Connecting Your Electricity When You Move Home

How to connect your electricity when you move home

Moving to a new house is stressful, with so much to plan and organise. And one of the most important details to take care of is scheduling the disconnection and connection of services such as water, electricity, gas, and home internet. Fortunately, most energy retailers make it easy to arrange this online or over a short phone call, as long as you remember to get the process started a few days ahead of your move. Let’s look at some of the steps involved in getting your electricity connected when you move home.

Compare electricity offers

Moving to a new home is an opportune time to compare plans and deals offered by electricity retailers in your area, whether you are moving interstate or just to a new neighbourhood. But while the usage rate per kilowatt-hour (kWh) is important – and can vary quite a bit between retailers – it isn't the only thing to consider when comparing plans and deals from different energy retailers. Other considerations include:

• Daily supply charges or service to property charges.
• What are the types of tariffs available – time of use, flat rate etc.
• All other fees, such as connection and disconnection fees, or early exit fees if contract based.
• Discounts, where available, which might be limited to a discounted rate, or might extend to pay-on-time discounts. Also, worth noting is if the discounts continue for the duration of the contract or a specific period only. 
• Feed-in tariffs if you also have a solar energy system.
• Availability of GreenPower options.
• Does the supplier have multiproduct offers, such as combining Dodo Internet, Electricity and Gas for monthly savings. 

Most of the time you will need to change plans and providers after moving to a new house, either because your current electricity provider does not cover the area you are moving to or is not able to offer the same plan you currently have with them.

Connecting electricity to a new build

Ideally a newly built home would already have a service line and all electrical connections installed, making the process of getting the electricity connected not too different to when moving into an older house. However, one significant difference for some homeowners would be the use of a smart meter. Only Victoria had a mandatory rollout of smart meters to all homes, but in other states and territories newly built homes all have smart meters installed by default.

Connecting electricity when you move home

As noted earlier, comparing deals and rates of different electricity retailers is something you should do when moving to a new house. During this process you would also learn whether it is possible to stay with your current retailer and whether you can keep the plan you are currently on. Keep in mind this might not be possible if you move to a new suburb or distributor. The main reasons for not being able to stay with your current retailer – or keep your current plan – would be that your new address falls under a different distribution network.

If you are able to stay with your current provider, the process could be as simple as contacting them in advance – at least three business days ahead of the move– giving them the dates on which to disconnect your current home and connect your new home. What is recommended is that disconnection happen the day after you move out, but connection at your new address should be scheduled for the day before you move, making sure that your providers have both old and new addresses. Other points to remember include:

• Write down or take a photo of the meter reading at both locations. That way you can compare them to what you are charged on the final and first bill for both addresses.
• There might be a cost involved, even if you are staying with the same retailer, so be aware that you may be charged a connection & disconnection fees.  

Switching electricity retailers

Switching electricity retailers when you move to a new address is different to that of moving to a new home but staying with your current provider. To start the process, look into time of connection to the new retailer, be aware that it can be up to 90 days. 
Instead of only contacting one retailer, you will now need to contact two retailers: one to cancel your current contract and arrange for a disconnection date, which occurs after the next scheduled meter read in the basic meter read, and the other to sign up for a new plan and arrange for the date on which the electricity should be connected, usually after the next meter read. 
Again, disconnection happening the day after you move out and the new connection scheduled the day before moving in is recommended so you are assured of having power at both locations throughout the move. You might need to arrange access to the meter in advance, but your new retailer will inform you of this, along with if there is any need for them to carry out a visual safety inspection.

What about urgent connections?

While it is strongly recommended that you give your energy retailer 3 business days’ notice of your intention to move, not less than three business days is the minimum amount of notice most retailers are able to work with. If you forgot to arrange a disconnection or connection in advance, or have had to move on very short notice, your retailer might be able to arrange an urgent connection for you, though this cannot be guaranteed. Emergencies and faults on existing connections usually need to be communicated to the distributor, not the retailer, and this information should be available on your last electricity bill.

Whether you’re currently with Dodo or planning on switching your electricity to Dodo, we can take care of all the heavy lifting involved in getting your electricity disconnected and connected in time.