Need help budgeting for UK cost of living

I am getting conflicting info from some friends on the cost of living. One of my friends told us to budget about 20 quid a month for electric and 20 quid a month for gas, another is telling us to budget 200 quid a month for both! that is a pretty big difference and they live about 10 minutes away from each other.

we are planning on moving to the southeast, somewhere in west sussex (burgess hill, haywards heath etc..)

we will be renting a 3-bedroom house. if anyone can help me with estimates (or actuals) for monthly costs like electric, phone, gas, and i also just got my first taste of council tax - 160 a month! ouch!

i'm also still struggling with how much tax and NI will come out of my paycheck. are the tax bands on a sliding scale based on income? it doesn't make sense that once you cross the 22% tax band that you jump straight to 40%. same question applies to NI

I know that i am asking a lot, but if you can help in anyway i would really appreciate it.

Thanks

G

for me, someone who lives with her husband in a small 2 bedroom house.. 40 quid for both electric and gas a month is about right (although this will probably go up alot, since its summer and we dont turn the boiler on). hmmm thats not really helpful then is it? haha sorry...

It is really going to vary a lot depending on which utility companies you choose, where you live, how much hot water you use, how high you have the central heating etc etc. There's some good info here:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=27914.msg353442#msg353442

i thought that about the 22% and 40% as well.  until i learned this.  the first part of your salary is exempt from tax.  it's about 7000 pounds and is called your tax free allowance.  the amount you make from 7000 - 3?000 is taxed at 22%.  then 3?000 to infinity is taxed at 40%.  sorry i don't have specific numbers of what that 22% to 40% threshold is but it should put your mind at ease. 

as for budgeting.  britwife is def right.  every area is very different.  i live in a 3 bedroom terraced (houses connected to both sides of me) with my boyfriend.  our outgoings are this:

800 mortgage
46 gas/electricity (i overpay in teh summer and the credit builds up, this is then used in the summer)
20 water
36 sky tv
11 tv licence
24 house insurance
30 bt line rentlal & broadband
5 long distance telephone

i have a company car so i don't worry about road tax, mot, insurance, petrol, etc.

to see how much your approximate pay will be check here:

http://www.listentotaxman.com/

mine is pretty close!  in fact, it's only about to quid off!

Most of the utility companies in Britain charge you a monthly direct debit amount that is meant to be a fair average amount to cover the cost over a year.
So if you pay £20/month for gas (£240/year) you may only use less than £10 worth in the Summer months but more than £30 worth in the Winter months due to increased heating needs.  Same goes for electricity, water.

We pay £25/month for gas and were paying £25/month for electricity but the leccy company just wrote to say they've reviewed our account and are whacking it up to £38/month because of higher wholesale prices.
£14 water
£11 tv licence
£22 home phone and 8MB broadband
£15 buildings and contents insurance

I'm sure there's something else I've missed.
What size home are you moving into?  1 bedroom flat or 5 bedroom detached house?  That will obviously dictate to a large degree the cost.