Setting Up Utilities in a Share House: Who Goes on the Account
Which utilities to connect, whose name should be on each account, how to spread the risk across housemates, and what to do at every changeover.
·Mates on Rent
Utility accounts get set up in the first chaotic week of a tenancy, usually by whoever is most organised, and then nobody thinks about them again until that person moves out and the house discovers every account is in their name.
Ten minutes of planning at the start prevents that.
What you actually need to connect
Electricity. Always. Connect before move in day if you can, because same day connection is not guaranteed and often costs more.
Gas, if the property has it. Check whether cooking, hot water or heating uses gas, because a house with gas hot water and no gas connection is an unpleasant first morning.
Internet. The one with the longest lead time. Some connections need a technician appointment, which can be weeks out. Start this before you move if possible.
Water. In most Australian tenancies the landlord holds the water account and tenants may be charged for usage, depending on the state and whether the property meets water efficiency requirements. You usually do not set this up yourself. Confirm with the agent what you will be billed for.
Council rates and strata are the landlord’s responsibility, not yours.
Spread the accounts around
The single most important decision, and the one most houses get wrong.
Put different accounts in different people’s names. Electricity with one housemate, internet with another, gas with a third.
This matters for three reasons:
Cash flow. One person fronting every bill is carrying the whole house financially, and that adds up quickly across a quarter.
Risk. The account holder is legally liable for the full amount, not their share. If the house falls apart, the person whose name is on it is the one the retailer pursues and the one whose credit file is affected.
Turnover. When accounts are spread, one person leaving means transferring one account, not five.
If one person genuinely does hold everything, at least acknowledge it explicitly and consider whether the house should compensate for it or rebalance at the next changeover.
What the account holder should do
Keep everyone informed of the bill before it is due, not after you have paid it. People manage their money better with notice.
Record who has reimbursed you. This is where it falls apart in most houses. The bill goes in, people transfer at different times over the following fortnight, and within a month nobody can reconstruct who settled.
Settling per person rather than per bill fixes it. In Mates on Rent each housemate’s share of a bill is tracked separately, so a bill can be part settled without ambiguity and the outstanding total stays accurate.
Do not absorb small differences silently. If you round or cover the odd shortfall to avoid awkwardness, you are quietly subsidising the house and you will eventually resent it.
Take meter readings at every changeover
Whenever someone moves in or out, photograph the electricity and gas meters and note the date.
Quarterly bills routinely span a housemate change. Without readings, the house either splits the whole bill evenly, which overcharges the new person for power used before they arrived, or argues about an estimate. With readings, you prorate it accurately in two minutes.
This applies at the start of the tenancy too. Take readings on move in day so the first bill can be checked against them.
Choosing a plan
Compare properly. The government comparison sites, Energy Made Easy for most of the country and Victorian Energy Compare in Victoria, are free and independent. The lowest advertised rate is not always the cheapest once daily supply charges are included.
Check the contract length and exit fees. A two year plan is a poor fit for a house where the lease is twelve months.
Be careful with discounts that expire. Introductory rates often revert after twelve months, and the reverted rate is frequently uncompetitive. Put a reminder in the calendar to review it.
For internet, match the plan to the house. Five people working from home need a different plan from two people who stream in the evening. Check what technology the address supports before choosing a speed tier.
When someone moves out
Work through the list rather than trusting memory:
- Transfer any account in their name to a remaining housemate, do not cancel it
- Take final meter readings on their last day
- Agree how the next bill, which will cover part of their occupancy, gets split
- Confirm they have settled every issued bill
- Update the shared record so the new person is included from the right date
The bill that arrives three weeks after someone leaves is the most common share house money argument after rent. Agreeing the treatment before they go turns it into arithmetic instead of a negotiation.
For the wider picture on dividing bills fairly, see how to split bills in a share house.