What is the average bill amount for a 1 bed flat?

kpols

Hi all, 

I am currently in a really crap situation which I'm going to have to leave. I live with someone who is an abusive alcoholic and its really ruining my life, and distracting me away from achieving the things that I need to do. 

I haven't lived alone in the last 10 years, and with inflation I have no real idea of what anything costs anymore. 

If anyone who lives in a 1 bed flat could comment how much their gas, electric, water etc is that would be amazing

I can work out what council tax is, broadband, phone bill, insurances etc easily. But there doesn't seem to be much help available online (or at least I can't find it) to suggest how much normal utilities are.

I need this information so I can make some plans 

Thank you, 

Kpols

MattMattMattUK

kpols said:

Hi all, 

I am currently in a really crap situation which I'm going to have to leave. I live with someone who is an abusive alcoholic and its really ruining my life, and distracting me away from achieving the things that I need to do. 

I haven't lived alone in the last 10 years, and with inflation I have no real idea of what anything costs anymore. 

If anyone who lives in a 1 bed flat could comment how much their gas, electric, water etc is that would be amazing

I need this information so I can make some plans 

Thank you, 

Kpols

It is going to be variable because everyone is different, I do not live in a one bedroom flat but I do live alone. It is all electric so there is no gas bill, but in terms of utility costs.

Electricity: £126 pcm (I actually pay more, and that is the average of my winter usage, over a full 12 months the average will be closer to £90 pcm)
Water: £20 pcm, Thames Water region, 1-2 months a year my credit exceeds my Direct Debit and they skip a month. I shower an average of 11 times a week, dishwasher twice a week, washing machine four times a week.
Broadband: £32 pcm, cheaper (and more expensive) options are available
TV: £14.57 nominally pcm, I do not watch live TV but have Disney+ and Amazon Prime, I pay for them annually, but that would be the PCM cost when they renew later this year.
Mobile: £26 pcm (Vodafone, 800GB, unlimited calls and texts)
Contents insurance: £5.66 nominally pcm, I pay £68 annually.
Food: £180 pcm on average although that is not just food for me as I have friends and family over for lunch or dinner at least once a week, I do cook almost everything from scratch though.

I hope those help.

TheElectricCow

Unfortunately there is no simple answer to this as there is just so much variation between different people and different properties.

For example, Ofgem (the UK energy regulator) suggests that the average single occupant in 1 one bed property with gas and electric would use 8000kWh of gas and 1800kWh electric each year. This would be an annual bill of roughly £1700 (£140 a month) depending on where you live and would be your best bet for a "normal" bill amount.

However, this is just a nationwide average number, so you could easily find yourself way above or way below this amount depending on how efficient the property is and your lifestyle. Your actual energy use could less than half this amount or more than double - even two neighbours living in identical flats can have drastically different usage from how they each live. 

It might be good enough for a rough plan, but by no means would I rely on them being in any way similar to your actual costs until you're able to get an idea of what your real energy needs are. Unless of course you intend to set yourself a strict budget to stick to regardless.


Edit: To give an actual answer to the original request -

Approximate monthly values for an all electric 1 bed flat where the occupant is particularly adverse to opening up their wallet:
Electric - around £60 at the moment, although prices have been very turbulent this year with a lot of increases/credits/discounts.
Gas - [none here]
Water - £16

MikeyPGT

As @MattMattMattUK says - difficult one to call. 

I do live alone in a one bed flat (1st floor of a converted terrace) but aim to keep costs as low as possible.  Gas  and Electric both on prepay meters - I work on £15 a month for gas - which is mainly just the standing charge - and £50 a month on electric, but am out for the majority of the day and very mean with energy when I'm in.  Water - on a meter with Welsh Water - is £15 a month.  Washing machine, but not a dishwasher. 

Rent £400 pm, Council tax £82 pm over 12 months.

Virgin Superfast Broadband currently £23 a month til April 2024.  TV licence £13.25.  Mobile £15 pm - with giffgaff.

I allow £50 a month for food.  I would say that I'm probably at the very bottom end of spending for everything as I tend to watch every penny.

Good luck with moving out and moving on.

