How to avoid large energy bills
If you’ve been living in halls over the last year you will almost certainly have been paying an inclusive fee that covers your energy usage. When you move into the private-rented sector, however, you’ll probably pay based on how much energy you use.
We’ve collated energy data from halls of residence across the UK to put together the example energy bill here that shows roughly how much UK students would have spent this year – the average student used £450 worth of energy from September to June 2016/17! We’ll put together the equivalent data for other countries soon.
When you move into the private rented sector there are lots of actions you can take so you don’t receive a nasty surprise when you get your first real bill! Here are a few of our recommended actions (relevant to all countries involved in SAVES2):
- Switch supplier/tariff – if you pay the energy bill directly yourself, you have the right to switch supplier or tariff. Switching can save a typical household £200/year so check out the price comparison websites to save money.
- Request an Energy Performance certificate (EPC) from your landlord – particularly when you are house-hunting. These show how well your home is insulated. The scale runs from A to G and we recommend avoiding F or G-rated properties otherwise it is likely to be expensive to keep your house warm.
- Get a smart meter – if you pay the energy bill directly yourself you can request a smart meter from your energy provider at no additional cost. These provide real-time information on how much you are using and spending to make it easy to identify energy wastage.
- When buying electrical appliances check out the energy rating – this gives an indication of how much it will cost to power that item (A++ is the highest rating)
- Don’t leave heating/lights/appliances left on unnecessarily
If you haven’t done so already please like our Facebook page for ongoing advice on actions to take to reduce your energy costs – plus competitions to win prizes like Ben & Jerry’s!
