Will £60 a month be enough for prepayment metre for 1 person?

Glencoecheesesticks

I'm moving out of my shared accommodation to live alone for the first time. I've never had bills other than phone bills in my name. The flat i'm looking at renting only has prepayment metres. I will also be working from home. The rent is £400 for a studio flat, all electric and has a C EPC rating. I'm thinking of only topping up £60 per month. Will this be enough? Apologies if this is a silly question when it comes to energy bills I'm clueless.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

without knowing usage hard to tell, though keep your own wee spreadsheet, take a weekly, at least monthly reading, and keep your eye on usage and cost, be cheaper now with less heating, so watch things over winter.

Good luck in new flat.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

just noticed your user name, Glencoe, hillwalking area, cold there in the winter.

Sea_Shell

That's only £720 a year, of which ~£160 could be taken up by standing charge alone.

Which area are you in?

Are you planning on having a tumble dryer?

Mstty

Edited now we know location is Leeds.

After the standing charge (which is approx 53p a day this accounts for £193 a year or approx £16 a month let's say you have £44 left per month and with each kWh likely to be 27 p each that leaves you with an average of 5.4 kWh a day

You will use less electricity from Apr-Oct as you may just want hot water and no heating. 

Do you know if the flat is economy 7 with storage heaters?

It is doable but you will have to be disciplined and not use any heating until necessary and not leave things on standby. No big energy usage things like desktop PC's etc. Maybe watch programs on a laptop or tablet instead of a big TV. Every kWh will count.

Where do you live then the above very approx figures can be fact checked.

Olinda99

one thing that will use your allowance are items that are 'always on'  so I would avoid having these eg fridge, freezer, router, smart speaker, radio alarms, burglar alarms - well you get the picture ! 🙂

Robin9

Keep those showers down to 5 mins

12 months ago I might well have said £60 over the year will be fine.

After April 1st vey unlikely; after October 1st no chance.

PS If you do go to for the flat - do not use any top-up keys left lying around -  get your own ASAP

Gerry1

Avoid all-electric properties if possible, go for gas CH.

There's nothing more expensive than daytime electricity for heating and hot water, e.g. if it has panel heaters.  Assuming it doesn't have a heatpump, the least worst option would be Economy 7 (preferably on Direct Debit, not pre-payment) with High Heat Retention storage heaters (the ones that are fan assisted).  Failing that, the old Box of Bricks ones, but they will cost more to run because they waste heat overnight.  Turn down the output controls before going to bed if they are the old type.

Don't use a card or key you've been given, it could have debt on it.  Get a new one in your name, and read the meters (including water) on the day you take possession, don't let anyone do it for you.

Sea_Shell

Is £60 the most you think you can afford (to make the numbers work) or could that be pushed up to say £100, if you cut back on something else?

What's your income v projected flat running costs (Inc rent)?

Glencoecheesesticks

Sea_Shell said:

That's only £720 a year, of which ~£160 could be taken up by standing charge alone.

Which area are you in?

Are you planning on having a tumble dryer?

I'm in the Leeds area

Astria

Glencoecheesesticks said:

Sea_Shell said:

That's only £720 a year, of which ~£160 could be taken up by standing charge alone.

Which area are you in?

Are you planning on having a tumble dryer?

I'm in the Leeds area

£60/month is pushing it a bit, I would budget £90. If you have a sufficient over payment at the start of summer you can always claim it back.

Edit: Just noticed you said pre-payment, during the summer months I would say almost definitely depending on what equipment to decide to use, during winter, not so sure. Electric heaters are expensive! You'll probably blow over £100/month during winter months unless you like living under a duvet.