Advice needed for student flat

Bonnie2009

Hi, hope someone can help.

My son and his two friends will be moving into a student flat in Manchester in September. The flat is part of a complex - it's privately owned. They have to pay for electricity separately from rent - there's no gas. It's not on a meter.

Does anyone know which is the best company to go with? All of the comparison sites ask for previous bills, which he doesn't have. I'm with Eon and lose the will to live when I think about changing.

Thanks in advance.

chris1973

They have to pay for electricity separately from rent - there's no gas. It's not on a meter.

I'm wondering how he is going to pay for Electricity if its not metered?.

Sounds like some kind of private arrangement with the landlord?, is the Electric provided to each flat on the basis of a fixed monthly service charge?

If there is no meter, then there is no direct utility provider, in which case there will be no option to change.

Are you 100% sure that there is no meter?, it may not be in the actual flat, but could be located in a central utility room or basement elsewhere in the building

Bonnie2009

No, sorry, I wasn't clear. They don't pay into a cash meter. There will be a normal meter.

TheDillusion

chris1973 wrote: »

I'm wondering how he is going to pay for Electricity if its not metered?.

Sounds like some kind of private arrangement with the landlord?, is the Electric based on a fixed monthly service charge?

If there is no meter, then there is no direct utility provider, in which case there will be no option to change.

Are you 100% sure that there is no meter?, it may not be in the actual apartment, but could be located in a central utility room or basement elsewhere in the building

I think you misunderstand. Bonnie is referencing that the property in question is off of the mains gas grid, IE...No gas supply at the property.

Therefore, its a natural assumtion that the property is heated with either an immersion heater or storage heaters...Either way, your looking at either a bog standard Economy 7 electric meter or possibly a 4-rate meter running some kind of SuperTariff...Either way, honestly it isn't that cheap.

Economy 7 is fine and can work out reasonable because of the reduced rate after midnight, but the day rates are horrid and if they're students...They will be up/awake at SOME point during the day...

But, I digress...You'd be looking at around £40-55 per month on Direct Debit, max of £165 a quater based on the national averages...

Truthfully though, students are always better on PrePayment, helps with budgeting and stops the risk of running up huge debts...

Bonnie2009

Thanks for your replies. I notice you're with npower. I just wondered which is the cheapest company at the moment. I don't know anything about pre-payments, but they are sensible boys and will make sure they're not using too much and check the meter regularly etc.

chris1973

Economy 7 is fine and can work out reasonable because of the reduced rate after midnight, but the day rates are horrid

LOL, you don't have to tell me, I pay just under 18p a KW/H on rip-off day rates on E7 Pre-Pay, from N-Power funnily enough....thankfully its going up AFTER I move out!.

I would change to a more competitive tariff, however its in the LL's name and the LL won't allow a change of utility provider until after the first 6 months, and as i'm only here for 6 months....but yes, you are quite right, bloody expensive for normal 'day' use, or if you have to top up the storage heaters with fan and convector heaters outside of the E7 hours.

Could the OP confirm how the property is heated, I assume by Electricity, but it is storage heaters on E7 (or a similar tariff), or Convector heaters / underfloor heating on a standard one rate tariff? as this will have a big influence on who to move to.

macman

Bonnie2009 wrote: »

No, sorry, I wasn't clear. They don't pay into a cash meter. There will be a normal meter.

The terms you are looking for are prepayment meter and credit meter.

Bonnie2009

They're not on Economy 7. There are radiators but I'm not sure whether it's a combi system or whether they have an immersion heater.

Thanks, macman!

chris1973

I just wondered which is the cheapest company at the moment

There isn't really such a thing, otherwise we'd all be with the same company and the others would probably no longer be trading

Its not who is the cheapest company, its more about what is the cheapest company for YOU

So many variables involved and kw/h rates also vary from region to region. This is why more info is needed

There are radiators but I'm not sure whether it's a combi system or whether they have an immersion heater.

The immersion will not be heating the radiators!. There could be an immersion for hot water, but if there are radiators, then the hot water may also come from the same source.

If its a combi system then there will have to be gas feeding it.

If there is some kind of central heating system you need to find out whether its included in the rent or heated Electrically by some kind of wet heating system.

*If* the [central] heating is inclusive, then that is a huge bonus, as far as bills are concerned.

Bonnie2009

No, there's no heating included in the rent, worse luck!

Sorry, should have realised that gas was needed for a combi! I think I'll have to get him on to the landlord to ask exactly how it's heated and ask who the previous students used.

Thanks for all your help; I really appreciate it.

DVardysShadow

TheDillusion wrote: »

... Truthfully though, students are always better on PrePayment, helps with budgeting and stops the risk of running up huge debts...

Meter runs empty, power is cut, laptops die, essays lost.

Are you sure about this?