Moving House? Set Up Your Bills The Smart Way.

Moving house is exciting, stressful, exhausting, and expensive -- often all at once. Between packing boxes, booking removal vans, and trying not to lose the kettle, your household bills can easily slip to the bottom of the priority list. That is a mistake. Leaving bills to the last minute means you could end up without broadband for weeks, accidentally pay the previous occupant's energy debt, or miss council tax deadlines and get chased for payments you do not owe.

This guide gives you a complete, week-by-week checklist for every bill and utility you need to sort when moving home. Follow it in order, and you will walk into your new property with everything set up, nothing missed, and potentially hundreds of pounds saved by getting the right deals from day one.

Whether you are buying your first home, renting a new flat, or moving from one property to another, the bills process is largely the same. The difference between a smooth move and a chaotic one usually comes down to starting early enough and knowing exactly what needs doing.

How To Take And Record Meter Readings When Moving House

Meter readings are the single most important thing to get right when moving house. They draw a line in the sand between what the previous occupant used and what you use. Get them wrong -- or forget them entirely -- and you could spend months arguing with energy companies about bills that are not yours.

Where To Find Your Meters

Gas meters are usually located outside the property in a meter box (a small white or beige box at knee height on an exterior wall) or in a communal meter cupboard in flats. Electricity meters are often found in a cupboard under the stairs, in the garage, in a utility room, or in an exterior meter box. Water meters are usually in a small chamber near the pavement with a metal or plastic cover -- you may need to lift the lid to access it.

If you cannot find a meter, ask your estate agent, landlord, or the previous occupant before moving day. Do not leave it until the last minute.

How To Avoid Paying The Previous Occupant's Bills

This is one of the most common problems people face when moving house. You arrive at your new property, and within a few weeks you receive energy bills, water bills, or even debt collection letters that belong to the person who lived there before you. Here is how to protect yourself.

The golden rules are simple. Take meter readings on day one. Submit them to your energy supplier immediately. Keep photographic evidence. Register your name on the account for your new property as fast as possible. The sooner the supplier has your name and your readings on file, the sooner they can separate your usage from the previous occupant's.

If you move into a property with a prepayment meter that has a debt loaded onto it (this is surprisingly common in rental properties), contact the energy supplier immediately. That debt belongs to the previous tenant, not to you. The supplier is obligated to remove it from the meter once you prove you are a new occupant.

Council Tax: Notifying Old And New Councils

Council tax is one of those bills that catches people out because you are dealing with two different councils at the same time -- the one you are leaving and the one you are moving to. Both need to know your exact moving date, and both need to be told separately. There is no central system that links them.

If there is a gap between when you leave your old property and move into your new one, you should not be paying council tax on both properties. Make sure your leaving date at the old property matches the date you hand over the keys, and your start date at the new property matches the date you receive them. Council tax is charged daily, so precision matters.

If you are a tenant, your landlord may cover council tax in some circumstances, but this is rare. In the vast majority of cases, council tax is the tenant's responsibility. Check your tenancy agreement to confirm.

Broadband Lead Times: Why You Must Order Early

Broadband is the bill that causes the most frustration when moving house, and the reason is simple: it takes longer to set up than anything else. Energy can be switched in days. Council tax is instant. Broadband? You could be waiting 2 to 3 weeks for a standard installation, and up to 6 weeks if your new property needs new cabling or does not have an existing line.

The lesson is clear: order your broadband the moment you have a confirmed moving date. If you wait until moving week, you will almost certainly be without internet for your first 2-3 weeks in the new property. For anyone working from home, that is a serious problem.

Before ordering, check what speeds are available at your new address. You can do this on the Openreach network checker or your chosen provider's website. Speeds vary enormously -- a property on old copper ADSL might get 10Mbps, while a full-fibre property could get 900Mbps. If you work from home, game online, or have a large household, you will want the fastest connection available.

Water Bills: What You Need To Know

Unlike gas, electricity, and broadband, you cannot choose your water supplier. It is determined by the area you live in. England and Wales have regional water companies -- Thames Water, Severn Trent, United Utilities, and so on -- and you are automatically assigned to whichever one covers your new property's location.

However, that does not mean there is nothing to do. You still need to contact the water company for your new area to register as a new customer. You should also check whether your property is on a water meter or a rateable value charge. Metered properties pay for what they use, which is usually cheaper for smaller households (1-2 people). Rateable value charges are fixed regardless of usage, which can benefit larger families.

If your new property has a water meter and you are a single occupant or a couple, you are likely to pay less than on a rateable value. If your property does not have a meter and you would like one installed, most water companies will fit one for free. You can usually request this online.

Also check whether your area's water company offers a social tariff for people on low incomes. These reduced tariffs are not widely advertised but can cut your water bill significantly.

Insurance Considerations When Moving

Insurance is often an afterthought during a house move, but it should not be. There are key moments during the moving process when your belongings are particularly vulnerable -- sitting in the back of a removal van, being carried up stairs by people you have just met, or left temporarily in an unfurnished property.

If you are buying a property, you can often save money by bundling buildings and contents insurance together. But do not automatically go with the insurer your mortgage broker suggests -- shop around or include it in your SaveFirst bill audit for a like-for-like comparison.

Why Moving House Is The Best Time To Switch All Your Bills

Most people dread the admin of setting up bills at a new property. But here is the thing: it is actually the single best opportunity you will ever have to save money on your household bills. Here is why.

When you move house, you are effectively starting from zero. You have no active energy contract at the new address. You have no broadband contract. There are no exit fees, no minimum terms to worry about, and no cooling-off periods to navigate. You can choose any provider, on any tariff, from day one. That kind of clean slate almost never happens when you are already living somewhere.

Most people never switch because the hassle outweighs the motivation. But when you are moving, you have to set up these bills anyway. You are already doing the work. The only question is whether you set them up on expensive default tariffs or on the cheapest rates available.

This is exactly where SaveFirst helps. You send us your current bills -- gas, electric, broadband, and mobile -- and we come back to you within 15 minutes with a savings breakdown. If you are happy with the numbers, we handle the entire switch. You walk into your new property with all four bills on the best possible rates, from day one, with zero effort on your part.

The average family saves £56 per month by switching through SaveFirst. Over a year, that is £672 -- money that could go towards furnishing your new home, paying down your mortgage, or simply having more breathing room after the expense of moving.