Help with student house utilities

DannyMath

I've booked my student house today and their is 6 of us and there is a company called Glide that say instead of us having to find our suppliers and sit and sort out money that they will individually bill us for £12.38 a week and they will find our providers for:
Gas
Electricity
Water
Telephone Line
TV Licence
Broadband: Max

That equals a total of £74.28 per week for all and
£297.12 a month (based on 4 weeks) and £3565.44 per year (based on the months figure)

Would it be cheaper to go independent or is this a good deal?

Seemore_2

One thing that springs to mind is how can they possibly quote a fixed price in advance when they have no idea of what your consumption will be?

I would firstly download the terms and conditions and check them very carefully or have a professional look at them.

They seem to be a very new company, but having googled the name there dont seem to be any warnings flashing up as yet.

KimYeovil

Gas and electricity is not fixed. If the tenants subscribe directly to Glide then the weekly quote is an instalment to an account - they pay/refund according to what they use.

If they pay to the landlord, however, it is a bum deal - for six tenants the allowance is £2680 - but if you use only £1000, you still pay £2680; if you use £1500, you pay £2680; if you use £5000, you don't just pay £2680 you pay £5000.

The good points are that you are only responsible for your own share* and you can have a nine or ten month contract. I can't see any other advantages. £3873 does seem an enormous sum - look carefully at the quote - does it break it down - how much of that is for water and fuel - broadband, landline and TV licence are only about £400 per annum (if you sign a single joint tenancy and only require one TV licence).


* Well, this clause:

: What happens if one of the tenants leaves the property?
We are always as flexible as possible in this situation. Legally the leaving tenant is still liable for the amount. However the tenants staying at the property can opt to pay the leaving tenant's share until a replacement tenant is found. The replacement tenant can then take over the from the leaving tenant.

makes that totally ambiguous. If the leaving tenant does not stay in touch just how optional is the remaining tenants decision to 'opt to pay'? Hmm.

Premier_2

From 2008 all customers who deal directly with Glide will be billed based upon usage. Your actual usage is offset against your payment plan.

http://www.glide.uk.com/about_us/legal/faup

robnye

one word -........ expensive....... for reasons already mentioned
ie if you use less than you pay for there is no refund/reduction in your payments

Premier_2

robnye wrote: »

one word -........ expensive....... for reasons already mentioned
ie if you use less than you pay for there is no refund/reduction in your payments

Any credit balance will be returned.

http://www.glide.uk.com/about_us/legal/faup

KimYeovil

Yes, Premier, but it looks to me as if there will be almost two thousand pounds extra that will be paid for upfront that needs to be returned. That's an extra £30 per person per month paid in advance.

Premier_2

KimYeovil wrote: »

Yes, Premier, but it looks to me as if there will be almost two thousand pounds extra that will be paid for upfront that needs to be returned. That's an extra £30 per person per month paid in advance.

Well that wasn't what I was responding to, but since you have suggested this, lets not try to mislead the OP

The annual amount to be paid is £3565.44 per year (which may be more or less than the final invoiced amount based on consumption)

Lets look at what will be supplied and even some very conservative figures that may apply (although it may be extremely difficult for such a large household to get them this low)

Gas: £500
Electricity: £500
Water: £200 (assumed un-metered as it will be cheaper for 6 adults)
telephone £100
tv licences x 6 = £840 (arguably many students won't do this! Some don't bother at all.)
broadband £100

Total = £2200+ ... and I'd be extremely impressed if a house of 6 adults could get bills this low, even if they may only be there 30 weeks per year.
I wouldn't be surprised if actual bills came to >£3000 if tv licences are required & purchased..

KimYeovil

So even your figures amount to an on account excess of £1600. ((£12.38 * 6 * (52 + 1/7)) is £3873 -- significantly more than the £3565 approximation.) And that is including a probably not needed £712 excess of TV licences.

Telephone: £138
Broadband: £132
One TV Licence: £142

Total £412

Everything else is charged at what is consumed. £3461 for fuel and water!!!

I do not doubt for a moment that careless and thoughtless flatsharers can spend £3000 on heating and quadcore processors when they have six individual cubby holes and two or three shared spaces. But there are limits to how flagrant most will be. Paying an extra £1500 or £2000 in advance may be a reasonable cost for a worthwhile service. But it is expensive and if you do not trust your flatmates to be sensible in the first place you may want to reconsider moving in with them.

Premier_2

KimYeovil wrote: »

So even your figures amount to an on account excess of £1600. ....

Yes it does.

But as I said, it is based on extremely conservative figures. It would need well below average consumption, which somehow I don't think 6 students are typically going to achieve, do you?
Most student properties are not well maintained and have poor insulation by modern standards.

Regarding the TV licence, the site itself says it will provide individual ones if the property has individual tenancies.
This is in line with TVL requirements
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/students.jsp

If the property has a joint tenancy, then what is the advantage in individual utility billing, that may as well be on a joint/shared basis also.

Edit: Regarding water, it would be better if the property was un-metered as I said.
Average water consumption is about 50 cubic meters per adult per year.

Water charges vary by region, but where I live, metered water costs about £1 per cubic meter (no standing charge)
Sewerage is based on 90% measured water consumption and costs about £1.50 per cubic meter plus £75 standing charge (based on foul & surface water drainage)
That would cost over £775 per year!
Even based on the property only being occupied 30 out of 52 weeks, that would still be almost £450, significantly more than the low £200 I used for un-metered supply.
Actually un-metered will probably be significantly more than £200 too as it would be based on rateable value, which for a property housing 6 adults is probably much more than the property I based my estimate on.

KimYeovil

(And I wouldn't include 'Math' in my tag if I thought 48 weeks was a reasonable approximation for a year.)