The thought of managing your bills might feel boring, overwhelming or complicated, but it’s not as bad as you think. Once you’ve got them sorted, you can avoid stressing about them and enjoy your time at university. Here are some tips to help you feel less intimidated by bills and ready to tackle them.
Understand What Bills You’re Responsible For
Look at your tenant agreement to find out which bills are included in your rent. The landlord will handle any included bills, but any that aren’t included are your responsibility. Students will need to set up accounts for any utilities that aren’t handled by the landlord. You’ll be responsible for your own subscription services like Netflix and Spotify, as well as the costs associated with your car, if you have one, like insurance and petrol.
Agree on a Bill Management Plan With Your Housemates
It’s important to be clear and open with your housemates about any concerns you might have about your household bills. Some students plan regular meetings with the people they live with to discuss their finances, allowing everyone to be on the same page.
Set Up All Accounts as Soon As You Move In
Don’t put off setting up your bills, as this can lead to stress and all sorts of problems like late payments and damage to your credit score. Organise automatic payments, as this prevents bills from being paid late and avoids unnecessary hassle. Organise for your bills to come out of a specific account, on the same date each month, as this makes everything more straightforward.
Here’s some helpful information about specific bills.
- TV licence: You’ll need to decide if your house needs a TV licence or not. If you’re planning to watch live TV, record programs whilst they’re live, or use BBC iPlayer, you’ll need a TV licence. This is also the case if you’re doing these things on another device like a phone, tablet or laptop.
- Gas: Some student houses have gas and others don’t. If you’re unsure if your house has gas, you can ask your landlord or check if your home has a gas meter.
- Council tax: If everyone living in your house is a full-time student, you won’t need to worry about paying council tax as you’ll be exempt.
Use Apps or Services to Split Costs Fairly
The best way to split your bills is equally, as this avoids disputes. At The Student Energy Group, we’ll combine all your household bills into one monthly statement, which can be shared equally amongst your housemates. You can put your inclusive bill package together with just a few simple clicks. There will be no joint liability; you only pay for your own share. If someone doesn’t pay, this won’t affect anyone else in the house.
Track Your Usage and Be Energy Smart
If you have a smart meter, you can see your energy usage in real-time. If you don’t have one and think it would be helpful, you can contact your energy supplier, who can install one for you (this is usually free). By checking your smart meter regularly, you can identify changes and determine what might have caused them. Another way to track energy usage is by using a smart plug, which monitors the energy consumption of individual devices plugged into it. This allows you to see which of your devices use a lot of electricity, even when they’re in standby mode. Here are some habits you can get into to attempt to reduce your electricity bill:
- Always turn off the lights when you leave the room or when they don’t need to be on
- Unplug items when they aren’t in use
- Shorten your showers
- Use LED bulbs – they use a lot less energy compared to traditional bulbs and typically have a longer lifespan
- Load your dishwasher and washing machine in full loads rather than doing multiple cycles
- Dry your clothes on an airer rather than using the tumble dryer
- Swap a bath every now and again for a shower instead
Split Bills Responsibly With TSEG Today
At The Student Energy Group, we take the stress out of bills. We’ll combine all your household bills (such as electricity, water and gas) into one monthly student bills package, which can be split equally between you and your housemates. We plant a tree every time someone signs up with us – we’ve planted over 30,000 so far! Get a free, no-obligation quote from us today.
