Total expenses a year for a one bed flat?

fazza82

I am looking to move out of the parental home
I was just wondering, can anybody provide me with some substantial numbers?

I was curious to how much the following would cost per year for a one bed flat with one person living there...(using an average consumption of water, gas and electricity)

Gas?
Electricity?
Water?
TV Licence?
Food? (weekly?)

I am a student so I believe I won't have to pay council tax?

Thanks in advance for any help

mynameisdave

If you are a full time student then you wouldn't need to pay council tax. I'm not sure how it would work if you work and go to nightschool (I think the requirement is that you are a full time student)

Average Water rates per area here http://www.water-guide.org.uk/rates.html (old)

Gas and Electricity will depend on how much you use - if you sit in all night reading by lamp you'll use less that somebody who has the computer on all the time, and a TV or stero in the background. Will depend how often you use a washing machine or tumble dryer... Makes it very difficult to guess.

TV - £!46 a year iirc.

Food - couldn't possibly answer for you. Depends what you eat, and where you are prepared to shop.

System

Bills depend very much on what kind of flat you are renting

• New build/conversion/old building?
• Studio flat or one bed flat?
• Ground floor/middle floor/top floor/lots of shared walls with neighbouring flats? Ground floor rooms in my experience are always cold (which unless you like it cold). Top floor flats in a block can (depending on the insulation in the rest of the block) end up lovely and warm thanks to rising warmth from those below.
• Single or double glazing? Old draughty sash windows?
• How high is the ceiling? In old houses/conversoins that room with a 12ft ceiling might be gorgeous but you'll be lying in bed at night staring at the ceiling knowing the warmth your paying for is up there somewhere.
• Which direction does the room face (North, South, West, a neighbour's brick wall?)/Size and number of windows.
• What is the heating type? Storage heater, electric heaters or gas central heating? For storage heating you will have to use a day/night tarriff that means your electricity during the day is around 4x as expensive as at night. This is so that in winter when you use your heater it stores the heat during the night when electricity is cheap and releases it during the following day.

I have storage heating in my flat yearly bill approx £280 electric, no gas, one storage heater for a newish flat of 30m square with double glazing.

PasturesNew

Try to get a studio (0 beds) rather than a 1-bed. Less rent, possibly less council tax, less heating needed.

Bills might be:

£500 Electricity/gas
£200 Water
£800 Council Tax
£150 TV License
£250 Contents Insurance
£180 Landline for phone
£200 Broadband


But they do vary based on where you live, how you live, the type of property it is.