Utility bills & living costs

Quarterly accounting to sort out the bills for our flatshare.

Electricity - Aug to Jan 160, 180, 190, 300, 800
Water rates - Oct 112, Dec 105
Gas - Oct 400
Satellite, 200 a quarter for cards
Ayi, about 600 a month
drinking water bottles, about 160 a month

We think the electricity bill went crazy in January because we had various guests stay over Xmas, so we had 24 hr heating on in the big living room. The cold walls (huge bricks but not insulated) mean that the rooms don't stay hot - you have to keep heating them!

Essentially it seems other than rent, our basic running cost is about 1100 a month, half of which is our daily ayi.

Today at people's square I saw a couple of street sellers selling magnets, which they demonstrated as being able to stop the spinning dial on top of a water meter. Perhaps a good way to keep our electricity bills down when visitors come in winter!! Shameless idea of course, but in practice wouldn't work - presumably someone is coming to check the meters every month, and they wouldn't take kindly to finding a magnet atop of the meter.