touchingcloth

Hi all,

I've noticed on the applications to rent a property, there is an option to have a company do all of the work of connecting gas/electricity/phone/cable.

Apparently its free.

Can anyone tell me whether its worth letting one of these companies deal with all of this? Are there any hidden pitfalls?

Thanks
TC

The Crow

We used Utility One as we thought it would be easier to start with. However, they signed us up with TRU energy (gas & electricity) on a 3-year contract and didn't tell us - we didn't actually sign anything, but apparently all this can be done via phone (even though they definitely didn't tell us that). I will complain when I get round to it.
Also the Telstra phone was on the wrong contact - which we managed to change directly with Telstra and the BigPond bills were wrong (but that might have been down to Telstra themselves - all sorted easily).
Needless to say, we are moving into our own home soon and I have dealt with the utilities directly - very easy and at least there's no middle man to confuse things.
We could, of course, have been unlucky!

touchingcloth

Thanks for the quick reply 'TheCrow'

I didn't think that there was much of an option to pick and choose energy suppliers in Oz !

If there is, then how does one find out who or what is on offer? is it by using tinternet?

Also...how long does it take to get connected to the services ?

Thanks
TC

The Crow

Hi
I believe there is only one water company in this area - South East Water.
Gas & Electricity - not sure of all of them but there is Origin and AGL as well as TRU. Check out their websites as they list the current charges etc.
Telephone and internet - plenty of suppliers, but we thought we'd start off with Telstra and investigate further at a later date!!
Connection is quick - in fact TRU told me to ring up a couple of days before settlement (I've already arranged disconnection).
This is for an established home - not sure what happens for new builds.
Rachel

The Bloke

In Qld, you have a choice of Energex or Energex.

Are you talking about changing an existing supply to your name or connecting a new dwelling from scratch?

touchingcloth

Got no idea as I'm still in the UK.

I'm just talking when one rents out a new home.

Would it be easier to use the supplier that the previous tenants used???

Wendy

When we moved into our rental we had no idea who the previous tenants used. My aunt gave me the numbers of her supplier, I called them and had everything connected the same day.

I would say though if you get chance ring them a few days before you move in just in case they can't get to you the same day. We were fortunate that they could get the electricity on before dark, the girl on the phone said before midnight.

Also be aware there will more than likely be a charge for having it switched on

The Bloke

Depends if there is more than one electric supplier. If it is, it is just a matter of contacting supplier, giving them your details, when you want it connected to your name and they will tell you if the last tennant has advised them that they are no longer there from a certain date. The meter is read on that day and you are responsible after it. You will most likely have to pay a bond when setting it up, but it is refundable when you disconnect.
For multiple supplier states, I couldn't really say because in Qld there is just one, Energex and I can only go on what is required here.

With the phone there are several different suppliers, you just need to choose which supplier and plan you want to use. though when you connect they will give you a recycled phone number, not the previous, except if you ask for it to remain at the address, which I did when I took over my brother's flat when he moved out. We wanted to change local calls to Optus from Telstra(long distance already Optus), so we had just one bill on special deal. The Optus operator said that there had to be another line installed into the house from them as well as the Telstra line and we may not be able to have the same number. Plus they couldn't give a definite time for the techie to come, just a day. So told them to forget it as it was too much hassle.

rossifumi

You not go out tonight then fella?

The Bloke

Yes I did, ankle was getting sore so I came home , but the rest are still partying on.

BTW, I'm Australian and I'm supposed to be in bed by 10.30.

Pollyana

You did really well - the other Aussie gave up about 8.30!

touchingcloth

Thanks 'the bloke'

nicktork

We also decided to use "Utility One" so that everything would be on when we moved in to our rental.

They called us up (on the mobile) to ask what we wanted and we said gas, electricity, water, phone and broadband. They then asked what kind of phone plan and what kind of internet plan we wanted. We went for basic line rental and "unlimited" internet (I specifically said 150Gb plus), which they said would be supplied by Telstra/Bigpond.

Electricity, gas and water were switched on when we moved in; phone was enabled within a couple of hours of Utility One calling.

I did a bit of research and found out that Bigpond don't offer any heavy-use internet plans, so wondered what Utility One had signed me up to. I called them back and they said they'd signed me up to a 10Gb plan. So I cancelled that and sorted my own ISP out, which took about 5 days to activate.

Since then, we have had red letters from Yarra Water threatening to cut us off - the previous occupier's fault. We called them and found that Utility One hadn't signed us up properly.

We also had a bloke from Origin Energy (gas) call round to cut off the gas supply - again because of the previous owner. So we had to call them up and found that Utility One hadn't signed us up properly again. We have a choice of two gas suppliers in Melbourne, so opted to use TruEnergy instead - no connection fees.

So in all, I can't recommend these sort of utility connection companies.

For the sake of a couple of phone calls, you can sort everything out yourself when you move in. Chances are that all services will already be on anyway and you just have to give a few meter readings over the phone.

The Bloke

When I rang to arrange connection for phone and electricityfor us, I was told that the soon-to-be previous tennant, hadn't advised anyone that he was leaving. I phoned real estate agent to get him to do somethingas they wouldn't connect us until he had given them notice. Shortly after we moved in, we started getting letters for him and his OH from creditors, so returned them to sender. We then started to get final demands and debt collector letters for unpaid bills from the likes of Telstra(over $1500) and pawn broker. Sorted that out so he sounds very much like he had no intention of paying for or organising anything.