MikeJXE

Hi, I live alone in a one bed ground floor modern flat, EPC B. it's relatively small but cosy, Dual fuel electric and gas 

I'm a male and have everything I need and nothing I don't.

I try to keep everything to a minimum, it seems including sleep. I don't seem to be able to sleep more than 2/3 hours at a time so whenever I am tired I go to bed whatever the time is so I am up many hours a day. 

I sometimes eat out and sometimes have a sandwich at home rather than cook a meal. 

I do not use the oven or the hob, my cooking is done either microwave or steamer, washing is once a week and I don't shower everyday,    I don't use a dishwasher and I don't wash up every day 

My time is mostly on my Mac, this forum, news sites, YouTube. So I am home alone most days. I don't watch tv. My electric use is Macbook or iPad, 1 lamp, Alexa, phone charger, lots of coffee, fridge. 

I moved in 2nd February so only have records for the last few weeks, before that I was in a 2 bed 1st floor flat EPC B and my energy use was about Electric  900kWh Gas 5800kWH

I have been reading my meter every week and experimenting on the heating, switching it on most of the time to reach 19 degrees 

Cost wise My DD is £100 monthly and I am very slightly below that but in the 90's.

Octopus estimate my DD should be £74 but I chose £100 as it is winter and I have no intention of getting into debt 

I keep note of my energy on a spreadsheet and the Electric is £7 and a few pence a week and Gas is between £11 and £18 per week. My water is £14 per month,

Good luck with your plan 
 

Mstty

kpols said:

Hi all, 

I am currently in a really crap situation which I'm going to have to leave. I live with someone who is an abusive alcoholic and its really ruining my life, and distracting me away from achieving the things that I need to do. 

I haven't lived alone in the last 10 years, and with inflation I have no real idea of what anything costs anymore. 

If anyone who lives in a 1 bed flat could comment how much their gas, electric, water etc is that would be amazing

I can work out what council tax is, broadband, phone bill, insurances etc easily. But there doesn't seem to be much help available online (or at least I can't find it) to suggest how much normal utilities are.

I need this information so I can make some plans 

Thank you, 

Kpols

Sounds like you have made the difficult decision.

Have you budgeted properly before and put together a realistic budget?

As an example

Mobile SIM unlimited data calls and texts  with three is £12.(use this as home.phone)
Broadband as cheap as £15 per month
All electric Economy 7 small 1 bed aim for 4000kwh at current prices £125 per month

Council Tax with single person discount £85 per month

Contents insurance £6 per month

Water £20 per month

TV license if you watch the BBC or their catch-up services £14 per month

Total £277

Also use a cashback site like Quidco for the above purchases and you will soo.see you pot add up there.

Then add rent

Transport costs for work/recreation

Fun money

Savings even if just a little bit

MattMattMattUK

Just to add, initially, to help you get some funds together, it would likely be considerably cheaper if you chose to lodge with someone rather than rent a flat, it also means you are not tied to a year's rental, you will not need much if any furniture etc. If you are financially constrained then it might be a good idea to do that for six months.

kpols

I think the problem is that I've already made a lot of mistakes and overspent and have some debt.  Currently my budget looks like this:

Debt repayments	£ 337.00
EE	£ 125.00
Broadband	£ 45.00
Rent	£ 850.00
Water	£ 40.00
Combined Energy Cost	£ 200.00
Council Tax	£ 140.00
NHS BA	£ 10.81
Scottish Widows	£ 31.59
Netflix	£ 6.99
Spotify	£ 10.00
Content Insurance	£ 10.00

£850.00 is the cheapest rent for a flat that I can find in my area which puts my monthly position like this:]

Costs	£ 1,806.39
Salary	£ 2,195.00
Remaining	£ 388.61

So out of that £388.61, I'd need to feed myself, clothe myself and pay for transport.

Does this seem realistic?

