Average utility bills

sophmarie

Im moving into a two bed apartment which has two floors with a friend. It has a gas cooker and gas boiler as well as electrical goods and water. On average how much do you think gas/electricity and water bills will cost as im clueless due to it being my first home ( attending uni). Its a brand new apartment as well never lived in with plenty of windows so lots of light. Also in swansea.

Any help would be appreciated.

Fire_Fox

There really is no such thing as an average energy bill - you will find people in flats paying anything from £30 to £130 a month for their energy use. The most expensive part of your energy bills will be heating, followed by hot water (esp. power showers), and tumble dryers. Lighting, white goods and leaving things on standby make relatively little difference to your bills.

Is it a duplex apartment or does it have a mezzanine? This will make a lot of difference to your heating bills as heat rises. Also the large area of windows will tend to lose a lot of heat - you should consider thermal-lined curtains. Don't bother heating bedrooms (buy an electric underblanket), put a jumper on instead of the heating, set the thermostat to 20C, don't heat in the morning if you are up and out, have short showers, air dry your laundry.

I would recommend you read your meters monthly, especially during the winter months so you don't get any nasty surprises. People away from home for the first time tend to be quite free and easy with the heating/ hot water and struggle to pay their bills in the New Year.