How do you deal with and set up bills in a shared house?
The idea of bills included is attractive because it means you can budget your money monthly which allows you to work out a set fee every month. In a typical student house, we suggest you budget between £1 – £1.20p per person per day. That money should cover gas, water, electricity, and the internet. Of course how much of that money you use will depend on how good you are at conserving and managing energy use.
An easy way to do this is making sure you have money to pay your rent to the landlord and additional money a month to put into the house account. That way there will always be money there to pay the bills when they arrive and anything left over at the end can be shared out between you. If you have a bills included scenario, the landlord has to understand the risks of potential overuse. He might choose to use a device that can prevent this.
When you move in, part of your inventory and condition report will be to read the meters. Make a note to remember to do this for yourself in case it gets missed. You need to know who the electricity, gas, and water suppliers are for the property. More often than not in Guildford, the internet is with Virgin but do check in advance.
Unless told otherwise assume your utilities are on a quarterly billing cycle. You can of course change the energy providers but will need to do this yourself. As we develop our website, we will create a section that will give you some idea of the best utility deals and services for students.
We will recommend you have an energy account where you can input your readings online and immediately know how much you’ve used. This will also help you be aware of what you’re spending so that you can tailor your habits and how you live to meet your means.
Smart meters have been around a while now and there are no objections. If you want to switch to a smart meter then always ask the landlord and get email / written consent before doing so.
Keep your meter readings and try to read the meter’s once a month so you can keep a record. Typically, bills will arrive quarterly which means these will be in December, March, June, and September.
Top tips
Do think about your internet early. Gas, water, and electricity will stay connected however, the internet will disconnect from the previous tenants and you’ll need to make your own new arrangements. These can take several days to set up, be delivered, and install. Virgin now comes in a box for you to simply unbox and plugin and get going – but order in good time.
Be sure and set money aside for your 1st bills as they are likely to come in late December or early January and are likely to be the largest bills of your tenancy because you’re not used to managing them and it has been the coldest and darkest months.
Your house will have thermostatic radiator valves, thermostats, and programmers to enable you to set the heating and hot water to come on at various times. Take time to understand these in your house and set up the heating for your comfort but also for your budget.
With people sharing a hot water system, there is nothing worse than standing in the shower and finding all the hot water has been used and you have to wait for hours before it reheats. It is probably best to leave your hot water on “constant” if you don’t already have a combination boiler which gives you hot water on demand. Before setting your hot water on constant and forgetting about it, be sure that you have a working cylinder thermostat that will turn off the boiler when the water temperature reaches its set temperature so as not to waste energy.
Never turn the heating off when away from the property but turn it down. Any attempt to save money that causes the pipes to freeze up will likely be very expensive for you!
Know where your gas, electric and water meters are and know how to operate the safety devices so you can turn off or isolate the supply of each service when necessary.