Gas, Water and Electricity all together?

I´m a bit confused now do gas electricty and water all go together? or some flats you only pay electricity and water? and gas is included with electric?

what is the avarage bill I could get for a single person quaterly? for electricity, gas and water? does it come every 3 months right?

some single people around here? who could tell me what their bills are normally?

Traditionally, the utilities always sent out separate bills, so there would be one bill for gas, one for electricity, and a third for water/sewer.     

In more recent years, the energy companies have started offering complex combination tariffs which means that in some cases you might be paying the same company for gas and electricity and receive a combined bill.  Gas and electric bills are normally sent and paid quarterly, but most companies also offer monthly installment plans.

Water/sewer bills can be a little different, and are complicated by the fact that some people are on a metered supply while others are still on a flat-rate service.   Billing can vary from area to area, but where I live one can pay the full amount up front for the year, split it into two installments at 6-monthly intervals, or pay on a monthly installment plan by direct debit.

In Scotland the water bill is incorporated into the local council-tax bill, for some obscure reason. 

When it comes to rental properties, you then have to check whether the landlord is including any or all of the utilities in the rent.    The most likely to be included is water/sewer charges where the property is still on flat-rate  service.  It's not unusual for electricity meters in rental properties to be the pay-as-you-go card type.  You buy cards with £5, £10, etc. worth of credit at a local convenience store or post office and insert into the meter when necessary.  There's a digital display on the meter which shows how much you have left.

As for actual amounts, I have no gas and use electricity for all space heating, water heating, and cooking.   I'm in a single-story home of about 1000 sq. ft, and there's nobody else here but me and my cat.    Electricity for me is averaging out at about £500 for the year, obviously higher on the winter bill than the summer one.  Prices have been rising rapidly in the last year or two.    This year's combined water/sewer bill for me is just over £300, flat-rate (unmetered).

After what you wrote..I´m even more confused now

I'm afraid it has become rather confusing in recent years.  In the "old days" you had no choice.  You had an account with whichever local electricity board operated in your area, with no choice of supplier.  Ditto for gas, where available.   Now, however, you can find that you can have an account for electricity with British Gas, or an account for gas with the Acme Electricity Co., etc. 

The easiest way to get settled quickly is to just take over service from whichever company is billing to the address when you move in (after checking with the landlord whether he is paying water or anything else).    You can start looking around  for package deals which may be better once you've had a chance to find your feet.

Here's the short answer.

Most companies do both Gas and Electricity.  Almost all heating and cooking is gas.  Electrics would be for everything else.  So it is possible to get those on one bill.  Water would be a separate bill. 

Almost all heating and cooking is gas. 

I'd hesitate to say "almost all," unless you're limiting that to the cities. 

Many smaller towns and rural areas have no city gas supplies, so a substantial number of houses are all-electric in those areas.  Admittedly more people in such places have turned to oil-fired or bottled LP gas (propane) heating in recent years though.

I'd hesitate to say "almost all," unless you're limiting that to the cities.

I agree - our flat is unfortunately electric as were most of the flats we saw in our area.  We were dying to get gas but it wasn't really that common, especially in the older buildings.  And we are in London (city).

This year's combined water/sewer bill for me is just over £300, flat-rate (unmetered).

Paul, that seems awfully high.  We pay £168/year on a water meter for a the 2 of us in our house.  Does it vary widely from area to area?
The £500/year for all your electricity needs doesn't sound too bad, though.  I think we're closer to £600 for gas + electric.

Paul, that seems awfully high.  We pay £168/year on a water meter for a the 2 of us in our house.  Does it vary widely from area to area?

I'm not sure what the charges are like in comparison with other areas at the moment.  The east of England has one of the lowest rainfall figures in the country, so that might have something to do with it. 

I have thought about changing to a metered supply, but never gotten around to doing it.   Current Anglian Water tariffs can be seen here:

http://www.anglianwater.co.uk/index.php?sectionid=35&parentid=14

Unmetered services are still based upon the rateable value of the house, so the actual amount would vary from home to home. 

The 118.42p per cubic meter quoted for metered service works out to approx. 0.45p. per U.S. gallon (combined water/sewer charge).

The £500/year for all your electricity needs doesn't sound too bad, though.  I think we're closer to £600 for gas + electric.

So much of the gas/electric consumption issue depends upon individual circumstances -- The level of insulation in the house, whether you just keep background heat running or prefer all rooms heated to 70+ degrees all the time, etc.

two people living in terraced house in peterborough area:

gas & electric (combined on scottish power): £46/month
water: £26/month
council tax: £123/month (buy only pay for 11 months out of the year)
bt line rental: £10/month
broadband: £14/month
long distance phone: £5/month
tv licence: £11/month
house insurance: £26/month
sky: £35/month
mortgage. 

I pay a set amount every month for water & gas/electricy. However, I get an actual bill for water every three months.  I then pay the difference or am in a bit of credit.  I'm on online gas/electricy where I input the readings every month.  I then pay the difference or am in a bit of credit.  I could do that every three months but I choose to do it every month or so.

I'm not sure what the charges are like in comparison with other areas at the moment.  The east of England has one of the lowest rainfall figures in the country, so that might have something to do with it.

If it is just you at your house you are almost 100% guaranteed to have quite a smaller water payment on a meter.  With 2 of us I think we were paying something like £75-100 less on the meter than our original rated value before we switched.

Just to compare with meggles, we're in the High Wycombe area
gas & electric (Good Energy electric, Powergen gas): £25/month each
water: £14/month
council tax: £126/month for 9 months + £128 additional payment
Pipex Homecall phone: £10/month
broadband: about £20/month for 6.5 Mbps
long distance phone: £5-10/month
tv licence: £11/month
house insurance: £14/month
freeview television

Record Utility Bills Push Up Inflation

If it is just you at your house you are almost 100% guaranteed to have quite a smaller water payment on a meter.

I really should have changed over before now.  I just did a quick calculation, and by my reckoning for metered service to come anywhere near the same annual cost as unmetered I'd have to be using over 700 gallons per day!

Record Utility Bills Push Up Inflation

After years of rates staying fairly constant, they've certainly started rising sharply in the last year or two.

From my electric bills:

Early 2004:
Day 6.75p. per kWh
Night 2.87p. per kWh

November 2004:
Dropped the £9 per qtr. standing charge
Day 10.49p. for first 200 units per quarter, then 8.21p. per kWh
Night 3.13p. per kWh.

August  2005:
Day 11.25p for first 200 units per quarter
then 8.80p per kWh.
Night 3.45p per kwH.

March 2006:
Day 15.41p. per kw/h for first 225 units per qtr.
then 9.50p. per kWh.
Night 4.02p. per kw/h.

All plus VAT @ 5%.