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Setting up your utilities

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One of the first things you will need to do, once you have signed your tenancy agreement, is set up your utilities accounts. We hope you find this guide helpful when doing this.

Water

Your water supplier will depend on the area you live in. If you don’t know who your supplier is you can visit the Water UK website to find out or you can ask your Housing Officer.

Once you have the contact details of your supplier, you can contact them to set up an account.

What you’ll need:

  • Your old address (and account number if you have it)

  • Your new address and contact details

  • Your new meter reading (if you have a meter and it is accessible)

  • Your payment details

Some of our residents pay their water rates directly to us and won’t need to follow these steps. You will be told when you are offered the property if this applies to you.

Gas and electric

Before you start, what type of meter do you have?

  • Pre-payment – you pay for your supply up front and load credit onto your meter.
  • Standard – you receive regular bills charging you for your usage.

We allow you to change the type of meter you have where possible. You should check with the person signing you up whether you can do this where you live. If it is possible, this is something you arrange directly with your supplier.

You are free to choose who supplies your gas and electric. We recommend using price comparison websites to find the best deal for you.

What you’ll need:

  • Your old address (and account number if you have one)

  • Your new address and contact details

  • Your type of meter (pre-payment or standard)

  • Your meter reading

  • Your payment details (for standard meters only to set up a direct debit)

You will need to contact the supplier of your choice and tell them that you are moving in and that you want to set up your gas and/or electric account. They will help you through the rest of the process and will normally contact the old supplier to terminate that contract (if applicable).

If you have a pay as you go meter the supplier will arrange to send you a new key (electric meter) and card (gas meter) which you use to top up your supplies.

Don’t forget to contact your old supplier to tell them you are moving out and give final meter readings.

Switching on your gas supply

When you first move into your property the gas supply will have been turned off or ‘capped’. This is a health and safety requirement for all our empty properties. Getting your gas uncapped is very simple, just follow these steps.

  • Using the instructions above, have the gas and electric supplies changed to your name.

  • If you are on a pay as you go meter, top up your supplies.

  • Contact our repairs line on 0800 916 1525. We’ll arrange for an engineer to uncap your gas at a time convenient for you.

To avoid a delay in having your gas turned on, we recommend that you follow these steps as soon as possible once you have signed for your property. We cannot uncap the gas supply until there is credit on both gas and electric meters.