How to start electricity service
Starting service is a scheduling job wrapped around a shopping decision. Here is the order that keeps the two from colliding.
The sequence
Confirm your new address is in the competitive market — a ZIP check does this. Choose a plan. Enrol with that retailer and give them the service address and your requested start date. They send a start request to the delivery utility, and power is energised on that date.
For an address that already has an active meter, this is an administrative change and nobody needs to visit. For a property that has been vacant with the power off, or a brand-new build, a physical connection or an inspection may be involved and the timeline is longer.
What you will be asked for
The service address, your requested start date, and identification. Retailers run a credit check at enrolment and may require a deposit depending on the result — that is a decision between you and the retailer, and no comparison site can predict or influence it.
Many enrolments also confirm the ESI ID, which identifies your specific meter. An address alone can be ambiguous in a duplex or a unit number that is recorded differently in the utility's records, and enrolling against the wrong meter switches somebody else's service.
Timing, honestly
Standard service starts are typically scheduled for a business day in the near future, and expedited same-day or next-day starts are offered by many retailers, sometimes for a fee. The timing is set by your delivery utility's processes rather than by your retailer's willingness.
This site does not schedule anything and cannot promise a date. What it can do is make sure the plan you pick under time pressure is one you would still have picked with a week to think about it.
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