FAQs

It can take up to six weeks from the beginning of your residency for you to receive your first bills – these will always come by post.

If we have completed your registration for you and you don’t hear back within six weeks let us know – we’ll follow up with your energy suppliers to check there haven’t been any problems with the registration

It is possible that your energy supplier did not receive or use your opening meter readings in calculating your bill. You can check this on your opening bill by looking in the section labelled ‘Your Usage’ or ‘How your charges have been calculated’. Your supplier should indicate what opening meter readings they have used and whether these are estimates. If the readings used do not match your opening meter readings you should reach out to them directly and ask them to generate a new bill based on the correct readings.

If your supplier has used your opening meter readings but the bill is still higher than expected then this may be because the previous occupier of the property used more energy than you. Initial energy bills are based on an estimation of your monthly use, so by submitting regular meter readings you can have your bill adjusted to reflect your actual usage. You will never overpay for your energy as your bills will be adjusted through the year based on use, and any extra credit on your account will be returned to you at the end of your contract.

With a pre-payment or pre-pay meter fitted you are required to top up your meter with credit before using any energy, rather than paying a bill for your total usage at the end of the month. Depending on the supplier and model of meter you may add this credit through a key, a card, online or through an app.

Pre-pay meters charge more for the same energy usage as credit meters, and can be inconvenient to keep in credit, so many people moving to a property with a pre-pay meter installed will want to have it removed. The quickest way to do this is to approach your energy supplier – they should be able to replace the meter for free if it was fitted before you move in. You may be asked to pay a deposit or for a few months of energy use in advance. If your supplier refuses to replace the meter, we would recommend switching to a supplier who will as pre-pay meters are always more expensive than credit.

Pass on any bills addressed to other occupants to the property owner or return them marked ‘not at this address’.

The energy price cap is the maximum amount that suppliers can charge per unit of gas and electricity on their standard tariffs, although it’s usually expressed as the annual amount the average household would pay.

Customers on standard variable tariffs cannot be charged more than the price cap. Fixed rate tariffs can be higher or lower than the price cap. 

You can read the latest about the energy price cap and other uk energy news updates here.

If your payments have suddenly changed it might be because you submitted new meter readings, a new billing cycle has begun, or because the energy price cap has changed.

The easiest way to claim this is to open an online account using the property reference in your first bill and apply directly for the single occupant discount.

If we have completed your registration for you and you don’t hear back within six weeks let us know and we’ll follow up with your local authority to check there haven’t been any problems.

If one person living in the house is not a full-time student you’ll instead get a 25% sole occupant discount. If there are two or more non-students you will have to pay the full Council Tax value.

Set up an online account using the property reference number you have received in your first bill and through your Council’s online platform you should see the option to pay in regular monthly or quarterly instalments, which will divide the annual cost into equal direct debits. There is no additional charge for dividing your payment through the year like this.

We also look at all the options you have available to you though, and if you could get a better deal by using different providers we’ll also let you know – it’s always up to you to decide which suppliers you’d like to go for.