Financial Wellbeing
Select advice topic
Here’s what you need to know about your energy supply
Plates? Tick. New duvet? Tick. Sorting out your energy supply? Tick.
If you’re moving into a new student house. Here’s 6 things you need to know…
1. Moving in
When you move into your new house you should:
- Take meter readings on the day you moved in and send these to your energy supplier (take a photo so it’s time stamped)
- Contact your new supplier and tell them you’ve moved in
If you don’t know who your supplier is, click here to help you find them.
If your new house has a prepayment meter, where you top up a ‘key’ at a local shop or Post Office, then contact the supplier straight away. Make sure you don’t use a key or a card, or put any money on the meter until you’ve spoken to them.
2. Responsible for paying the bill
You’re responsible for paying for the energy you use.
However you might need to pay this to your landlord or directly to your supplier. You should check your tenancy agreement to see if your rent includes bills and check for any terms that allow your landlord to increase the amount you pay. If you do pay your landlord directly you won’t also have to pay your energy supplier — tell the supplier to send the bills to your landlord.
3. Splitting bills with others
If you’re living in a shared house, you’ll need to decide how you pay the bills.
If only your name is on the bill, then you’re legally responsible to pay the whole bill — so it’s a good idea to have everyone’s name on there, so you’re all equally responsible.
If one person doesn’t pay their share, speak to your supplier as they may give you more time.
There are some companies who will combine all your bills for you — this is called ‘all inclusive bills’ or ‘bill splitting’. These companies can be helpful but you’ll have to pay for the service so it will be more expensive. Before signing up to anything make sure you shop around and compare the price between using a company and paying the bills yourself — you could also ask your student union or other students for recommendations.
4. Understanding your energy bill
Your energy bill consists of different elements which it’s important to understand.
The balance — this will let you know if you’re in debit or credit with your supplier. Debit means you’ve paid less than you used and credit means you’ve paid more than you’ve used.
The tariff — this shows if you’re on a default tariff or a fixed tariff. The bill will also show if your current plan has an end date and whether the plan has an exit fee.
Your usage — your bill will also show how much energy you’ve used during the billing period.
5. Struggling to pay your bills
If you’re struggling to pay your energy bill, you should speak to your supplier as soon as possible and let them know. Your supplier should put you on a payment plan and take into account how much you can afford to pay.
There are also various grants and benefits that could help:
Grants from energy suppliers — energy suppliers have grants to help customers pay off their debt. You should contact your supplier to ask for this.
Grants from charitable trusts — you might be able to get a grant from a charitable trust to help pay off your energy debt.
Your university might also have welfare support for students who are struggling.
6. Being more energy efficient
Did you know that by making some simple changes, you can save money on your energy bills?
Here are some top tips from Energy Saving Trust:
Switch off standby — save around £55 a year by remembering to turn your appliances off standby mode
Turn off lights — save around £20 a year by turning lights off when you’re not using them or when you leave a room. If it’s time to change a bulb, go for an energy efficient LED — changing all your bulbs to LEDs could save you up to £55 a year
Wash at 30 — save around £28 a year by using your washing machine more carefully. Wash at 30°C and reduce your washing machine use by one run a week
Get to know your heating controls — understanding how your heating works and how to set it correctly can help cut your heating bill. If you have a thermostat, turning it down by just one degree could save you £105 a year. Make sure the temperature of your home is between 18 and 21 degrees
Cut your shower time — keeping your shower time to 4 minutes could save the average household £70 a year
Savings are for a typical three-bedroom, gas-heated home in Great Britain, using a gas price of 7.4p/kWh and electricity price of 28.3p/kWh (based on April 2022 price cap). Water savings are based on average occupancy. This household is projected to spend a total £1,970 on energy annually, including standing charge.
You can find more tips and advice on the Energy Saving Trust website.
