Utilities at a new house work on a simple principle that almost nobody is told: you inherit whichever suppliers the previous occupants used, and you become their customer automatically from the day you move in. You are a deemed customer on a deemed contract, which is usually the supplier’s standard variable tariff. It is covered by Ofgem’s price cap, but it may well not be the cheapest deal available, and you stay on it until you do something about it.
Everything else follows from that. Take meter readings on day one, find out who supplies the property, open an account, then switch if you want to. Doing those four things in the first week is the difference between a clean start and an estimated bill dispute six months later.
Quick answer: Photograph every meter the moment you get the keys. Contact the existing supplier within a few days to open an account in your name. You are free to switch immediately, with no exit fee on a deemed contract. In England and Wales you can’t choose your water supplier, so you simply notify the regional one; in Scotland most households pay water charges with council tax. Council tax is a separate notification to the council.
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The order to do it in
| When | Task | Why then |
|---|---|---|
| Day of the move | Photograph gas, electricity and water meters at both properties | The only evidence you will ever have of the handover point |
| Day of the move | Locate the stopcock, consumer unit and gas shut-off | Worth knowing before you need them, not after |
| At least 48 hours before you leave | Tell your old suppliers your move-out date, then send closing readings on the day | Stops you being billed for the new occupants |
| Within a week | Contact the new property’s existing suppliers, open an account | You are already their customer, so this formalises it |
| Within a week | Notify the water company and the council | Bills run from the date you became responsible, whether you tell them or not |
| Week two onwards | Compare and switch energy supplier if worthwhile | No exit fee applies on a deemed contract |
| Anytime | Broadband, which is its own process | Long lead times, handled separately |
Broadband is deliberately outside this sequence because it works on a completely different timescale and has its own transfer or cancel decision. Our guide to moving broadband to a new house covers that side.
Meter readings, and why photographs matter
A photograph with a visible date is the only proof of where responsibility changed hands. Written-down numbers get disputed; a picture showing the meter serial number and the reading does not. Take one at the property you are leaving and one at the property you are arriving at.
Capture the meter serial number as well as the reading, because that is what identifies which meter you photographed. On a bill dispute months later, a reading without a serial number proves very little.
- Single-rate electricity meters show one number. Ignore anything after a decimal point or in a red box.
- Economy 7 and multi-rate meters show two readings, usually labelled rate 1 and rate 2 or low and normal. Record both.
- Gas meters may be metric in cubic metres or imperial in hundreds of cubic feet. Note which, because the conversion affects the bill.
- Smart meters still need a manual reading at handover. Do not assume the supplier captured it, because the account changing hands is exactly when automation tends to fail.
- Water meters are often outside under a small cover near the boundary, and frequently need a torch and a wipe.
- Prepayment meters need the reading plus a note of any credit or debt showing on the display.
If the property has a prepayment meter and you would rather not, ask the supplier about replacing it with a credit meter once your account is set up. They may run a credit check first, so it is worth starting early.
Where a previous occupant has left debt on a prepayment meter, you are not liable for it. Citizens Advice says to contact the supplier straight away, before you top up or use the key or card, explain the date you moved in, and ask for the debt to be cleared from the meter. Delay makes this harder because you will have been paying against it in the meantime.
Finding out who supplies the property
If the sellers or the letting agent have not told you, there are national databases that will. The Find My Supplier service identifies your gas supplier and your gas meter number, and your regional electricity network operator (the Energy Networks Association website tells you which one covers your postcode) can identify the electricity supplier from the address.
Ideally you get this from the seller through the fittings and contents information, or from the outgoing tenant. In practice it is often missing, and it is worth asking directly at the point of exchange rather than hunting afterwards.
Distributors are not the same as suppliers, and the distinction confuses people. The distribution network operator owns the cables and pipes serving your area and is not chosen by you. The supplier is the company that bills you and is the one you can change. If you have a power cut, you call the distributor, not the supplier.
Water is simpler still, because households in England and Wales can’t choose their water supplier. Whoever serves the area serves you, and the only thing to do is tell them you have moved in. In some areas water and sewerage come from different companies, so check both. In Scotland, Scottish Water supplies households, and for homes without a meter the council bills and collects the water and waste water charges alongside council tax, so telling the council covers it.
In England and Wales, ask the water company whether the property is metered. If it is not, you can usually have a meter fitted free of charge, and for a household with fewer occupants than bedrooms that can reduce the bill. If you’re not better off, Citizens Advice says you can usually switch back within 12 months (some companies allow two years), but not if the property already had a meter when you moved in.
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Switching energy supplier after you move in
You can switch immediately. A deemed contract carries no exit fee and no notice period, because you never agreed to it. There is rarely a benefit to waiting if you already know the property, because a deemed rate is often not the best price available to you.
Open the account with the existing supplier first even if you intend to leave. Switching from a supplier you have no account with is awkward, and it leaves a gap in the billing record that turns into an estimated bill nobody can reconcile.
Then compare properly. Use an accredited comparison service, check the standing charge as well as the unit rate, and be realistic about your consumption in the new property rather than carrying over the old one. A larger, older or less well insulated house uses considerably more, and a tariff chosen on last year’s usage in a flat will disappoint.
Citizens Advice says the new supplier should switch you within five working days, and you provide a meter reading at the changeover. Nothing physical happens and there is no interruption to supply, because the wires and pipes are unchanged. Only the billing relationship moves.
If you are on a fixed tariff at your old property and moving, check whether it can move with you. Your supplier might let you keep the same contract and tariff at the new home without charging a fee, but if you end a fixed deal early an exit fee may apply. Ask before assuming you have to start again.
Leaving the old property cleanly
Half of this job happens at the address you are leaving. At least 48 hours’ notice of your move-out date, final readings, a forwarding address for the closing bill, and cancelled direct debits in the right order are what stop you paying for someone else’s usage.
