.

By then it might be clearer what Liz is planning to do, so anything about fix or variable right now is speculation.

400ixl

For the oil tank in the garden, I assume that means you will have oil fired heating and hot water. Check the level of oil in the tank, in a typical year the summer months are cheaper to buy oil than the winter so you may want to look at whether you need to get some now / soon rather than need to over the winter.

macman

There is usually some arrangement to transfer the oil remaining to the new owner at cost, so don't assume you'll get a full tank free with the house. Or it could be near empty.
You will be in a deemed contract with the existing leccy supplier. Just go onto SVT until you know what is happening with the energy freeze. There are no cheap fixes on offer anyway.

jj_43

Move your energy supply to Octopus, as you will need to deal with all sorts of opening account, payment setup issues and you need a energy supply with good customer service.

also go onto SVT, don’t fix, and pay monthly variable direct debit, so you know what your using through the year.

[Deleted User]

Just remember, if you take jj's advice to pay monthly variable direct debit then your payments in winter will be several times higher than your payments in summer and budget for this difference accordingly.

jj_43

Yes, with variable direct debit you know what your using throughout the year. It will be really helpful for you to understand your cost and energy usage, so you would reduce less and have smaller bills. Paying a fixed amount each month won’t give you this insight.

People budget for all sorts of seasonal costs (Christmas, holidays) so it’s not a big deal. People should be trusted to manage their own money rather than their energy company.

Hedgepigs

Also if you are following jj's advice, don't forget you will still need to set up an account and payment with the current provider before you can switch to anyone else. Remember to take a meter read when you get the keys

400ixl

The way you pay makes zero difference to understanding your usage and gaining the insight. The meter readings tell you all you need to know regardless. Many people in a new home want to have a consistency in their outgoings to start with and if this is the case for the OP then variable billing is not the answer for them.

Just because you are anti utility companies, doesn't mean everyone should be. Variable works for some, consistent works for others, its their choice.