Help with utilities budget in Glasgow

We are considering a move to Glasgow from the US (my in laws live in Glasgow).  I know the salaries are much lower than the US.  I'm trying to work on a budget to see if we could afford to live there.

Looking online it seems we can rent a decent 4 bed 2 1/2 bath house for about 900-1000 pcm. 

Does anyone know the utilies cost for such a house and what utilites does one need to pay for?  Gas, electric, water?? rubbish/trash? phone, cell phone, internet (a must), satelite TV.  Also how much do most families with 1 young child spend on groceries a week or month.

Thanks for your help!

Susan

Does anyone know the utilies cost for such a house and what utilites does one need to pay for?  Gas, electric, water?? rubbish/trash? phone, cell phone, internet (a must), satelite TV.

OK, you will need to get supplies for gas and electricity.

You will pay Water Rates to the local water company. In fact, in most areas, the one company supplies not just your clean water but also takes away your foul water/sewerage, and the bill should show those two aspects separately.

Most houses in the UK still have their water bill charged according to the size of their house/flat, but increasingly water meters are being fitted.

phone, cell phone, internet (a must), satellite TV. .... all of course are theoretically voluntary ... but these days, how would we survive without them. Suspect your inlaws will be able to point you at the best deals, for you.

rubbish/trash? You will need to pay Council Tax. One of the services provided by your local council is a rubbish collection service, but they do much more than that, from running local state schools, to providing public libraries.

How much might all these amount to? That will vary so much. For example, heating bills? Gas? Electricity? The amount might vary considerably dependent upon how well the place is insulated. (Earlier this year we had the insulation in this house improved. Fuel bills have dropped 25%!)

Groceries? Again very difficult ..... different people's lifestyles!  There are three of us in this house ... my wife, our 13yo daughter, and me .... we spend say £60 to £80 per week on groceries.

Gas and Electric you'll pay direct to the energy suppliers.  We live in a 3 bed 1 1/2 bath house and recently paid £69.61 for electricity and £81.44 for gas for the period 18 Apr - 11 Aug - i expect this would be higher in the winter months (we have a lot of winter months in Glasgow  ) and would depend upon how your house was heated (we have gas central heating)

You will pay Water Rates to the local water company.

Not in Scotland 

Rubbish & Water are included in your Council Tax.  Council Tax rates depend upon the value of the property.  A 4-bed house may well be in Band G which is £2,654 for the entire household for the whole year.

Internet and satellite TV can be bought as a package from around £22 per month, phone line rental on top would be around £20 (I think).  But these can be lower or higher depending upon the service you want.

Good luck with your plans

Is the 69.61 and 81.44 for a 4 month period?  That's really cheap compared to here.  In the winter in the US we pay about $200-300 a month for gas alone. 

Also does anyone know which key on an American computer you use to make the pound sign?  Thanks

phone line rental on top would be around £20 (I think). 

Basic BT line rental is £10.50 per month, if you pay by direct debit and have e-mail billing.  That's about as cheap as it gets, although all but the most light users will probably pay a few pounds more per month now for various calling packages and/or add-on services.

Also does anyone know which key on an American computer you use to make the pound sign? 

Hold down the Alt key, then using the numeric keypad type 156.  If that doesn't work hold down Alt while typing 0163.   

P.S. That's assuming you are using a PC.  Macs and Unix terminals etc. will be different.

Sorry for the late reply, but there are also utilities companies here that will do a flat-rate bill per month.  It averages out (or at least it should!) the same as paying higher in the winter and less in the summer, but it helps spread the cost so that it's not £100 one month and £35 the next.

It's not really 'flat rate billing' by the utility companies... it's just paying a set monthly amount by Direct Debit.  I reckon most people do it this way.

It's not really 'flat rate billing' by the utility companies... it's just paying a set monthly amount by Direct Debit. 

It brings its own set of problems though.  The utilities have a nasty habit of suddenly revising the amount on short notice, sometimes quite drastically, if meter readings indicate increased consumption.

If your situation means that your meter doesn't get read often, it's also important to phone in the readings yourself, or leave the card for the meter-reader to collect with them on.  If you keep on relying on the estimated readings for a year or two but your average consumption has increased considerably, you'll be in for a nasty shock when the readings finally catch up, or if usage has dropped considerably you'll end up a long way in credit.

If you rely on reading the meter yourself and reporting the figures some of the time, you can do your own redistribution of payments to a certain extent, adding a little to the readings on the summer bill so that you get a head start for the winter, or deducting from the winter readings to defer part of the amount until the lighter spring bill.