First time house-share, NO CLUE on bills =/

writingunderthestars

Hi, I am a student just about to move into privately rented accommodation for my 2nd year. I will be living in a 5 bedroom house with 6 others (two rooms are being shared by couples) I am trying to set up a budget and have NO IDEA about how to sort out gas/electric etc, or how much it will cost. I am more clued up/actually likely to do something about it than the others in the house, so want to be prepared when we move in. We are all students, will have a pretty high electricity use when we're in due to laptops, TV etc and will be using the shower at least a few times a day. There is 1 shower/toilet, 1 bath with overhead shower/toilet and one toilet for the water. We have a washing machine, but no dishwasher. I am really lost as to what to do, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

macman

From the first day you occupy, you are in a deemed account with the existing suppliers, so you'll need to register with them first before you can consider switching. Be wary of having your sole name on the account(s), as everyone on the account will be jointly and severally liable for the entire bill and any debts. Read the meters on the day you arrive and at least every month, and submit readings, that way your bills will reflect actual usage, and you will avoid huge arears building up.
Your biggest expenditure will be for heating and hot water.
The no. of toilets etc doesn't really matter, as you cannot change water supplier, you just need to register for an account with the regional supplier. Is the property metered or on RV billing?
And don't forget to register for Council Tax (even if you are all students and exempt, you still need to supply your exemption certificates).

writingunderthestars

Ok, thanks for the help I'll make sure to read the meter and such when we get there! I'm not sure if it's metered or RV, what does RV mean.? (sorry completely clueless!) Does anyone have any idea how much it might cost? We won't have the heating on much, but obviously will use a LOT of hot water with so many people!

macman

RV = rateable value. That means you pay a fixed charge regardless of usage, if the property is unmetered.
Your landlord should be able to give you most of the info you need, but take your own readings-don't rely on others to administrate accounts for bills that you will have to pay.

writingunderthestars

Thanks again for being so helpful! Does ANYONE have any idea what sort of price we might be looking at though??? I really need some sort of estimate for budgeting and have no clue....

macman

For electricity and gas, not really possible without knowing what sort of heating/hot water/cooking arrangements you have in place. An older 5 b/r house probably isn't going to be very well insulated either.
For a large group of students, even more difficult-only needs one to decide to leave an electric fire on all day when out, and that's your budget plan blown.
So you need to decide how to divide the bills and what the rules are from day one.
A large house like that could cost anything from £1000 to £2000 a year to heat/hot water, assuming gas CH. Then electricity on top, maybe £750?
If you heat by standard rate electricity, it will cost very much more-approx 3 times more per kWh.