[pleccy2000]

Hi

In England I have to pay the following bills (And the value per month)

Council Tax (£130)
Supermarket (£160)
Gas (£20)
Electricity (£25)
TV License (£15)
Water (£25)
Car Insurance (£40)
Petrol (£50)
Phone (£20)
Braodband (£25)

Then there are a couple of annual bills
Car Service (£150)
MoT (£45)

Will I have to pay all the same bills in NZ? Are there any extra ones that I'll have to pay? Will the bills cost the same amount?

Thanks in advance

[sarahw]

Hiya Adam - how's your plans going for coming back?

Our bills - we live in 3-4 bed house & travel 30 mins to city every day (from Whitby):

Council Tax - $0 - we're renting & you pay rates here based on the rateable value of the house - I'm sure those who have bought a house can give you an idea on rates but they will vary from house to house.

Supermarket - there are 2 of us we buy meat, fish, veg etc & wine/beer no ready meals - $640 per month (do you really spend £160 per month in the UK??? Wow - you shop well - we used to spend well over £100 per week on the same things we buy here!)

Gas & Electric - mixed bill - between $140-180 per month - we have gas central heating which we have on twice per day at the moment too.

TV licence - ha! nope none here! However we do spend $70 per month on Sky and Sky sports package since TV is so dire - it doesn't mean there's much more on TV just that we can watch rugby 24/7 if we want to!

Water - again nope!!!

Car Insurance - I pay it annually can't remember how much it was as I paid it 6 months ago but it wasn't that much - that was for a new Ford Fiesta 1.6 - Ian has a Japanese Import 4x4 Nissan Terrano & that was about the same cost as my insurance.

Petrol - again depends on car & distance you have to travel each day - I pay out about $80 per month - travel to the city 4 days per week + to Porirua/Johnsonville or Kapati coast a couple of times per week too.

Apart from that we spend between $100-$300 on going out /entertaining + takeaways per month.

Another bill is internet & phone - we phone home a bit - not loads but when we do we take advantage of Telecom's offers $6- for 2 hours to UK/USA or $3- for 2 hours to Aussie. Probably phone Aussie 2-3 times per month & UK 4-8 times per month + have jetstream 'broadband' - cost is between $120-$220 per month - we've been here for 6 months now & we've noticed it gets cheaper each month because we're phoning UK less.

[GeorgeM]

Car Insurance - I pay it annually can't remember how much it was as I paid it 6 months ago but it wasn't that much

Car insurance is much cheaper in NZ as you don't actually have to have it, so the companies don't have such a captive market.

Third party liability for injury is taken by the ACC (I think that this is funded through a levy on the equivalent of car tax, but I wouldn't swear to this). For property damage by uninsured parties I suppose that you (or your insurance company) just have to sue if they are at fault and don't pay willingly.

Coming from the UK where most people wouldn't dream of jumping behind the wheel of a vehicle if they weren't insured it seems a bit odd, and I wouldn't suggest that going without is a prudent way to make a saving, but it certainly seems to make the insurance companies sharpen their pencils a little.

Water - again nope!!!

I think that there is a charge for water supply / sewerage / land drainage etc, but that it is normally consolidated into the general rates as used to be the case in the UK. I think that certain properties have to be metered for water (if they have swimming pools etc) and these people would get a separate bill - perhaps someone who has a pool could put me right on this?

[wayne]

Wow Adam I wish life was that cheap for us here in merrie old England £50 a month on fuel Oh how we wish :laugh

[Michelle and Richard]

Adam

I just put a break down of our billls on a post Auckland 9 months later ...... not sure if that will help you

Michelle

http://www.emigratenz.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3011&postdays=0&postorder=asc&star t=30