TV Licences to energy bills – what you need to know

Moving outside of Leeds student accommodation and into your own home can be an exciting time.

This is especially true if this is your first time living away from halls of residence.

However, it can also be quite a daunting time for new residents.

There’s plenty to organise to ensure everything is paid for, allowing you to get on with enjoying this next phase of your life – especially with our bills inclusive packages.

But if you decide not to go with one of our bills inclusive packages, in order to keep things from getting too stressful, here’s everything you need to know regarding setting up your bills and other payments when moving into your student accommodation in Leeds or elsewhere.

1. Energy bills

Assuming you’ve chosen not to go all-inclusive, then your next major expensive is going to be your bills.

Now, this is likely going to take some co-operation between you and your new housemates.

The most common – and usually the easiest way – of organising this is by having everyone pay a percentage of the bills on a whole.

But some houses have different ways of going about things.

Perhaps one housemate pays one bill, while someone else pays another.

Maybe someone gets a discount for buying the food.

Whatever you decide upon, it’s important that everyone agrees with how payments are to be made and by whom.

In terms of setting up your bills, you’ll need to decide whether or not you are staying with the provider that currently supplies the gas and electricity to the property.

If you are, then all you need to do is call them up, provide meter readings and set up payment.

Otherwise, you can shop around for a new supplier using comparison websites and go through the same process with your chosen provider.

2. TV licence

Before you get a very scary letter from the TV licensing people telling you that you need to give them all your money right now or else, it’s probably easier to set up payment as soon as you move in.

That is assuming, of course, that a TV is something you’re planning on investing in.

Keep in mind, you will also be charged for live streaming TV on a broadband-connected device. Usually this – like with other bills – is easiest to split between all household members (or at least the ones who will be using the TV).

The good news here is you only need one TV licence per household, so splitting the cost across multiple people can keep things relatively cheap.

3. Broadband

Broadband is something you’ll want to organise in advance in order to avoid waiting until your provider has the opportunity to set up your home router.

However, this can be tricky if you’ve not met your housemates yet nor organised who is paying what.

Regardless, contact your desired provider at the earliest possible opportunity.

From then, it’s a simple case of waiting to get installed and organising payment.

Do some research in advance to see what broadband operators offer the best speeds for your area.

You can also look into student-specific broadband deals, which are often a more affordable option.

4. Food

While more of an expense than a bill, figuring out the best way to pay for food can help avoid a lot of student house headaches.

Some households split food bills completely.

Others buy everything individually, and some go the halfway route and share the cost of things everyone uses (teabags, milk, etc), while paying for everything else individually.

Regardless, it’s best to work out a system to avoid arguments as to who ate whose shopping in the near future.