jogonpc

Hi Everybody,

I am 1 step closer to agreeing to move to NZ after to speaking to a potential employer last night. i just need some more help comparing household bills and what to expect in NZ.

If i rented a $500/week 3 bedroom house in Pakuranga what would the following costs be for a family of 4 (2 adults, 1 year ols, 3 year old.)?

Council Tax
Water Rates
Gas / Electric
TV License
Phone line rental / BT or Sky package
Home Insurance
Petrol
Food bill

I have looked through various posts, but struggling to get an accurate picture of what to expect.

Thanks

Paul

Persephone

This is always a difficult one to answer as it depends on your standard of living.

Council Tax- Rates in NZ. If renting your landlord will pay the rates.

Water Rates- I know Chch and Palmy do not have water rates, I do not know if other parts of NZ do,

Gas / Electric- depends on the house, you could spend a fortune on heating if not insulated/old. We used to spend around $100-140 pcm on electric in Chch and on average $40 pcm on gas [bottled]

TV Licence- doesn't exist.

Phone line rental / BT or Sky package- Sky: about $60 pcm I think. Phone and internet was around $90 pcm

Home Insurance- approx. $500 per year

Petrol- depends on how much you drive

Food bill- around $120 per week for two adults. Again others will spend more.

Car insurance- approx. $450 per year
Doctors fees- around $35-40 per visit, depends on area again

jogonpc

Thanks for that, it is a great help.

Just another quick 1, how much does a prescription cost in NZ?

BEVS

That depends on what it is.
Some can be just $5 for the whole prescription. However I once had a prescription that worked out at a dollar a tablet.

See HERE

Persephone

If you're on something longterm then it's worth asking the doc whether there is a funded version which contains exactly the same generic ingredients but will have a different tradename. It can make the difference between $5 and many many more $.

I had this problem when I first arrived, got charged $60 for 3mth script as it was the same tradename as I was already on, only to have the pharmacist suggest asking for xxxx next time - same drug, just xxxx was the funded version.
That practice was a bit into fleecing its patients as I found out later

jogonpc

i am asthmatic, so would require inhalers.
my wife also has an underactive thyroid which needs ongoing medication.

MrsFychan

my GP in UK loaded me up with inhalers before I left so not had to purchase any over here yet but I know there are a couple you can choose from which are the same as some same just branding up's the cost. maybe speak to the chemist before going to GP for a prescription.
Dr appts costs varies enormously depending on the surgery you get, shop around first.

as for your wife's ongoing prescription, if you know anyone over here maybe get this to ask at the chemist if they could give you an idea, if not and you want to pm me the name, I'm off to the Dr's tomorrow so could pop into the chemist and see what I can find out for you. not sure if prices between chemist change (?)

RobClubley

I can tell you what we spend - 2 adults, 4 year-old, 3 cats, 1 dog, 3 chickens!
this is in Wellington but most costs would be similar


Council Tax $155/month
Water Rates N/A
Gas / Electric Summer $150/month, winter $300/month
TV License N/A
Phone line rental / BT or Sky package - phone and unlimited broadband $100/month, don't have Sky
Home Insurance $80/month contents, $80 home
Petrol - tank of 91 octane fuel for our Mazda 626 (60 litre tank) is about $125
Food bill varies significantly Averages $1000 a month I would guess. Plus the odd takeaway.

Some more to add:
Car Insurance $40/month Mazda, $50 turbo Skoda
Child care for 4 year-old 7:30am-5:30pm 5 days $265/week, $190 for 4 days, $122 for 3 days
Adult doctor visit $45

Tom H

It all depends on your usage

One thing i'd recommend - make sure you provide reads for your power company. Don't let them do estimates as your usage amount is generally lower than their estimation. As long as you ring them up on the agreed day, you'll get your actual usage amount.

