Who is my gas and electricity supplier?

Why do I need to know who supplies my gas and electricity?

Moving house is expensive enough without the unnecessary cost of inflated energy bills, but if you’ve recently switched properties without switching energy provider, there’s a good chance you’ll have been placed on a pricey standard rate tariff by default.

This means you’ll be paying more than you need to for your gas and electricity, but you won’t be able to switch to a better deal until you know who the current provider is.

💡 READY TO SWITCH? Enter your postcode in the box on the right 👉

What if I’ve just moved in and I don’t know who supplies my gas and electricity?

If you’re just moving into a new property, the simplest way to find out who supplies your gas and electricity is to ask the estate agent or previous owner, or the landlord, letting agent, or previous tenant, if you’re renting.

If the previous occupants has notified the energy suppliers that they’ll be moving, you should receive a letter outlining all the details on who is supplying the gas and electricity and the tariff you have been placed on.

This letter will be addressed to 'The Occupier', so be sure to keep an eye out for it and make sure you don’t bin it along with any junk mail you might get.

If you’ve been living at your new address for a while, or the previous occupant hasn’t let the energy providers know they’ll be moving on, you’ll most likely need to contact your local energy distribution company to find out who supplies the electricity - here’s how…

Who supplies my gas

If you’re a homeowner or tenant, enter your postcode below for the number to call to find out who supplies your gas.

Alternatively, or if you’re a landlord or estate agent and need to find out who is operating the gas supply to one of your properties, you can enter your postcode at Find My Supplier or call the Xoserve Domestic Consumer M Number Helpline on 0870 608 1524 (calls are charged at 7p per minute, plus your network’s access charges, if applicable).

Visiting Find My Supplier or calling the Meter Number Helpline will help you find your Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN), which is a number between six and ten digits long that can be used to identify the unique gas supply to your property. If you’ve a gas bill for the property, you should also be able to find the MPRN number on that.

💡 READY TO SWITCH? Enter your postcode in the box on the right 👉

Who is my electric supplier?

If you need to know who is supplying your property with electricity, whether you’re the property owner, tenant, or landlord, check out the electric companies in the table below and call the number that matches the region you live in.

Call costs may vary depending upon the number and whether you’re calling from a landline or mobile, so check with your network operator before you call.

How do I switch energy suppliers?

Once you’ve found out which energy companies are supplying the gas and electricity to your property, it’s time to switch from that standard tariff and on to a better deal.

If you don’t know the details of your gas and electricity tariff, you can find out by contacting your energy supplier’s customer service team, and while you’re onto them it’s worth finding out what the average consumption is at that address, to give yourself an idea of how much you can expect to use.

If you have a recent bill to hand, it should contain the details of your price plan, including the details of the unit prices.

With all the necessary details in hand, go to UKPower’s energy switching page and enter your postcode to start running a price comparison and find out how much you can save by switching to a better deal.

To get the most accurate comparison results you’ll have to enter some details on your household energy usage, but you can still run a comparison even if you don’t have this information to hand.

Then simply review all the available options, pick a tariff that best suits your needs and your budget, confirm the switch online.

💡 READY TO SWITCH? Enter your postcode in the box on the right 👉

Who is the best energy supplier in the UK?

Accoriding to this year's annual Which? energy survey, Octopus Energy is the UK's best supplier, followed by Ebico, Bulb and Pure Planet.

This suggests that smaller suppliers have a lot to offer, and going with one of the UK's better established big six energy companies is no guarantee of customers satisfaction.

But finding the best energy provider all depends on what you want from them:

• If it's simply the cheapest rates you're after, you might be willing to put up with poor customer service for the lower monthly bills. But be aware, that low rates don't necessarily equate to poor customer service.
• If sustainability is important to you, then you might be prepared to pay a little extra each month for the promise of green energy.
• You might even want to go with one of the bigger energy companies, because you feel more reassured that they won't go bust.

That's why it's important to run a full energy price comapirson, so you can see what's on offer from each and make an informed decision.

For a run down of how the UK's energy suppliers measure up against each other, check out our blog Who are the UK’s best and worst energy companies?

How does the energy switching process work?

Once you confirm the switch, you can sit back and leave the rest to us – we will send your change of supplier details through to your old provider, pass your details on to your new one, and they will get in touch to confirm the switch.

Although you don’t need to do anything else, it’s worth contacting your old supplier with a final meter reading to make sure your final bill is accurate.

When taking a gas meter reading, the figure you record will differ depending upon the type of meter you have.

If your meter is an old imperial gas meter, your gas usage will be measured in cubic feet (ft3), while newer metric meters will measure it in cubic meters (m3).

But to add a further complication, your energy supplier will charge in units that are measure per kilowatt hour (kWh). You can use our gas calculator to convert m3 to kWh readings.

And if you want to know how much energy your household appliances are using, check out our electricity cost calculator.

The whole thing should take no longer than 17 days from when you confirm the switch - three days for the switch, followed by a 14 day cooling off period - and there’s no need for any drilling or work at your property, your gas and electricity will be supplied through the existing pipes and cables.

💡 READY TO SWITCH? Enter your postcode in the box on the right 👉