Moving into a flat for the first time bills advice

plumfin

We have no gas, just Economy 7 storage heaters and some free standing oil radiators. Electric oven, shower, etc. Washing machine runs once every 2 days. Our monthly DD is £105. Seems high to me, but when I compared it to other peoples' bills for gas and electric, it was not too bad. I searched the market and used cash back sites, do this every 18 months or so. Hope this helps.

guideme

plumfin wrote: »

We have no gas, just Economy 7 storage heaters and some free standing oil radiators. Electric oven, shower, etc. Washing machine runs once every 2 days. Our monthly DD is £105. Seems high to me, but when I compared it to other peoples' bills for gas and electric, it was not too bad. I searched the market and used cash back sites, do this every 18 months or so. Hope this helps.

£105 sounds high to me too. What type of property and how many people live there? Do you think it's because you use the washing machine every 2 days? I really hope my bill is quite a bit less. :eek:

plumfin

guideme wrote: »

£105 sounds high to me too. What type of property and how many people live there? Do you think it's because you use the washing machine every 2 days? I really hope my bill is quite a bit less. :eek:

We live in a 400 year old cottage, with damp walls and pretty much the original windows with holes in them, so yes, we pay to heat the outside! 2 adults, no kids, but 2 TVs, on stand by at night, X box etc, so I imagine your bills would be less.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

guideme wrote: »

I think everything is electric which I'll confirm next weekend

I have searched everywhere and it is so difficult to find estimate bills for this type of plan apart from the horror stories (unless they all are haha)

ignore the horror stories, they are only meant to make you worry.

Get yourself settled in, let the council know, doesn't have to be the day you move in, but tell them the date that you moved in.

The electric you can sort out once your settled, for the sake of a month or so, it's not going to make a big difference.

Just be careful with the electric heating, you don't say if it is E7, but if it is, don't go gung ho and turn heaters up full blast when you move in.

If they are storage heaters, the right hand control usually regulates the power input, the higher you set this the more electricity you will use, so set them at 2/3 to start with and adjust up down according the the amount of heat you are comfortable with.

The left hand control operates a flap inside the heater, so keep it closed as much as you can, if you should open it when coming in from work for a heat boost, shut it down when you go to bed, no point heating an empty room.

Your immersion heater should be on a timer, set to benefit from the E7 settings, you should only need it on hour or so in morning, ready for your shower, and maybe a quick boost later, if needed.

Get in, get settled, don't panic, you'll be fine.

guideme

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,



ignore the horror stories, they are only meant to make you worry.

Get yourself settled in, let the council know, doesn't have to be the day you move in, but tell them the date that you moved in.

The electric you can sort out once your settled, for the sake of a month or so, it's not going to make a big difference.

Just be careful with the electric heating, you don't say if it is E7, but if it is, don't go gung ho and turn heaters up full blast when you move in.

If they are storage heaters, the right hand control usually regulates the power input, the higher you set this the more electricity you will use, so set them at 2/3 to start with and adjust up down according the the amount of heat you are comfortable with.

The left hand control operates a flap inside the heater, so keep it closed as much as you can, if you should open it when coming in from work for a heat boost, shut it down when you go to bed, no point heating an empty room.

Your immersion heater should be on a timer, set to benefit from the E7 settings, you should only need it on hour or so in morning, ready for your shower, and maybe a quick boost later, if needed.

Get in, get settled, don't panic, you'll be fine.

Thanks very much, it is E7.

Great username btw.

Fluff15

guideme wrote: »

Thanks so much everyone!!

One more question - If there is only an electric bill and electric heating is typically more expensive than gas will the electric bill be pretty much the same as what the bill would be if you had both gas and electric, or even more so? I can't find average monthly bills for a decent sized one bed flat with electric Economy 7 heating.

(At most I will use the washing machine once or twice a week, cooker most days, TV and laptop)

The heating is generally more expensive but everything else is cheaper. I have a medium two bed flat with only electric heating, both my partner and I live there. We only have the hot water heater on half an hour a day as it's only used for washing up, heating is off and rarely put on unless it's very cold, four loads of washing a week plus tumble dryer, the dishwasher probably goes on once a day -in the winter months we spend on average £70 on electric (top up meter, not DD) and about £50 in summer (when heaters and dryer isn't used as much). If you've got storage heating, you can probably expect to maybe use less than us as we've only got panel heaters and they don't him any heat.

Admittedly we could use more as it's reasonably chilly in out flat most of the time, but nothing a jumper and slippers can't combat!

Pixie5740

When I move into a new property I take the meter readings every month to give to the energy company so that I can get an idea of how much gas/electricity I'm using. It also means you get "actual" bills rather than "estimated" bills which means you are paying for what you use rather than underpaying and then been hit with a huge bill later on. Estimated bills go the other way too though if you overpay you could get a nice refund later on.

dancingfairy

You need to do meter readings when you get the tenancy. Also it's best to keep an eye on the readings (you should be able to submit them online). As others have said estimates are, well estimates so you could end up either underpaying and then having to find a lump sum or overpaying and having a massive credit balance which is also a pain and doesn't help with your budgetting if things are tight, although obviously it's good to build up a bit of a buffer, especially over the summer going into winter.
df

guideme

Thanks guys.

Some mentioned waiting a bit before setting up bills/council tax. Can you go a bit further into this please? It would help a lot if I could have a week or so if possible but wouldn't they know I've been there before that anyway from the readings?

Would I get in trouble for not sorting it out straight away?

jayss

2 years ago so prices have gone up I lived in a new build 1 bed and paid £20 month electric, I rarely used the heaters as I didn't need to, couple of hours hot water a day, washing machine 2-3x a week.

Initially the payment was set at £40 a month and they refunded a large chunk after a year.

They generally set it high initially.

Water was part of the landlords service charge so I didn't pay it separately.