If you are an international student wanting to know how to share a UK utility bill, then this article will help you.
Mind you, it will also be interesting for all students as there we’ll provide tips on how to budget effectively during uni.
Essentially, for those students heading to the UK, depending on where you are coming from, you may find that living in the UK is not cheap.
In addition to your university fees, there are also living and accommodation costs to consider and these can be quite expensive if you’re not in university halls.
Halls tend to be the cheapest option and most will have a kitchen so you can prepare your food but you may need to find a house to share with other students.
Unless someone does this on your behalf, you’ll need to organise appointments with agents to view potential properties.
Usually, a group of students will decide they want to share a property together, which then makes the cost of sharing relatively cheap. In many ways, this is the most effective way to live in the UK.
You will need to sort out the utilities such as electricity, gas, as well as the water and TV licence before you move in to ensure that everything is running for when you move in.
Student broadband
Let’s face it, broadband it super important and the one thing that you’ll want setting up ready for moving in.
That’s because accessing the internet is an important part of studying and submitting essays as well as communicating with tutors and fellow students on your course!
International students can also use broadband for communicating with family and friends back home and also for watching TV programmes or using the social media platforms that we don’t use in the UK.
So, with three, four, five or even six students sharing a property, will any student broadband deal do? The answer is, probably not.
Essentially, you will need to find a student broadband deal that not only meets your budget needs but delivers a good download speed with an uncapped data allowance so you never run out and have the service restricted when you really need it to work.
Tell me about student broadband deals
There are lots of student broadband deals available from providers wanting students to become customers and you may not appreciate, particularly if you are an international student, that you need to read the small print before signing anything (though this advice is good to everyone when they leave university!).
The biggest mistake you can make is to sign up for a student broadband deal that runs for 12 or 18 months, and some are for longer, when you may only be living in the shared student house for nine or 10 months.
Undoubtedly, some international students will be signing up to student property and live in it for a full year, so these deals may meet their needs.
In addition, everyone moving into the shared property will need to decide whether they need a phone package added to the offer and also whether they need a TV offering, which will deliver lots of channels in high definition. Some student houses may also decide that they want a film or sports package and this may be suitable for you.
There are some obvious issues for international students moving into a shared student property and that’s organising of the utilities and broadband before they arrive in the country. These services will need to be organised beforehand since some can take a while to arrange, particularly broadband when lots of students are returning to university and engineers are very busy.
Share your bills the easy way
It may help to utilise a student bill-splitting service that will also organise the setting up of utilities and the broadband so that when you move into the property everything will be working from day one.
That must be hugely attractive for someone who lives outside of the UK, plus also those British students who are wondering how they can organise the utilities and the Glide team can do this on your behalf.
Glide can also arrange for each person in a shared property to be billed individually and you only have to pay your own bill which will help you budget effectively during your studies in the UK. For many students, this will be an attractive proposition.
If you would like to know more about how to share a utility bill UK, whether you are an international or British student, then get in touch with one of our lovely Gliders who will happily talk you through sharing bills. Just drop us an email to glide@glide.co.uk or call us on 0333 666 5555.