Moving house - gas and electric

[energydilemma]

Hi everyone! We've just bought a property so we need to move or set up new accounts with gas/electric providers, it seems like a bad time with all the prices going up this year! We're currently in an overlap where we still live in our old property (rented) but have keys to new property.

In our rental we are with E.ON Next, although our fixed tariff ends at the end of this month. In the new house, the previous owners were with Octopus Energy, we've been sent a £25 off voucher for setting up with them.

All the advice is that it's a terrible time to switch, but due to our tariff ending and moving house we don't have much choice. Does anybody have advice on the most cost-effective way to do this? Thanks!!!

I posted an almost identical thread in a different area of MN and didn't get anything useful, so eagerly awaiting your replies

All you can do is go on Money Saving Expert and follow their advice.

Hi @Champagneforeveryone sorry you haven't had replies yet - just found your thread! I feel similar to you, hopefully we get some answers.

So far I've started setting up an account with the supplier that already supply my new property - the estimated monthly tariff was a shock but similar to anything on price comparison websites, and comparethemarket were showing deals but saying that they can't help me switch to them anyway.

One good thing is the current supplier (Octopus) have a fixed term plan with no exit fee so I might go with that for ease and know that I can leave it if the prices get better. I don't know if that it helpful advice though, I really don't know what I'm doing or what is sensible!!

Thanks @RandomMess - unfortunately the advice on there is to stick with current tariff but I can't as I'm moving and my tariff is coming to an end. I'll try posting on their forum though!

Hi I’m in exactly the same boat! Have you managed to find anything out please?

Just bumping it for you 🤞

Hi everyone - thanks for the advice and sharing if you’ve got the same dilemma. I decided to call the current supplier of my new flat and requested to be put on the variable tariff. They seem to put you on this by default so I was already on it but it was only showing me fixed rate plans to join when I tried to set my account up online.

The person on the phone was really helpful, she confirmed that it’s the cheapest tariff right now but that it is subject to change (variable) and will go up in April. She also wiped the debit balance accrued since I moved in and put £25 credit on account as a joining bonus.

I posted this question on the MSE forum as well - advice from everyone (and articles by Martin Lewis) is to stay on variable plan as the Ofgem cap is cheaper than any fixed deal available at the moment.

Also worth checking exit fees - my provider doesn’t have them so you can swap plans anytime. So for me, staying on the variable rate as the cheapest for now also works out as I can switch to a fixed plan at any time if a better deal comes along.

Hope this is helpful for others - might be good for people to share what they do with their providers as well in case other options!