This is what we pay for a family of 3

Council Tax - $700.50 every 3 months. I also have to spend $50 on getting the correct bin bags for our waste disposal team to collect. 25 bags generally last a while
Water Rates - included in the rates
Gas / Electric - I pay $150 per month on smooth pay, whether or not we're heavily in the blue or heavily in the red. Usually works out over the year to be around that amount
TV License - Non existant in NZ
Phone line rental / BT or Sky package - I pay $100 for my Vodafone home and broadband. Where I live, Vodafone are the only suppliers. We're quite lucky they're only charging that amount given they have a monopoly over the network system in Pegasus. Sky, I pay $82 a month for the basic, movies and mysky. I did have sport but then got fed up with repeats of New Zealands 28-16 win over Argentina in 2006 for example. Sunday evening - 8:30pm is movie night for us, especially now The Blacklist isn't shown on Sundays anymore.
Home Insurance - $155 a month for building and contents insurance. It'll be going up as i'll be adding car insurance to it when my renewal is due. That's around $370 for the year
Petrol - Generally I spend $60 for 3 weeks of the month to build my AA smart fuel card savings up then do a full tank. I generally get around 24-30c off a litre unless Countdown or New World have their spend $200 to get 25-50c off a litre of fuel. Definitely join the AA and get a smart fuel card if you come over, you'll soon obtain the savings
Food bill - Again varies from around $180 for 2 weeks to just under $400. It depends on what we need. We sometimes use our local fruit and veg shop down the road but the difference in prices v the supermarkets sometimes can be very minimal.

As you have a kid, note this

Nappies are around $28-$50.00. We always get whatever is on offer, usually when our boy is due for some new ones, they've got $15 off the Huggies. If they're not on offer, get Treasures - the supermarkets own, whilst cheap are not the best. You'll need to wake your kid up at night to change him/her, if you don't want wet sheets and wet bottoms in the morning

RobClubley

Bins - good point. We pay $250 or so annually for a wheelibin.
Recycling is taken free. Glass one week, paper,card, plastic the following week.

janiejones

I have steroid controlled asthma. Flixotide (the orange one) has the same name here, and is fully subsidised, I pay $5 for three months supply. The generic blue ones are called Respigen, and are also $5. Ventolin is only partially subsidised, I got that by accident once, it was $7.

When you're looking for a GP, check their policy on check up visits. My first GP practice insisted on 6 monthly check ups before they would issue repeats. My current practice doesn't believe in making healthy asthmatics sit in a germ filled waiting room (their words), so I only have to get checked every two years.

M_and_M

I am in southland which is a little différent, but here's my direct comparison

Cost of living comparison | Journey to New Zealand

Bo-Jangles

Council Tax - n/a for renting
Water Rates - in Auckland on meter and we pay $40 to $50 per month with very low useage, no one home five days per week and no kids (might be included in your rent / might not though)
Gas / Electric - Electric Only $125pm Summer to $290pm Winter (again nobody here during weekdays and no kids)
Phone line rental $122 Landline & Broadband
Home Insurance - Contents around $490 pa
Petrol $65 per fortnight - small car driven 125kms per week average (with 6 cents off coupons)
Food bill - $130pw (pretty basic living on Pak n Save stuff for 2 adults only and rarely includes alcohol)
Doctor - $51 per visit (adult)
Rubbish Bin - $200 pa - or can buy bags as required which can be just as expensive (if not more) per week

You didn't mention getting a car - but would have to factor insurance (optional) WOF, annual rego (road fund licence) and parking costs.

Life's optional luxuries like dentists, hairdressers, clothes and shoes for all to consider also.

SSky

If you live rural there's no bin collection so you have to either dispose/ recycle rubbish yourselves or pay a private company. It was $14 a fortnight last time we used one for one collection but we dispose of ourselves now.
We pay water rates we live rural outside Rangiora.
Don't forget to register at the post office for rural RD mail if you live in the wop wops too or you won't get your mail.

jogonpc

thanks everybody.
Having concerns with regards to the outgoings as the company are only offering $33-$35 per hour, which is similar to what i get in the UK, but we would have a considerable increase with the rent compared to our mortgage now.