Student house - bills

lucyt13

I lived in a house of 8 for two years and we did not set up direct debits for any of our bill payments, apart from Virgin Media (which saved us £5 a month).
We would wait until a bill arrived and then split it between us, one person would be responsible for each bill and was responsible for collecting money off each housemate and paying the bill (using facebook and internet banking this isn't as difficult as it sounds).
This was OK until someone was short and it could cause tensions within the house.
In the second year, we opened a bank account in one housemates name and all put £50 in the account and use this money to pay bills out of (we may have put in more at the start of the year to cover TV license etc.), when the balance dropped we all agreed to put another £50 in and this carried on throughout the year.
It caused less problems if someone was short at the time we needed the money as there was still 7 other people putting money in the account, so as long as that person put the money in as soon as they could (its easy to tell who has put money in because you can count up everyone's payments on the online statement) it worked well.

Sorry for the essay hope it helps

rozmister

jayme1 wrote: »

not an average usage per year tariff which can either charge you not enough leaving you with an massive bill or you pay too much which you can find nigh on impossible to get your money back

Quarterly bills are also sometimes done on estimates. I think what you should choose varies greatly depending where you live. Dual fuel isn't an option where I live (I have no idea what it is) and my housemates have just been stung by a massive gas bill because they were being sent estimates despite paying quarterly (I didn't live there for the period). Whether you're on DD or Quarterly billing plans it is always good practice to phone up every two months or so with meter readings just in case they can't send somebody out or there's crossed wires!

xrjtg

David_Brent wrote: »

Put each of your housemates names on the the bills so you are all liable for any costs. If it is just in your name you will be liable for any charges that your housmates rack up

If all the names are on the bill then you're still liable for all the charges your housemates rack up. Again, every name on the bill can be chased for the full value of any debts.

The ideal situation from the point of view of any individual is not to be named on anything. As that can't work out for everybody, spreading the bills around is next best, as anyone who fails to pay up their share stops receiving contributions towards the expense that they're legally responsible for.

jarekparek

I just started to living alone and i have a real mess in all that bills, thanks for all the useful info

essyweb_2

If you are incharge of gas and electric and internet and TV.