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How much do you pay? (electricity and water bills)

Lunja

Lunja

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 15, 2005
273
0
Lincoln UK
Hi all-

Uni has nearly finished :)eek:) and it's time to start looking for a flat to rent, but in order to work out what I can spend per month on rent, I need to know how much I'll be paying in bills for electricity and water. They'll be two of us living in a one-bedroom apartment, so if anyone could post their average spend per month, especially if it's for a similar property, then I would be very grateful.

Oh, and we're in the UK ;)

Thanks!!
 
285/month

That's a two bedroom flat in lieth (edinburgh) the girl i'm living with is paying 275 but gets a smaller room so it's 560/month total.

There's no living room though so it's basically a one bedroom flat just the living room has a bed in it.
 
It's was about $250 this month, split among 6 guys.

Heat is expensive during the winter.
 
I live in a 1 bed flat in Manchester. Water and electricity are about £30 each a month. I am on a water meter, if you aren't you might get a better deal. I don't have gas. Council tax is another £65 a month as well, you will need to take that into account. Then add on phone, internet, sky etc. It all adds up :(

There are some things you can do to reduce your bills though so yours might not be as high as mine. If your place has storage heaters for example and you don't have your boiler on too much etc. These sort of things can make a difference.

I find that no matter how much I think something will cost it always ends up being more, so be sure to have some contingency in your budget. It's no fun struggling with your finances like I did when I first left uni.
 
SC68Cal said:
It's was about $250 this month, split among 6 guys.

Heat is expensive during the winter.
Click to expand...

Water is pretty constant, around $25-30 a month for me and the pre-wife. With summer fast approaching (or already here depending on where you live), I can look forward to power bills near in the $130-150 range. Last month I hardly ran the AC at all and it was $104. Just a normal, regular 3/2 house.

Cold is expensive during the summer.
 
For a 2 bed flat in inner London my fixed costs - leccy, gas, council tax, water etc run to about £200 per month, averaged out over the year (heating is obviously more in winter, as are other costs eg lighting).

But I'm a tight fisted Yorkshireman and refuse to heat the house over winter - just put on extra clothes and have a nice glass of wine :D

Have a look at MSE for saving tips - the forums are a real goldmine.

I'll agree with others that struggling with paying off uni is very hard.

Ignore Sky or Virgin for the time being - there are more important things.
 
All electric where I am, and we're on the balanced payment plan for about $125/mo. On the plus side, we're on a well so no water bill.

Of course I live on 50 acres in sunny Southern California. YMMV.
 
This isn't that helpful, since I'm in the US, but I paid $45 last month for a studio apartment. Basically one big room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Stove is gas, and I have an electric water heater.

Lots of that cost is probably due to my increased computer usage, though :D :
costofseti.jpg
 
mactastic said:
On the plus side, we're on a well so no water bill.
Click to expand...

i envy you. i'd kill for a well. :eek:

i live in a 945 sq. foot house...it's old and not at all airtight. that'll be fixed next year. :p my husband and i spend about $40 a month for electricity, and that was in the winter with our oil furnace too! right now we're just opening the windows and using our ceiling fans and we're staying pretty comfy...we'll see what july brings.

water is billed quarterly, and so far we've paid $130 per quarter...we have a washer (front load) and a dishwasher that gets run once a day.

so i guess you can say we do alright. ;)
 
Two bed flat, outer london. Probably about £100 for electric/gas/water (average) and £110 council tax. Don't forget about TV licensing (£135 per year).

So not including phone, internet, tv, mobile phones, travel costs, etc

about £220 per month.
 
Two bedroom unit, with two people for gas/water/electricity we probably pay around $50-70 AU per month. So not too bad really.

TV here is free (unless you want to pay for cable - most people don't) and our internet/landline phone connection is paid for by my aunty's (who I live with) work.
 
Nickygoat said:
For a 2 bed flat in inner London my fixed costs - leccy, gas, council tax, water etc run to about £200 per month, averaged out over the year (heating is obviously more in winter, as are other costs eg lighting).

But I'm a tight fisted Yorkshireman and refuse to heat the house over winter - just put on extra clothes and have a nice glass of wine :D

Have a look at MSE for saving tips - the forums are a real goldmine.

I'll agree with others that struggling with paying off uni is very hard.

Ignore Sky or Virgin for the time being - there are more important things.
Click to expand...

That was a great site! Is there more of a yank version? I have no idea what a council tax is, and don't really want to:D , we get angry and throw tea into bays over things like that.

I really need to tighten the belt right now, I just bought a house and am trying to get married soon!
 
My water is paid through my HOA, so I'm not sure what that amounts to. Electricity is generally in the $50/month range.
 
I can't believe how much you're all paying for power is in the UK.

I only pay $105 AUD (which is about 45 pounds) a quarter here in Sydney in summer and $180 (75 pounds) per quarter in winter. I thought that was a lot!!
 
shu82 said:
That was a great site! Is there more of a yank version? I have no idea what a council tax is, and don't really want to:D , we get angry and throw tea into bays over things like that.

I really need to tighten the belt right now, I just bought a house and am trying to get married soon!
Click to expand...

Yeah there's a few Yank versions. Try:

Frugal for Life

and Fat Wallet.

Somebody else recommended Clark Howard, although I haven't really had a look through it.

More interestingly, and in the vein of the late lamented Tesco misprices thread (thanks for the 360 Mr T ;) ) have a look at the antics of Alana Lipkin. I've no idea if you have a Shaws or Shop and Save near you but free stuff from the supermarket is as belt tightening as it gets :D


And at the OP - have a look at cashback shopping sites. They've had a bit of a bad press from time to time but they are really quite useful.

Quidco is the one I use, and they offer cashback when you take out utility services. It all helps :)
 
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