How much will living alone cost a month? (Utility bills)

lonewolf123

Hi I was wondering if I can get some estimates on how much you think living alone costs in terms of utility bills each month?

This includes gas, electric, water and sewage for a one bedroom flat. I would also add that I will be working 9-5 Monday to Friday so except from the weekends, I will be mostly at work.

I tried to look around and the answers I got were all different ranging from £50 - £200 :eek: when living alone each month.

I'm moving out soon into a one bedroom flat and I'm trying to budget everything so any responses will be great.

Lagoon

The issue is, it'll vary a lot depending on your personal habits.

I wouldn't put it near £200, though.

OH and I pay £140 a month, and we're two people (obviously) living in a three-bed property that's also my full-time business premises. We have lights and heating on constantly, we're always charging gadgets, we leave devices on standby and we regularly multi-task with PCs, laptops, TVs, tablets and games consoles on at the same time.

We're about as wasteful as it gets. You shouldn't get anywhere near our expenditure.

Nada666

That's because there is an enormous range - say £20 to £120 for gas and electricity.

One big saving you can make, as you are alone, is only switch the heating on when you come home (and, that is, only when it is cold). Do not use the twice-a-day timer over winter.

lonewolf123

Lagoon wrote: »

The issue is, it'll vary a lot depending on your personal habits.

I wouldn't put it near £200, though.

OH and I pay £140 a month, and we're two people (obviously) living in a three-bed property that's also my full-time business premises. We have lights and heating on constantly, we're always charging gadgets, we leave devices on standby and we regularly multi-task with PCs, laptops, TVs, tablets and games consoles on at the same time.

We're about as wasteful as it gets. You shouldn't get anywhere near our expenditure.

Thanks for the reply.

I know it would depend greatly on lifestyle but I suppose I'm more towards the frugal end with utility usage .

Do you think its safe to say that it would be along the £80 - £100 mark each month?

Lagoon

lonewolf123 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

I know it would depend greatly on lifestyle but I suppose I'm more towards the frugal end with utility usage .

Do you think its safe to say that it would be along the £80 - £100 mark each month?

I'd say that you could be fairly confident with that as a budget, yes. As Nada666 says - if you're not at home, the heating can be off. You won't be using electricity all day, so you shouldn't be spending a fortune there.

Nada666

lonewolf123 wrote: »

Do you think its safe to say that it would be along the £80 - £100 mark each month?

Definitely that should be the maximum unless there are exceptional circumstances - and you should have no difficulty [STRIKE]easily [/STRIKE]only using half of that.

(I'm not including water and sewage - rubbishy flat rate charge where I am, no idea what metered usages or costs are.)

lonewolf123

Nada666 wrote: »

Definitely that should be the maximum unless there are exceptional circumstances - and you should have no difficulty [STRIKE]easily [/STRIKE]only using half of that.

(I'm not including water and sewage - rubbishy flat rate charge where I am, no idea what metered usages or costs are.)

Thanks for the reply and the tip.

The £80 - £100 I came up with is suppose to include water and sewage costs as well...so sounds about right?

DragonQ

I've estimated my usage to be £50pm but that's based on my previous situation with 3 adults spending £60pm (heating only on in mornings and evenings for 3-4 months). I reckon my gas usage will be slightly lower and electricity slightly lower (fewer people but most of the power-hungry stuff is mine).

I could be totally wrong though, will have to wait and see!

Anouchka

Re the use of gas and electricity, there are three of us (adults) in a small two-bedroomed flat and I pay EDF £72 per month. We have gas central heating (a newish boiler) and all the usual electrical items. I enter usage figures every month so think this is will drop a little over the summer. We are pretty frugal but never cold.

nafe12

I'm in a one-bed flat, and use far too much heating (I feel the cold) and work from home.
I pay about £60 a month - likely to go up to about £65-70 under new tariffs.

DragonQ

DragonQ wrote: »

I've estimated my usage to be £50pm but that's based on my previous situation with 3 adults spending £60pm (heating only on in mornings and evenings for 3-4 months). I reckon my gas usage will be slightly lower and electricity slightly lower (fewer people but most of the power-hungry stuff is mine).

I could be totally wrong though, will have to wait and see!

Didn't include water in this by the way. That was costing roughly £140 per year for two people and £190 per year for three, so I reckon for me it'll be about £100 per year.