Before you move in: what to gather
There are a few pieces of information you need before you can set anything up, and chasing them after the fact wastes time. Get these from your landlord or letting agent on or before key handover:
- The address of the property including postcode — you'll need this for every registration
- Your move-in date (the date you become responsible for bills, which may not be the day you first visit the flat)
- The current energy supplier(s) — the landlord or outgoing tenant should be able to tell you which companies currently supply gas and electricity to the property
- Meter serial numbers — these are printed on the meter and you'll need them if there's any billing dispute. Your landlord should have them on the inventory; if not, you can read them yourself from the meter
- Whether the property has a smart meter
- The local authority — for council tax registration. Usually obvious from the address, but in some boundary areas it's worth confirming
Day one: take meter readings
The very first thing to do on your move-in day — before you open a box, before you make tea — is photograph your electricity and gas meters. Both of them. Photograph the entire display, making sure the serial number printed on the meter body is visible as well as the reading. Do this with a timestamp on your phone camera if possible, or note the date manually alongside the reading.
This photograph is your evidence if a billing dispute arises. Energy suppliers issue estimated readings for the period before your tenancy began, and those estimates are sometimes wrong — especially if the property was empty for a while. If the supplier estimates that 3,400 kWh were used in the month before you arrived and you have a photo showing the meter reading on day one, you have clear grounds to challenge any backdated charges. Without that photo, the dispute becomes your word against their estimate.
Send the readings to the current energy supplier on day one or two by email (so you have a written record) — not just via their app, which may not generate a confirmation email you can reference later.
Week one: energy accounts
Your energy supply is inherited automatically when you move in. The current supplier continues to supply gas and electricity and you are placed on their deemed contract — typically a standard variable tariff. You don't need to "activate" anything; it just runs.
What you do need to do in week one: contact the supplier to put the account in your name and provide your move-in date and the opening meter readings you just took. This can usually be done online. If you want to stay with the current supplier, you're done. If you want to switch, you have 28 days from your move-in date to do so without any exit fee applying. If you switch after 28 days and the deemed contract has an exit clause, you may owe a fee.
For most first-time renters, switching in week one adds complexity to an already overwhelming period. Unless you have a specific reason (the supplier's tariff is significantly higher than alternatives, or you want a green tariff), it's reasonable to wait until you're settled before reviewing energy suppliers — just don't forget the 28-day window if switching is on your list. We're not saying you should never switch in the first month — if the current supplier has an obviously poor tariff, the switching process is genuinely 10–15 minutes of online work. The point is that it's a choice, not an obligation.
Week one: council tax registration
Register for council tax with your local authority as soon as possible — ideally within the first week. Use the council's website to submit a new occupier form with your move-in date, your name, and the property address. This is separate from any interaction with energy suppliers and handled directly by the council.
Why register immediately rather than waiting to be contacted? Because backdated bills are the most common council tax surprise for new tenants. The council may not learn you've moved in for several weeks, and when they do, they'll issue a bill covering every week since your tenancy started. If you register on day 5, your account is correct from day 5. If you register on week 8 because that's when the first letter arrived, your account catches up from week 8 but you owe the previous seven weeks in one lump.
At registration, check whether you qualify for a single person discount (25% off if you're the sole adult in the property) and apply for it at the same time.
Week one to two: water
Water supply is automatic — your regional water company (United Utilities in Greater Manchester and across the North West, Yorkshire Water in West Yorkshire) bills the property based on the occupant. Like energy, you register as the new occupant rather than "setting up" a fresh service.
Contact the water company with your name, move-in date, and address. If the property has a water meter, take a reading on move-in day alongside your energy readings. If it doesn't have a meter, billing is calculated using the rateable value of the property (an older assessment) or a fixed assessed charge — you'll be told which on your first bill.
You can request a meter installation if there isn't one already and you believe metered billing would be cheaper for your household. Water companies in England are required to install a meter on request. A good rule of thumb: if the number of occupants is less than the number of bedrooms in the property, metered billing is usually cheaper than unmetered.
Weeks one to three: broadband
Broadband is the one utility that doesn't automatically transfer or inherit. You're starting from scratch: choose a provider, check availability at your postcode, place an order. Allow 10–14 working days for a standard copper-based installation, or up to 21 days for a new full-fibre connection if the building hasn't previously had it installed.
Before you order, check your tenancy agreement. Some agreements prohibit drilling or running cables, which would rule out certain installation types. If your building has a communal aerial or an existing infrastructure provider (common in purpose-built flats with a managed broadband contract), you may need to use that provider rather than choosing freely.
Use Ofcom's broadband availability checker at your postcode to see which providers can actually serve the address and at what speeds, before spending time on price comparisons for providers that can't actually reach you.
The order that minimises problems
Day 1: photograph meters. Days 1–3: submit opening meter readings to energy supplier, register for council tax, contact water company. Week 1–2: check energy tariff and 28-day switch window. Weeks 1–3: order broadband, bearing in mind the installation lead time.
This sequence works because council tax and energy are time-sensitive (backdated charges and switching windows), water is quick to register and unlikely to cause trouble if handled in week one, and broadband has the longest lead time so ordering early means you're not two weeks without internet when you're trying to work from home.
The alternative: do it all in one go
If the above sequence feels like more admin than you want to manage across a chaotic moving week, Arrival's single setup form covers all five utility registrations in one 10-minute submission. You provide your address, move-in date, household size, and broadband preference once, and Arrival handles the supplier registrations, meter reading submissions, broadband booking, and council tax registration in the background. You receive one monthly direct debit covering all five categories from the point everything goes live.
This guide exists because understanding what's happening — even if you choose to delegate the legwork — means you can spot problems when they arise. The meter reading photograph is worth taking regardless of how you manage your accounts, because it's evidence only you can capture on the day you move in.