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What to look for at a new build home demo?

Happy Sunday! Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Our long weekend was filled with walks and cycling around London. It’s cherry blossom season and it’s so beautiful. It’s a chilled weekend for us which means time for some blogging! In my 5 tips for the home demo post, I explained what a home demonstration is: A home demonstration or handover is when you buy a new build and the home builder shows you how the appliances and facilities work in your new home.  A home demo is also an opportunity to flag snags that you see as the house builder may be able to fix them before you move in. Our snags were fixed after we moved in and I would have preferred them to have been fixed before we moved all the furniture in! I noticed on Instagram that a common question from home accounts is for tips on the new build home demonstration, such as questions to ask and what to look for. The friendly and supportive Instagram home account community offered lots of useful suggestions when peopl
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MSE Cheap Energy Club review

 


It’s a short post today but just wanted to talk energy costs! Our developer had already set up the energy supplier which was British Gas. When we first moved in, we used a tariff with no exit fee from British Gas to settle in quickly as once we were settled in, we were planning to look for a cheaper tariff in the market. 

We used the Cheap Energy Club from MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) for the first time. It’s free and we found it really easy to use so wanted to share with others.

They now have three options:
  • MSE autoswitch
  • Pick me a tariff
  • DIY comparison
The website has a clear explanation for how it works.  We used the DIY comparison option and it was really quick!

Before registering, make sure you have your latest energy bill to hand as it asks for:
  • the name of your current energy deal
  • usage
We didn’t know our usage as we had recently moved in but there’s a handy option where MSE can estimate it for you so we selected that option. 

For them to give a usage estimate, you need to answer a few questions. I’ve included a screenshot below.


Another great functionality is that you can set an email alert so if they find a cheaper tariff in the future, they will let you know!  You can control the number of alerts by setting how much you wish to save before you are willing to switch energy providers.  We were curious so ticked the ‘Any Saving’ option.

Once you have registered, you can see all the deals they have found in the market.  I thought the filters were great. 

Filters that we found helpful included:
  • excluding service providers with poor customer service ratings
  • showing only the well-known energy providers
  • choosing a payment method
There’s also a tab which shows the MSE Top Picks.

Once we had narrowed down which deal we wanted to switch to, I had a look directly on the energy provider’s website and they didn’t have the same tariff as what was available through the MSE Cheap Energy club. The MSE Cheap Energy Club had a cheaper tariff and cash back! We received £12.50 cash back per fuel.

Now that we were happy to proceed, we followed the steps on the MSE Cheap Energy Club website to switch. Once this was done, we received an email to confirm that our energy switch was in progress!

What happens next?

The email had a summary timeline which was really useful since we hadn’t switched energy providers before.  

The application was sent from MoneySuperMarket.com to the new energy provider. The next step was to wait to see if the switch was accepted and then to hear from the new supplier.  You’ll also need to provide the new supplier with meter readings and once the switch is complete, you will receive an email to confirm this.

In terms of how long it took us for the switch, here’s our timeline!

1st July: We applied to switch energy providers.
2nd July: We heard from Shell Energy to say that they had received our application and were setting things up. We had an account number and also had links to details of the new tariff.
17th & 20th July: We received various emails from Shell Energy informing us that they will be supplying our gas and electricity soon and that our payment type had been set up. We set up an account and submitted our meter readings.
21st July: Shell Energy confirmed that our electricity switch was complete.
24th July: Shell Energy confirmed that our gas switch was complete.
26th August: We received an email update from the Cheap Energy Club to let us know that the supplier had informed them the switch is complete so our cash back was paid to us.

Tip: There is a 14 day cooling off period to cancel the application.

Tip: Check the final bill carefully from your previous supplier! There was an error in our final meter reading, which British Gas then provided to Shell. When we came to submit our first reading to Shell, they wouldn’t accept it as it was lower than the final meter reading that they were provided. Also, it meant our final bill from British Gas was too high! It took quite a few phone calls to resolve this.

Overall, I thought the process was quick and the MSE Cheap Energy Club website was easy to use!  It’s great that it compares and shows the whole of market, with useful filters to help narrow down the deals quickly.

MoneySavingExpert.com also has a great guide on getting a cheaper energy deal!

Jess

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