First UK home - utilities

[AndSomeForFancyDress]

Morning all - as in the title, DH and I have just signed a lease on our first home here. We've lived in other countries but have never had such a choice of providers. In BC (Canada) you have a choice of BC Hydro or... BC Hydro 😊
Anyway, it's a 2 bed flat, all electric except for the boiler. We anticipate tethering off our phones for internet and haven't owned a TV in 35 years. I'm thinking we'll need to deal with council tax, electric, water, gas. Anything else? And how do we choose which company to go with?

No choice on council tax and water. Just sign up with the local provider. If you don't know who they are and Google somehow fails you, your letting agent will know.

Gas and electric. USwitch, Confused and various other comparison sites will find you the range of tariffs available and then you pick what will work best for you.

You can only choose gas and electric. You generally have a choice between metered and flat rate for water, unless it’s already a meter. Do you need contents insurance?

Sewerage may be a different company to the water company. It depends where you are (Bristol for example has Bristol Water for supply and Wessex Water for sewerage services). Ring the local water company first and they should tell you if they provide sewerage services too.

You will probably need a TV licence if you watch stuff on your laptop or phone.

Energy from electricity costs about four times as much as energy from gas, so avoid electric heaters.

Apart from tumble dryers and air con, cost of electricity usage from other appliances is insignificant. Especially lighting and phone chargers.

Thank you for the tips. I'd forgotten about contents insurance so thanks for that. And the TV licence - definitely not a Canadian thing.
I feel like I'm about 18...

Here’s the page covering whether you need a TV licence. I don’t have one, but I only watch the occasional programme on ITV / C4 / C5 catchup & so far they don’t charge for that.

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one