Moving in and can choose my provider, who should I choose? Annual 3,300 kWh usage with smart meter

vikkiew

I am moving into a 1 bed flat, my annual consumption will be around 3,300 kWh.

My previous flat had Economy 7 and with British Gas I was paying around 43p for the day rate and 16p per the night rate although I wasn't benefiting much from the cheaper. rate My night usage was only 20%, day time was 80%. I wasn't allowed to switch supplier or tariff, landlord was a difficult guy.

My new flat has a smart meter. It will be the first time I have a smart meter so I'm not familiar with all the options. There is an SSE sticker on the meter but the previous tenant was using Octopus Energy's 'Flexible Octopus' plan with MPAN beginning with 1. The meter isn't displaying anything that looks like a day and night, just one total confirming it's not Economy 7 inline with the MPAN. I understand 'most' smart meters can accomodate Economy 7 should I choose to switch to a tariff that uses it. My landlord told me I can pick whichever supplier I want. I presume he wouldn't care if I switched to an Economy 7 tariff either as it won't change or require anything in the flat, it's not like a new meter has to be installed.

I put my 3,300 kWh number in comparison sites and I didn't recognise the few names a few pounds a year cheaper than the Flexible Octopus plan. British Gas's standard variable tariff and other options from names I recognise were all only a few pounds more a year. Should I be focusing on benefits and freebies to make a selection? British Gas for example has the half Sundays campaign and some rewards which were good a few years ago but much of nothing these days.

MikeJXE

Personally I would stay with Octopus and many more on here will probably tell you the same

I am in a 1 bed flat too since February and never had an issue with them

Do take meter readings every month and check against your bill 

Give them your moving in reading 

Spoonie_Turtle

How is your flat heated?  Unless it's storage heaters that charge up at night, you most likely won't need Economy 7.

If you do have storage heaters, you'll have to find the Economy 7 tariff for each supplier but you probably won't know your day/night usage ratio.

If no storage heaters, you could look at Octopus Tracker which has been consistently below the cap since, er, January I think.  (Past performance is no guarantee of future savings should any extra unexpected instability occur in the world's situation.)

[Also as a new customer - because you'll habe to set up your own new account - I think you may be able to use a referral code if you decide to keep the flat's supply with Octopus.  Worth a try anyway, nothing to lose if it turns out you can't.]

la531983

Surprised nobody has actually reminded the OP that they HAVE to register an account first with whoever currently supplies the property. 

MultiFuelBurner

I rarely say look anywhere but Octopus but if you can really maximise the night time usage then depending on your region EDF offer some stonkingly low night rates.

Keep_pedalling

You need to give Octopus a call on the day you get the keys provide a meter reading and give them your details. You can switch later if you wish once you have established your actual usage. 

QrizB

vikkiew said:

I am moving into a 1 bed flat, my annual consumption will be around 3,300 kWh.

Congratulations on the new flat.

How is it heated? If all-electric, do you have storage heaters or something else?

Gerry1

You can't be very sure that your consumption will be close to 3300kWh.  It's likely that some parameters will be different, e.g. insulation effectiveness, floor area, type of heating, aspect (sunny south or polar north) etc.

Even if everything seems the same, if one had High Heat Retention storage heaters and the other had the old Box of Bricks type with just two knobs then the consumption could be significantly different.

vikkiew

Spoonie_Turtle said:

How is your flat heated?  Unless it's storage heaters that charge up at night, you most likely won't need Economy 7.

If you do have storage heaters, you'll have to find the Economy 7 tariff for each supplier but you probably won't know your day/night usage ratio.

If no storage heaters, you could look at Octopus Tracker which has been consistently below the cap since, er, January I think.  (Past performance is no guarantee of future savings should any extra unexpected instability occur in the world's situation.)

[Also as a new customer - because you'll habe to set up your own new account - I think you may be able to use a referral code if you decide to keep the flat's supply with Octopus.  Worth a try anyway, nothing to lose if it turns out you can't.]

It is underfloor heating which I presume is electric. I don't think gas is available in the building. I looked on www.findmysupplier.energy and none of the flats in my building are listed.

I do know my day/night usage ratio at my old flat I wrote it. It was 80% day 20% night. This was without a smart meter and with BG's Economy 7. I had 2 fuse boards which I suppose must have been for storage heaters but I didn't have any storage heaters only convection heaters. One of the heaters was connected to the night fuse board which would only turn on near 2AM not midnight as supposed to be with BG. If with an accurate smart meter night time will start on the dot at midnight my day/night ratio would be more like 70/30.

Do I need to provide any personal details to the referrer and do they see any of my personal information after I sign up? I see people providing codes and even websites dedicated to it like www.energy-supplier-switch-referral-link.co.uk/

QrizB

vikkiew said:

It is underfloor heating which I presume is electric. I don't think gas is available in the building. I looked on www.findmysupplier.energy and none of the flats in my building are listed.

If you have electric underfloor heating, you'll probably be better on a single-rate eelctricity tariff rather than a dual-rate one like E7.

vikkiew said:

I had 2 fuse boards which I suppose must have been for storage heaters but I didn't have any storage heaters only convection heaters.

You had a cheapskate landlord who didn't want to spend the £5-700 per heater for storage heaters, instead expecting the tenants to pay for peak-rate electricity. Something to avoid in future!

vikkiew said:

Do I need to provide any personal details to the referrer and do they see any of my personal information after I sign up?

Octopus Tracker has been cheap for the past 9-10 months, and if it gets expensive you can ask to switch back to their standad variable tariff (which is much the same price as everyone else's).

If you switch to Octopus with a referral code, you will see your referrer's name and they will see yours. That's the only personal info that is exchanged.

vikkiew

la531983 said:

Surprised nobody has actually reminded the OP that they HAVE to register an account first with whoever currently supplies the property. 

Keep_pedalling said:

You need to give Octopus a call on the day you get the keys provide a meter reading and give them your details. You can switch later if you wish once you have established your actual usage. 

Must I register or just notify the meter reading when I move in? If I must register with Octopus can I still get the referral bonus or must that be done separately later?