Newly rented house, changing gas + electricity

Sprrratt

Myself, my brother and our step mother just moved into a house 2 weeks ago in what is our first time renting anywhere.

In the last week or so we have got letters from Bord Gais and Electric Ireland requesting we setup direct debit or pay deposit for other payment options.

Now the estate agents took the meter reading when we did the inventory 3 days after we moved in so hes obviously sent this to these companies and alerted them that we are the new tenants and to set up contracts.

My question is, am I better off based on uswitch.ie switching both the suppliers to say Airtricity on one bill? And will I be charged for the supply over the last 2 weeks by Bord Gais/Electric Ireland?

Also is it as straight forward as signing up with Airtricity, giving them all the details and they cancel the other contracts for me (before they even start really)? I really dont want to leave it to them and find out in a month or two months time that we have a bill from 2 suppliers for the one service.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Two weeks in is a bit late to be thinking about your suppliers. Electric Ireland and Bord Gais are the default suppliers if an occupant hasn't signed up for supply within a certain period. As you didn't sign up with anybody someone has to take your account in hand. The estate agent can't sign up for you.
Nobody here can advise as to who you should buy your electricity or gas from. You will have to research the options yourself. The supplier/suppliers you choose will look after the switchover process for you. I'm not sure who you will have to pay for usage up to whenever you sign up to a supplier but you may well have to pay EI and BG at this stage

Baby Jane

Hi Sprrratt,
You can't be billed by more than one supplier simultaneously, so don't worry about that.

dudara

Moved to Accommodation & Property

dudara

January

Go to bonkers.ie and find out who's cheapest for you.

Then ring them up and sign up. You'll be sent final bills for the usage you used before the switch from BG and EI.

Sprrratt

Thanks for all your help.

@Srameen
I understand how they could be the default supplier and therefore automatically sent out a contract of use however they had my brothers name on it (and spelt wrong at that) so it seems to me that the estate agent provided them with this information as he told us he was going to contact them with the meter reading.

Went and used Bonkers.ie for the job, hoping it works out well!

Patrickof

Ariella Small Salmon wrote: »

Two weeks in is a bit late to be thinking about your suppliers. Electric Ireland and Bord Gais are the default suppliers if an occupant hasn't signed up for supply within a certain period. As you didn't sign up with anybody someone has to take your account in hand. The estate agent can't sign up for you.
Nobody here can advise as to who you should buy your electricity or gas from. You will have to research the options yourself. The supplier/suppliers you choose will look after the switchover process for you. I'm not sure who you will have to pay for usage up to whenever you sign up to a supplier but you may well have to pay EI and BG at this stage

There's no such thing as default suppliers, if you do not sign up to the account, and the previous account holder has cancelled their account, then the current supplier will write to "The New Occupier" asking them to sign up. If you do not respond to that letter (or sign up to another supplier) then the supply will be cut off (for "no contract on supply").

You may have signed a consent with the letting agent allowing them to put it in your name, however, if you had, then you should have received something from the supplier by now.

In any event, find your MPRN and GPRN (it'll be on the letters) and sign up to a supplier asap, there's a charge for getting a supply reconnected - as well as the hassle of a few days without elec/gas.

You can choose whatever supplier you like, but maybe make sure the letting agent hasn't done it already.

The_Conductor

Also suggest you look at the various consumer forums- rather than simply going on price- certain suppliers, who may look very competitive from a price perspective- can be a nightmare to deal with if ever an issue arises. Price isn't necessarily everything.......