Do not cancel the direct debit before the final bill is settled. Cancelling first is instinctive and wrong: it leaves the account unpaid rather than closed, and an unpaid final balance can find its way onto your credit file over something you fully intended to pay.
Give each supplier your move-out date, the final reading and a forwarding address, then let the closing bill be issued and paid before touching the mandate. If you are in credit, ask for the refund explicitly, because it is not always automatic and credit balances sitting on closed accounts are common.
Leave the readings for the new occupants too. A note with the meter readings, the serial numbers, the supplier names and the location of the stopcock takes five minutes and is the single most useful thing anyone has ever left us in a new house. It also protects you, because it evidences the state of the meters on the day you left.
What the first bills usually get wrong
Utility billing errors after a move tend to come from the same handful of problems, and all of them are preventable with a photograph and a phone call.
| Problem | Cause | Prevention |
|---|---|---|
| Billed for the previous occupant’s usage | No opening reading recorded | Dated photograph on day one |
| Large estimated catch-up bill | No actual readings submitted for months | Submit a reading monthly until the account settles |
| Old supplier still billing you | No closing reading given at the old property | Give 48 hours’ notice, then send the final reading on the day |
| Wrong meter linked to the account | Serial number never verified | Photograph the serial, quote it when opening the account |
| Debt showing on a prepayment meter | Previous occupant’s arrears left on the device | Report immediately with your move-in date |
| Council tax billed from the wrong date | Council not told, or given the wrong date | Notify in writing with the date you became responsible |
Two things stand out. First, nearly every problem traces back to a missing reading at a handover point, which makes the two minutes spent photographing meters the highest-value two minutes of the entire moving day. Second, estimated bills compound: an account that starts on an estimate and is never corrected produces a catch-up demand months later, at which point disentangling whose usage was whose is close to impossible.
Submit an actual reading every month for the first three months even if you have a smart meter. It costs nothing and it forces the account onto real data early.
Council tax runs on its own track and has its own deadlines. Tell the council you are leaving and the council at the new address the dates your responsibility ends and starts, so each bills you only for your share.
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Worth knowing about the Priority Services Register, which is free. Energy and water suppliers maintain it for customers who would be particularly affected by a supply interruption, including people of State Pension age, those who are pregnant or have young children, and anyone with a disability, a medical condition or medical equipment dependent on power. Registering brings advance notice of planned interruptions, priority support during outages and, in some cases, alternative arrangements. Moving house is the natural point to register at the new supplier, and it takes one phone call.
When not to rush the switch
Wait before switching if you do not yet know what the property actually consumes, if there is an unresolved billing dispute on the account, or if you are about to have significant work done that changes the heating system.
Comparison sites push immediate switching because that is how they earn. The nuance is that a fixed tariff locks in an assumption about your usage, and you do not yet have any real data on a house you moved into last week.
For a property that is substantially different from your last one, particularly an older house or one with electric heating, a month or two on a variable tariff while you see actual consumption is defensible. You are paying a little more in the meantime and buying better information for a twelve or twenty-four month commitment.
Do not switch while a dispute is open either. Moving supplier mid-dispute makes it considerably harder to resolve, because the outgoing supplier has less incentive to engage once you have gone. Settle the account first.
And if you are planning to replace a boiler, add insulation or install solar, wait. The consumption profile you are about to have is not the one you would be buying a tariff against today.
How EcoGreen Movers fits into the first week
Meter photographs get taken when the day is under control and forgotten when it is not. EcoGreen Movers gives a written price based on an agreed inventory and applies for parking at both ends on residential moves, so the day runs to a plan and leaves time to walk round with a phone before the van is loaded and after it is unloaded.
What is left to do on the day decides whether any of this admin happens that week or drifts into the next one. Packing can be part of the quote, which is what leaves an evening free for meter photographs and supplier calls, and furniture dismantling is one of the services on our quote form. Storage is worth asking about where the two properties do not overlap, since a place standing empty still accrues standing charges.
We run residential moves in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, using reusable crates so the first evening is spent finding the kettle rather than flattening cardboard. Get in touch for a quote.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to set up an account before moving in?
No, and generally you cannot. You become the existing supplier’s customer automatically on a deemed contract from the day you take occupancy. Contact them within the first week with your move-in date and opening readings to formalise it.
How do I find out who supplies the property?
Ask the seller or letting agent first. Failing that, the Find My Supplier service identifies the gas supplier and meter number, and your regional electricity distribution network operator can identify the electricity supplier from the address.
Can I switch straight away?
Yes. A deemed contract has no exit fee and no notice period, so you can switch as soon as you like. Open the account with the existing supplier first regardless, so the billing record is continuous.
Am I liable for the previous occupant’s debt?
No. Debt belongs to the person who incurred it, not to the property. If arrears appear on a prepayment meter or a bill, contact the supplier with evidence of your move-in date and ask for it to be removed. Act quickly, and before topping up a prepayment meter, because it is harder to unpick later.
Should I ask for a water meter?
In England and Wales, usually worth considering if there are fewer occupants than bedrooms, since unmetered charges are often based on rateable value rather than use. Installation is normally free, and you can usually switch back within 12 months if the bill turns out higher, unless the property already had a meter when you moved in. In Scotland, most households pay water charges with council tax.
In summary: photograph first, switch second
Take dated photographs of every meter at both properties on moving day, including serial numbers. Give your old suppliers at least 48 hours’ notice, send closing readings on the day, and open an account with the new property’s existing suppliers within a week.
Then switch when you are ready, knowing a deemed contract carries no exit fee. Submit actual readings monthly for the first three months, because an account that starts on estimates produces a catch-up bill nobody can unpick.
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