Dealing with gas and electricity bills can be tricky, especially for students living away from home for the first time. Whether you’re sharing a house with friends or renting a room, figuring out student bills and keeping costs low can feel confusing.
If your bills aren’t included in your rent agreement, you’ll need to set up and manage your own student bills. These usually include gas, electricity, water, and WiFi.
In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about student bills, specifically how to navigate gas and electricity bills. From understanding how bills work to easy tips for saving energy (and money!), this blog is designed to make things easier.
Understanding Student Energy Bills
The first step to understanding your energy bills is understanding the key terminology.
Standing Charge: This is a fixed daily fee that you pay just for being connected to the gas or electricity supply. It doesn’t change based on your usage and is set by Ofgem every three months.
Unit Rate: This is the cost per unit of energy (measured in kilowatt-hours or kWh) that you consume. The more gas or electricity you use, the more you’ll be charged at this rate.
Usage: Your bill will show how much gas or electricity you’ve used over a specific period, either in units or kWh. This could be based on an actual meter reading or an estimate.
Meter Readings: These are the readings from your gas and electricity meters that show how much energy you’ve used. It’s important to submit regular readings to avoid estimated bills, which can sometimes be inaccurate. You can avoid estimated bills with a smart meter, which automatically sends readings to your supplier.
VAT and Taxes: Energy bills typically include a small percentage of VAT (Value Added Tax). For most households, this is around 5%.
Setting Up Your Gas and Electricity
Unfortuantly, setting up your gas and electricity bills isn’t as simple as just creating an account. You will need to select a supplier, create an account, and then decide which tariff is right for you. Different suppliers will vary with the types of tariffs they offer, but most will offer a fixed tariff or a variable tariff.
Fixed Tariffs: The unit rate you pay for gas and electricity stays the same for a set period (e.g., one year). While this can protect you from price increases, it might be more expensive if energy prices fall.
Variable Tariff: With this, the price you pay can go up or down depending on the energy market and what the price cap is set to. While there’s potential to save when prices drop, it can also lead to higher bills if prices rise or if the price cap increases.
Managing and Monitoring Student Energy Bills
Monitoring your student energy bills is a crucial element of budgeting. Energy bills can quickly become expensive and a stress if left unmanaged. One of the easiest ways to monitor your usage is with a smart meter. Smart meters show your usage and the cost in real-time. This makes it easy to identify which of your habits is costing you the most. With this information, you can adapt and change your habits to save.
Additionally, budgeting for your energy bills helps remove the stress of unexpected costs. If you have a variable tariff, you can monitor your usage to predict your average monthly cost. If you’re on a fixed tariff, budgeting may be slightly easier.
Energy Saving Tips
There’s many easy ways to save money on your energy bills. These include ensuring unused devices are unplugged, adopting ways to stay warm without turning the heating on, and changing your habits.
For example, simple switches such as cutting your shower time down from 8 minutes to 4 minutes could save £55 per year.
Dealing With Energy Suppliers
If you have a query or question about your energy bill, you should directly contact your energy supplier. The easiest way to do this is via phone or email. You can find out the contact details of all major UK energy suppliers here.
Energy Support For Students
If you are struggling with your energy bills, there is support available. If you are a private tenant, your landlord can get free home upgrades installed on the property. With government-backed schemes like ECO4, you can get solar panels, insulation, and an air source heat pump installed free of charge. It’s worth discussing this with your landlord, as it can save on your energy bills and boost the value of their property!
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