heeeeelp! lol

[briggsy's girl]

i've not had to connect utilities in ummmm a LONG time. maybe 10 years. so i have NFI what i'm doing! i have managed to organise a phone connection for just after we move, but the rental application we signed with the brilliant "connect now" mob that should contact us within 48 hours appears to have fallen through (we were accepted last tues, signed lease on wednesday - i expected to hear from them by yesterday and it hasn't happened) - anyway, i'm now actively researching (in between packing) trying to decide who to go with for gas and electricity

i know we could probably shop around or spend all day on the phone but i'm not interested in doing that (i have no voice at the moment anyway!) - i just want to pick one supplier for BOTH gas and electricity

so, from what i can gather, my choices are kinda limited to TRUenergy, Origin Energy, Simply Energy or Red Energy. We are currently with Simply for electricity, and they've been really good in supporting us through financial hardship - but i'm not sure i want to stay with them or move to someone new.

i guess what i want to know is - who are you with, do you like them, do your bills seem reasonable (yeah, i know electricity is going through the roof so none of us are "happy" with our bills), is there any other providers that do both that you would recommend? and do they let you pay through FAO/C'link Centrepay - i don't want to have to worry about bills - i just want to go online, input to pay x amount each fortnight, and not worry about anything else!

[Beach Mama]

TBH I think they are all pretty competitive now BG because of the competition but having said that we are with Origin for both and have been pretty happy. Gas bill is really reasonable and we have refridgerated cooling and heating and our bills have been fine. We also pay extra for green energy (10% I think comes from wind farms etc) and get the BHG magazine for free Bonus!

[~Lashes~]

hi, i just had to do that to!
ive only been here for a month, so havent got my first bills ect, but i conected with origion, the lady on the phone was great, the house was already conected or something, so they had to arrange the meter reads and that was it, the first gas read wasnt available for 30 days, so she informed me our gas is free of charge untill the meter guy came out 30 days later! also receved 3 days free power for the same reason, i opted for the 25% natural power, i have not noticed a sigle doffrence with supply, but it is kinda nice knowing that im helping the envioroment that lill bit. they also have a discount for centerlink recipients, but not sure on the fortnight payments.
good luck!

[briggsy's girl]

argh - looks like i need to regain my voice so i can call up and haggle - DH would like hte BHG mags or something similar lol

[briggsy's girl]

thanks pandora - will go look at that today
not sure if i have a usage statement from the electricity - and with bottled gas, i have NFI on usage cos it's completely weird on bottled!

[Beach Mama]

argh - looks like i need to regain my voice so i can call up and haggle - DH would like hte BHG mags or something similar lol

Haha they have others too - Home Beautiful, Mens Health, Womens Health and a bunch of others that I can't remember!

[briggsy's girl]

tehehehe DH scoffed at the rest of the list - he is fixated on BHG lol. the site pandora sent me to showed that 25% green energy from origin is barely more than the cheapest option all up, so i'll give them a call during the week and haggle. now if only i had a voice! or a husband that knows how to haggle!

[Pandora]

We are with origin for both. Not that thats a recommendation.
Red Energy I have heard are a little cheaper. There is a webite where you can compare prices, you put in what your useage is and it tells you the best deals for you.

Google switchwise

When you get the reults, if you click on the company it tells you billing options on the left side, and ont he right it will say if you can pay by centrepay.

ETA: Red energy were the only ones that I could see used centrepay. However I do know with origin you can set up direct debit fortnightly, thats what we have.