MattMattMattUK

kpols said:

I think the problem is that I've already made a lot of mistakes and overspent and have some debt.  Currently my budget looks like this:

Debt repayments	£ 337.00
EE	£ 125.00
Broadband	£ 45.00
Rent	£ 850.00
Water	£ 40.00
Combined Energy Cost	£ 200.00
Council Tax	£ 140.00
NHS BA	£ 10.81
Scottish Widows	£ 31.59
Netflix	£ 6.99
Spotify	£ 10.00
Content Insurance	£ 10.00

£850.00 is the cheapest rent for a flat that I can find in my area which puts my monthly position like this:]

Costs	£ 1,806.39
Salary	£ 2,195.00
Remaining	£ 388.61

You could get cheaper broadband, half that, or even not have it at all and just use a mobile and tethering. 
Why is your mobile cost so high? That cost is horrific and you should be able to bring it down.
Water could reasonably be half of that, energy could with careful usage and the falling prices also be half that figure. 
On that basis you should be able to free up an additional £265 pcm giving you a total of £653 every month.

How much is the total debt(s) and the interest rate(s)? It would potentially make much more sense to lodge with someone until you had cleared those debts, lodging would likely cost you half the rent cost of a one bed flat and would mean no utility bills, so £1,288 of "spare" money.

kpols said:

So out of that £388.61, I'd need to feed myself, clothe myself and pay for transport.

Does this seem realistic?

Clothe and feed, absolutely, transport would depend on what your monthly transport expenditure is, busses, taxis, petrol, insurance etc. for a car. 

Spoonie_Turtle

kpols said:

So out of that £388.61, I'd need to feed myself, clothe myself and pay for transport.

Does this seem realistic?

Depends which transport.  Food from that budget, for 1 person, should be no problem if you are able to cook from scratch (and especially if you can make multiple meals from reduced ingredients).  Tons of recipes here from someone who has lived having to budget to the very last penny https://cookingonabootstrap.com/

Clothing probably doable if you have any decent charity shops nearby, or can find bargains on eBay/Vinted/Facebook Marketplace/etc.

How long have you got left of the EE contract?  That seems extortionate.  Do you definitely need broadband as well as mobile?  (Rhetorical questions, for you to think about.)

Also Council Tax, is that factoring in the single person discount?


If you haven't already come across it, the DebtFreeWannabe board might be really helpful for you, especially if they can help you find any way to get the debt repayment reduced at all.

kpols

MattMattMattUK said:

kpols said:

I think the problem is that I've already made a lot of mistakes and overspent and have some debt.  Currently my budget looks like this:

Debt repayments	£ 337.00
EE	£ 125.00
Broadband	£ 45.00
Rent	£ 850.00
Water	£ 40.00
Combined Energy Cost	£ 200.00
Council Tax	£ 140.00
NHS BA	£ 10.81
Scottish Widows	£ 31.59
Netflix	£ 6.99
Spotify	£ 10.00
Content Insurance	£ 10.00

£850.00 is the cheapest rent for a flat that I can find in my area which puts my monthly position like this:]

Costs	£ 1,806.39
Salary	£ 2,195.00
Remaining	£ 388.61

You could get cheaper broadband, half that, or even not have it at all and just use a mobile and tethering. 
Why is your mobile cost so high? That cost is horrific and you should be able to bring it down.
Water could reasonably be half of that, energy could with careful usage and the falling prices also be half that figure. 
On that basis you should be able to free up an additional £265 pcm giving you a total of £653 every month.

How much is the total debt(s) and the interest rate(s)? It would potentially make much more sense to lodge with someone until you had cleared those debts, lodging would likely cost you half the rent cost of a one bed flat and would mean no utility bills, so £1,288 of "spare" money.

kpols said:

So out of that £388.61, I'd need to feed myself, clothe myself and pay for transport.

Does this seem realistic?

Clothe and feed, absolutely, transport would depend on what your monthly transport expenditure is, busses, taxis, petrol, insurance etc. for a car. 

I decided to get two phones on contract when I was earning 50k ish per year. Sadly not on those terms anymore. Was ridiculous when I did it, and is still ridiculous now.

Its a debt management plan with StepChange 

I know lodging with someone else would be cheaper but after this 5 years with a semi-functional binge drinking abusive alcoholic family member, the thought of living with anyone is anxiety inducing.  Also in my city, due to student demand a room is £550-650 anyway. 

Bus would be primary transport method, around £20 per week