Everything you need to know about bills in a student house. How much you'll pay, how to split them without falling out, and how to get the whole house sorted in about 2 minutes flat.
Sort My Bills FreeLet's start with the question everyone asks: how much are bills actually going to cost? The answer depends on how many of you there are, how cold you like the house, and whether your housemate insists on having the heating on 24/7 in November. But here are realistic averages for a typical student house in the UK in 2025.
These figures include gas, electricity, water, and broadband. They don't include council tax (because you're exempt as a full-time student, more on that below) or things like Netflix subscriptions and your phone bill.
Pro tip: Bigger houses don't always mean more per person. The broadband cost stays the same whether there are 3 or 5 of you, and energy doesn't scale linearly. A 5-bed house often works out cheaper per person than a 3-bed.
Keep in mind these are averages. Your actual bills will depend on the age and insulation of your house, your energy tariff, how many of you like long showers, and whether anyone's discovered the joy of leaving every light on when they leave a room. Victorian terraces with single glazing (a classic student house vibe) will cost more to heat than newer builds.
Moving from halls to a student house means suddenly having to think about things you never knew existed. Here's every bill you might encounter, what it actually is, and whether you can avoid it.
This is your biggest bill. Gas heats your house and your water (unless you have an electric boiler). Electricity powers everything else: lights, laptops, the kettle you boil 47 times a day. A typical student house pays between £95 and £165 per month depending on house size. In winter it spikes because the heating is on. In summer it drops because you've all gone home or you're living in T-shirts. You can choose your energy supplier, and it's worth shopping around, especially when your fixed deal ends and you roll onto a more expensive variable tariff. Or, you could just let SaveFirst do that bit for you.
You can't choose your water supplier; it's determined by where you live. Most student houses pay between £30 and £50 per month. If you have a water meter, it's based on usage. If not, it's a fixed annual charge based on the rateable value of the property. You genuinely cannot do much to reduce this one, other than taking shorter showers (good luck enforcing that in a house of five).
Non-negotiable in a student house. You need Wi-Fi. Expect to pay £25-35 per month for a decent connection. Most contracts are 12 or 18 months, so try to align the start date with your tenancy. Check the download speed before you sign up; if four of you are trying to stream Netflix while someone's on a video call, you'll want at least 50-60 Mbps. Some student broadband deals come with shorter contracts, so look for those if your tenancy is only 9 or 10 months.
Here's the one that confuses everyone. You only need a TV licence (£169.50/year) if you watch or record live TV on any channel, or use BBC iPlayer. If you only watch Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, or anything else on demand (not live), you don't need one. You can declare this online at the TV Licensing website. They might send you letters that sound threatening, but as long as you've made your declaration, you're fine. If anyone in the house does watch live TV or iPlayer, you need one licence for the whole house.
This isn't a utility bill, but it's worth mentioning. Your landlord's insurance covers the building, not your stuff. If someone breaks in and nicks your laptop, that's on you. Student contents insurance is relatively cheap (often £5-10/month) and covers things like laptops, phones, bikes, and musical instruments. Some banks include it with student accounts, so check yours before buying a separate policy. It's optional, but worth considering when everything you own is crammed into one room.
The good news: as a full-time student, you're exempt. That's a saving of £1,000-2,000+ per year that working households have to pay. There's a catch though, which we'll cover in detail below. The short version: if everyone in the house is a full-time student, you pay nothing. If even one person isn't a student, it gets complicated.
Some student rentals advertise "bills included." Sounds great, right? One payment, no hassle. But you need to read the fine print carefully because "bills included" rarely means "all bills included."
Watch out for energy caps. Some "bills included" deals put a cap on energy usage. If you go over it, you pay the excess. This can be a nasty surprise in winter when the heating's been on constantly. Always ask: "Is there a fair usage cap on energy?" before signing.
If bills aren't included, you'll need to set everything up yourselves. This means contacting suppliers, setting up accounts, arranging direct debits, and then managing it all year. That's where most student houses run into problems, because nobody actually wants to do any of this. One person ends up doing everything, and that brings us to the bill payer problem.
This is genuinely one of the best financial perks of being a student, and loads of people don't even know about it. Full-time students are completely exempt from council tax. That's a saving of roughly £1,000-2,000 per year depending on where you live, and you'd be amazed how many students either don't claim it or panic when they get a council tax bill through the door.
