Need advise on gas and elec prices

LaurenM9

Hi,
Me and a friend are moving into a rented standard 2 bed flat for the first time in september but we have no idea how much gas and elec prices are etc. We will be moving into quite a new build and we will be being extra careful.
Does anyone have any idea of how much approx a month it will be.
Thanks
Lauren

KimYeovil

It's a piece of string. It depends how careful you are - and the more careful, the more chaotic will be your costs. Will you have separate lives and not usually be out together and so have the heating on most evenings? Will you bother to keep the heating off a timer? Will you share one sitting room or will you both have your own bed-sitting space? Does the new build have gas or electric heating? Do you each have your own gadgets?

If you are very careful you can get away with £50 per month for both. If you are sensible you are likely to spend less than £100. But, remember, that is on average - if there is a winter like this winter those monthly costs can more than double. Keep an eye on your weekly readings when you move in and approximate your costs and react accordingly.

But £70 to £100 is a reasonable range to start working with and you should easily get away with less. But if you're both particularly warm-blooded...

LaurenM9

Aw thank you that helps a ton.
We will be in and out at different times but we will be sharing a living room and bathroom etc and we'll get lots of blankets to keep costs down. We're students you see paying a silly price per week for rent with bills included though and we know that we can get a nicer bigger flat for a lot less per month/week but we want to make sure that the bills wont be making us spend more than we are now.

thank you

jimexbox

If you are in and out at different times I would agree a few things in advance, such as, what temp you will both keep the thermostat at. It no good one person keeping it at say 20c, then the other whacking it right up. Other major appliances that cost money are the washing machine and tumble dryer (if you do have one). Liberal use of both will certainly quickly push up your electricity bill.

The rest is just sensible house keeping. Turn off lights when your not in the room, when your paying the bill its a habit that will soon take root. Like KimYeovil said take regular readings and work out the cost, and under no circumstances rely on estimated readings. You may only set yourself up for a massive shock one day.

Fire_Fox

We are all electric, and our DD has gone up to £34 a month this winter for a two bedroom flat. No tumble dryer, laundry on 40C, heat one room for two hours on frosty days only (electric underblanket on bed!), quick at showering, nothing left on standby. We could get this down further if we sorted out our lighting - lots of halogen spotlights, ouch.