When you go there on Monday you should take meter readings and pass them to British Gas. If you tell British Gas that you are considering switching, they will tell you that they are best, you can save with their new tariff, etc. etc and you should ignore all this sales talk.

All the main suppliers have announced price increases and some of these will be applied in the next weeks, some will already have been applied. In order to compare everyone's price after their increase, you can either look up the applicable dates or wait a few weeks before using the price comparison tool. You will have a better idea of usage then as well.

The latter approach will also keep your partner happy, hopefully, as it goes along with the idea of seeing how things go with British Gas for now. If you do something that goes contrary to her wishes on something small like this, your relationship will not last.

Hi guys,

Me and my other half have just bought our first house; we're due to move in on Monday. The thing is we're a little lost on what to do about energy suppliers. I was hoping someone could help.

The house is currently with British Gas. My other half thinks we should just stick with that and see how it goes. Really, I think she's a bit daunted at the prospect of switching over. So, she's left it to me. I have the notion that British Gas isn't the greatest supplier and, having done a broad guesstimate using the tool on this site, see that we could save a couple of hundred pounds switching. However, I'm worried that I'll just pick the cheapest deal but find out it was a false economy as it has some nasty hidden surprise or is missing something fundamental which I'm too naive to pick out.

Are there any basic things we should look out for when picking a supplier? What are the important bits? How can you save money without losing out?

I'm happy to go online and pay a monthly direct debit. I guess that saves a bit. I'm just not sure what else to go for.

Also, when you do switch is it really as easy as this site makes out? Just a few clicks of a button?

I realise that this is a hopelessly vague question and I'm sorry if its all covered elsewhere, I'm just a little overwhelmed and don't really trust myself. I would really appreciate any help or advice you could provide.

Cheers.