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Moving into off-campus housing as a student means dealing with energy bills. Here's what you need to know, from how to cut costs to switching gas and electricity suppliers.
By Ryan Lunn (Content executive, The Uni Guide) | 01 April 2025 | 6 minutes read
Read your gas meter and electricity meter as soon as you can, and write down the readings you see. You'll need to give these to your energy company so you're only charged for the power you use (and not what the previous tenants used).
Contact the companies that supply gas and electricity to your property to register that you're living at that address, choose your energy tariff and set up payment. It might also be a good time to compare tariffs and switch to a cheaper energy supplier.
If you're renting a house, check outside the property for a cabinet or meter box. Sometimes you'll find your meter in the hallway, kitchen or in a cupboard under the stairs.
If you're renting a flat, try these or the communal hallway too.
If your search is unsuccessful, your landlord, letting agent or inventory should also be able to tell you where your meters are located.
There are different types of energy meters, each with their own distinguishing features:
dial meters look like a series of clocks, numbered one to nine
digital meters show a series of numbers
smart meters have a small digital screen
To read your energy meter, simply write down the numbers you see from left to right. You can ignore any red numbers or dials.
If your electricity meter has two sets of numbers (labelled normal and low, or day and night), this is an Economy 7 meter (or a 'white meter'). This charges different rates for electricity you use depending on the time of day, usually charging a lower rate overnight.
You might have a prepayment meter, for which you'll often need a key or card to top this up – find out how to top this up, below.
Note, not all homes have gas meters; some may work with electric heating, for instance.
It will often say in your rental contract who your energy supplier is. You can also ask your landlord or letting agent when moving in, or check if you receive any letters from your gas and electricity supplier addressed to ‘the occupier’.
Alternatively, you can find out both your energy suppliers by entering your postcode into the Energy Networks Association’s tool and getting the relevant contact information there.
To find out your gas supplier, you can also call the meter number helpline on 0870 608 1524 (calls cost 7p/min plus your network access fee).
When you contact your gas and electricity supplier, you can choose how you will pay your bills. Your options are:
You may be asked whether you want to pay monthly or quarterly. More frequent payments can help you to budget effectively (and avoid that awful feeling of seeing a big sum of money disappear from your account in one go).
If you have a prepayment meter, you will need to pay in advance for the gas or electricity you use, topping up as you go. Some companies let you do this online, others will require you to take your key or card to a local shop or the Post Office to top up.
You can do this by cash or debit/credit card at your nearest Paypoint.
Sit down with your housemates to decide the best way for everyone to pay their share of the energy bill.
A lot of the time you'll need to have the bill in one person's name, with that person paying the whole bill and everyone transferring them their split. If you have a prepayment meter, you could take it in turns to top it up.
Decide the best way that suits everyone - this will depend on how well you know your housemates, how reliable they are, how often you see each other and so on. You might want to try a bill-splitting app or mobile banking app like Monzo to help you keep track of your money and what everyone owes, plus make transfers easily.
Alternatively, a shared Google doc or spreadsheet will do the job.
Gas and electricity bills bigger than expected? These tips should cut costs:
If you pay your energy company directly for your gas and electricity, then you can choose your energy supplier (that's set out in consumer protection law).
If your landlord pays the bill (you have 'bills included' in your rent, for example), they can choose the energy supplier.
Check your tenancy agreement if you pay the bills. It might include a 'default' energy supplier, or say that you must tell your landlord if you change supplier, or that you must switch back to the original supplier when you move out.
It's good practice to tell your landlord if you change the energy supplier, too.
Use an energy price comparison website to compare gas and electricity prices. This will show you how much you could save before you make a decision.
Enter the date your tenancy ends to see the prices for the amount of time you'll be living in the property - student rental agreements are often shorter than those for non-students, so this is important to do.
To switch energy supplier, you'll need:
Grab a cup of tea as you go through the online process. This should only take around 15 minutes if you have all these details to hand. The actual switchover takes about 30 days to complete (a week less if the company is signed up to a guarantee).
Take a look at some more articles on this topic.
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Students are talking about this topic on The Student Room. Catch up with the latest...