Set up bills for first-time renters

• ✓Tenancy agreement with exact start date.
• ✓Property address and postcode in final form.
• ✓Photo evidence of gas, electricity, and water readings.
• ✓Names and contact details of all adult occupiers.
• ✓Landlord or letting-agent notes on included bills.

• ✓Council tax pays for local services and is charged per property rather than per person, by your local council. England's average Band D bill is £2,392 a year for 2026/27. Councils bill it over ten months by default, so budget about £239 a month rather than £199, and ask for twelve instalments if you would rather spread it. One adult living alone gets 25% off, and a household where everyone is a full-time student pays nothing, though you have to apply for that rather than ignore the bill.
• ✓Water comes from whichever company covers your address and you cannot choose a different one. You either pay a fixed charge based on the property's rateable value, or, if the home has a meter, for what you actually use.
• ✓Energy means gas and electricity, and it is one of the two bills where you choose the supplier. Unlike broadband you do not start with that choice, because you inherit whoever supplied the property before you, which is why it has its own section below.
• ✓Broadband is the only bill with a waiting list. Installation can take weeks where an engineer is needed, so it is the first thing to order even though it is usually the last to start working.
• ✓A TV Licence costs £180 a year from 1 April 2026, about £15 a month, and you need one if anyone in the house watches or records live television or uses BBC iPlayer. Watching on-demand services other than iPlayer does not need one.

Sources: GOV.UK: Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England, 2026 to 2027 (read 1 September 2026); TV Licensing: the cost of a TV Licence (read 1 September 2026)

• ✓You do not pick your first supplier. Whoever supplied the property before you carries on supplying it, and you are billed on what is called a deemed contract from the day you take responsibility for the place.
• ✓A deemed tariff is a standard variable tariff, and Ofgem states that default and deemed tariffs are usually among a supplier's most expensive.
• ✓Your price is two numbers. A standing charge is a fixed daily amount you pay even in a week you use nothing, and a unit rate is what you pay per kWh on top of it. Two tariffs can have the same unit rate and still cost differently.
• ✓The price cap limits both of those numbers on a default tariff. It does not cap your bill, because your bill also depends on how much you use.
• ✓You are free to move. A deemed tariff has no fixed term, so there is normally no exit fee, and a switch usually takes up to 5 working days once you have chosen.
• ✓Photograph the meters on the day you move in. That reading is the line between the previous occupier's usage and yours, and it is the single thing that stops a wrong first bill.

Sources: Ofgem: switch energy supplier (read 1 September 2026)

• ✓Direct-to-provider setup gives control but requires repeated forms across each bill type.
• ✓Comparison sites can help for one-off quotes, but you still complete switching admin separately.
• ✓Bundled bill packages can reduce admin but may include management fees.
• ✓AI bill-management flows can combine setup, contract visibility, and ongoing renewal monitoring.