Bought my own place £2500 capped electric and gas

Alnat1

You will be charged per kWh of gas/electricity your household uses. The minimum charge would be just the standing charges if you used absolutely no fuel. There is no maximum charge.

Deeme1099

Wow how do I save ? If I get a lodger

ArbitraryRandom

I'm thinking you might be best visiting the housing board - getting some advice there from people who have had lodgers...?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/house-buying-renting-selling 

QrizB

Deeme1099 said:

Wow how do I save ? If I get a lodger

I think you need to start at the beginning.

You have bought a home, congratulations! Is it a house, a maisonette, a flat, a submarine - what sort of property?

One of the bits of paperwork you will have received is an Energy Performance Certificate, and EPC. On the EPC it will have a letter and number to say how energy efficient your house is. It will also give an estimate of the annual energy demand for heating. What does your EPC say?

On the day you took ownership, you will have read your energy meters. Do you have those readings?

Deeme1099

I bought a 4 bedroom house it's in band d at the moment can be improved to band b

Deeme1099

The meter read guy from Morrison came to take data

matelodave

YOU need to read your meters and record the readings and make sure that these are the readings being used by your energy company.

As you've just moved in this is the perfect time to get into the habit of reading the meters at least monthly, gas, electricity and water (if you've got a water meter) and noting the readings down either in a spreadsheet or a notebook. If you dont have a smart meter then send the readings into the energy company every month.

That way you will be able to assess your consumption, check that your bills are correct and not being based on estimated readings (even if you have  smart meter)

Its ever so easy to let energy bills run away and you need to be budgetting somewhere between £150 to £200 a month until you've worked out how everything works and how much it all costs to run. Be aware that we are now going into winter and you'll be using a lot more gas and leccy than you do in the summer.

QrizB

matelodave said:

...you need to be budgetting somewhere between £150 to £200 a month ...

For a four-bed house in Band D, £200pm might be a bit on the low side. I'd be budgeting for £250, at least until I had a handle on it.

markin

QrizB said:

matelodave said:

...you need to be budgetting somewhere between £150 to £200 a month ...

For a four-bed house in Band D, £200pm might be a bit on the low side. I'd be budgeting for £250, at least until I had a handle on it.

I would say more like £350 - £400+ unless they simply have it off and just hot water On.

Did you phone up the current supplier and give your name and readings? If not you could be paying off the previous owners usage and any debt.


Is it a modern boiler? Combi or a water tank? Modern radiators with TRV's with a dail with numbers from 1-6 ?

Double glazed?

Your top priority this year is likely topping up the loft and draft sealing.

Gerry1

Best to choose Whole Bill Monthly DD (aka Monthly Variable DD) and to make sure readings are sent without fail every month, otherwise there may be problems if usage turns out to have been higher than estimated, especially if the lodger has moved out.  Change supplier if they don't offer MVDD.

Collect payment as soon as the bill comes in.

Make sure you agree all rules clearly in advance, e.g. working from home, no plug in electric heaters. Decide what happens during holidays, hospital stays etc.