Household bills soar to £570 a month above inflation as costs double in 30 years | Personal Finance | Finance

The cost of everyday essentials is taking up an ever increasing chunk of people’s incomes as Britons now pay £570 a month above inflation compared to 30 years ago.

Average monthly bills were at £382.39 a month 30 years ago, which is £774.98 in today’s money, while Britons currently face total bills of almost double this, at £1,345.25 a month.

Figures from MoneySuperMarket show just how much costs have spiralled over the past three decades with the average person paying £570 a month more in real terms than in 1993.

This means bills have increased by one and a half times the rate of inflation over the past 30 years.

Electricity and gas bills have increased from £31 to £96, and from £27 to £112 respectively, with total energy bills increasing almost fourfold, from £58 to £208.

These are the individual bills are how much they have increased over the past 30 years:

Household Bill

1993

2023

Electricity

Gas

Mortgage

Rent

Telephone (1993: fixed landline. 2023: mobile/ broadband)

Car insurance

Colour TV licence

TV package (including satellite, cable, subscriptions)

MoneySuperMarket has launched the Household Money Index, an annual barometer to show the UK’s daily money habits.

The tool shows how spending varies among different parts of society, with the average UK person spending £48.47 a day on their living costs.

People spend on average 70 percent on their monthly income on their everyday bills leaving less than a third of their pay packet to go towards their savings and leisure time.

Young people spend the highest amount on their bills, forking out £59.30 a day, the equivalent of 77 percent of their monthly income. This is around £25 a day more than over-55s spend, as their daily costs are £34.74.

London is no longer the most expensive place to live, as Manchester now has the top spot, with average costs of £59.50 a day, £11 more than the UK average.

The cheapest place to live is Newcastle, where residents spend on average £38 a day on their essentials.

Southampton is the city where people have the most disposable income after paying their bills but they still spend 63 percent of their income on their basic bills.

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