If every person living in your house is a full-time student, you're all exempt. Nobody pays anything. The whole house gets a council tax exemption. Here's what you need to do:
The mixed-household catch. If even one person in your house isn't a full-time student (a partner, a friend who's working, someone who dropped out mid-year), the household is no longer fully exempt. The non-student might get a 25% discount if they're the sole non-student, but you will owe council tax. This catches people out every year, so make sure everyone in the house is actually a full-time student before assuming you're exempt.
Also, make sure you reapply each academic year. The exemption doesn't automatically carry over. Your uni will issue a new student status letter each year, and you'll need to send it to the council again. Yes, it's admin. But it's admin that saves you over a grand.
This is where friendships are tested. Splitting bills in a student house sounds simple until someone points out that they were away for three weeks over Christmas and shouldn't have to pay the same as the person who had the heating on the entire time. Here are your options.
The simplest approach. Total bills divided by the number of housemates, everyone pays the same. This works well when everyone uses the house roughly equally. It's easy to calculate and nobody has to track usage. The downside: if someone genuinely uses less (they're away a lot, or they never use the heating), it can feel unfair. But most student houses go with this because it's the easiest and avoids arguments about who used more hot water.
More "fair" in theory, but a nightmare to implement. How do you measure who used more electricity? Unless you're installing sub-meters in each bedroom (you're not), this usually devolves into arguments. The only time usage-based splitting makes sense is when someone has a significantly different situation, like one person has a much bigger room with an electric heater.
If one person has a room that's twice the size of everyone else's, it's reasonable for them to pay a bit more. This is usually sorted at the start of the tenancy and applied to rent, but some houses apply it to bills too. Keep it simple: the person with the biggest room pays an extra 10-15%. Don't overthink it.
Whatever method you choose, use an app to track it. Doing it over WhatsApp with "you owe me £47.32 from last month" messages is a recipe for passive-aggressive tension. Good options include:
Best approach: Equal split with one person managing the bills, reviewed each month. Keep it simple and use Splitwise or a shared tab. If someone is away for a long period, agree a reduced rate in advance rather than arguing about it after.
Here's how it usually goes: one person in the house gets voluntold to be the one who sorts out the bills. Their name goes on the gas account, the electric account, the broadband contract, and the water bill. They set up direct debits from their bank account. Then they spend the entire year chasing everyone else for their share.
This person is doing unpaid admin work for the household. They're the one who gets the credit hit if a bill is missed because someone didn't pay them back on time. They're the one who has to deal with suppliers when something goes wrong. And when the tenancy ends? They're the one who has to close all the accounts and make sure nobody owes anything.
If you're in a house where people move in and out (common in student houses where one person might drop out or study abroad for a semester), this gets messy. The person whose name is on the accounts has to transfer or close everything, and the remaining housemates have to set up new accounts. If someone leaves without sorting their share, the bill payer is on the hook.
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Most student tenancies run from July to June or September to August. That means you're paying rent (and bills) over the summer even when you might be back at your parents' house, working in another city, or travelling. Here's what you need to know.
Your broadband contract keeps running whether anyone's using the Wi-Fi or not. Gas and electric have standing charges, which are daily fees you pay just for being connected to the supply (typically £0.25-0.60 per day for each). Water bills are usually fixed annually regardless of usage. So even in an empty house, you're still paying something.
Before the academic year ends, have a quick conversation about summer bills. Some houses agree that everyone pays equally all year round (simpler). Others reduce contributions over summer since usage is minimal. Whatever you decide, agree it before anyone leaves. Trying to sort it out via a group chat in August when half the house isn't replying is a guaranteed headache.
Heads up: If you're subletting your room over summer (check your tenancy agreement allows this first), the person staying takes on your share of the bills. Make sure this is clearly agreed in writing to avoid any confusion.
Look, we know you didn't come to university to learn about energy tariffs and water meter readings. You came to get a degree (and maybe to have the best three years of your life). Bills are just the annoying admin that comes with living in a house instead of halls.
That's exactly why SaveFirst exists. Here's the deal: one person in your house sends us a quick WhatsApp message. We do a free bill audit, compare the market, and find you the cheapest deals for gas, electric, broadband, and anything else you're paying for. Then we sort the switch for you. The whole thing takes about 2 minutes of your time.
Whether you're just moving into your first student house or you're a third-year who's been overpaying for two years without realising, we can help. There's no contract, no obligation, and no hard sell. Just cheaper bills with less hassle.
One WhatsApp message. That's all it takes. We'll compare deals, find you the cheapest options, and switch everything over. Free, fast, and genuinely painless.
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