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In the UK, household bill costs can quickly add up to a pretty sizeable figure. When you see those large sums exiting your bank account, it’s easy to become concerned and assume that you’re paying way more than you should be.
With this in mind, we’ve gone over the average UK cost for the most common household bills. In particular, we’ve focused on gas and electric bills by showing how their price differs from region to region in the UK and across different household sizes.
Though there are other household bills that you’ll likely pay every month, your main expense will be your energy bill. This consists of the gas and electricity you use each month. We’ve looked at how much your gas and electricity bill should be costing each month and year by the part of the UK you’re living in and how large your household is. We’ve also highlighted the average cost of other common household bills below.
When living in rented accommodation, you can stop worrying about having to pay for multiple bills each month or quarter by getting your household an all-in-one bills package. At Resooma, we set up and bundle together utilities, Wi-Fi, TV and council tax into one simple monthly bill. This bill can be equally split between you and your housemates, so virtually no effort is required on your part.
We’ve looked at five main household bill types; these being gas and electricity (also known as utility bills), water, broadband, phone contracts and TV.
Below, we’ve gone into more detail about each of these bills in the UK.
Gas and electric bills will vary quite a bit, depending on what part of the UK you’re living in and how large your household is (we’ve gone into this in more detail later on).
Across 2021 in the UK, the average gas and electric bill per household was £111.60 per month (or £1,339.20 a year). When you split it up, £47.93 (or £575.16 a year) of this comes from gas and £63.67 (or £764.04 a year) from electricity.
Interestingly, households in 2019 spent just 7.6% more on electricity than they did on gas. Two years later however, this difference has risen to 32.8%.
Because water bills are supplied by your local operator that covers an area of the UK (such as Anglian Water, Scottish Water or Severn Trent Water), prices vary from region to region.
Water UK estimates the average water and sewerage bill is £33.05 per month (or £396.60 a year).
These days, broadband is typically included in a bundled package that also includes TV.
Ofcom’s pricing trends report shows that the average price of a standard broadband package – which includes TV and a fixed landline – is £44 a month (or £528 a year).
Especially if you’re the type of person who likes to upgrade their phone when the latest model is released, phone bills can end up being pretty pricey.
According to Ofcom, the average phone bill in the UK is now £45.60 a month (or £547.20 a year).
The cost of a standard colour TV licence is £159 per year (or £13.25 a month). However, this only covers your standard 1-5 channels or Freeview. Adding in a subscription package is likely to make this much more expensive. Sky’s TV subscription packages start from £26 a month but can end up costing well over the £40-50 mark. This can rise even more when you factor in streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
According to ONS data, the average UK household spends £38.22 a month on TV (or £458.64 a year).
The amount that households spend on their monthly bills are affected by a few different factors, with one of these being whereabouts in the UK that home is located. As a general rule, homes in the south of England, London and North Scotland pay more for their bills, whereas homes in the north of England and the Midlands pay slightly less.
In the table below, we’ve displayed these region-by-region changes for gas and electricity bills in the UK by household.
Source = GOV.UK and the Office for National Statistics
The cheapest UK region for gas and electricity bills – the East Midlands – is around £80 cheaper than the most expensive UK region – Merseyside and North Wales.
Below, you can see how much people are paying on average for their utility bills (gas and electricity) by the size of their property. You can also see how the amount per person changes in homes with more people living in them.
Source = Co-operative Energy
Annually, a small house or flat with one or two bedrooms will have an estimated gas output of 8,000kWh and an electricity output of 2,000kWh.
Annually, a medium-sized house with three bedrooms will have an estimated gas output of 12,500kWh and an electricity output of 3,100kWh.
Annually, a large house with four or more bedrooms will have an estimated gas output of 18,000kWh and an electricity output of 4,600kWh.
So unsurprisingly, the larger the property you live in, the cheaper that property becomes to live in per person (assuming all the bedrooms in the house are actually being used).
In order to save money on your bills, here are a handful of our favourite energy-saving tips:
Already sorted your house but need to set up bills? We can help with this too – we set up and split utilities for you. Get a free quote for your utilities here.
All your utility bills in one monthly payment, split between housemates
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All your utility bills in one monthly payment, split between housemates
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