The postcodes with the most expensive bills

A new job or family commitments are two common reasons for moving house. However, if you're thinking of upping sticks you might also want to do some research into the cost of household bills in a different postcode region, as well as property prices.

The amount you pay for things such as car insurance, broadband and energy bills can change dramatically depending on where you live.

Looking at house prices, the most expensive postcodes in the UK are unsurprisingly found in West London. Number one is SW3, in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average house price between 2007 and 2012 was £8,136,000, according to Halifax.

But even when you take house prices out of the equation there are still lots of other ways in which your postcode will directly affect your outgoings.

Here we’ve looked at a few different examples of how much your postcode could be costing you.

Car insurance

One way insurers measure how much a car insurance policy will cost is by looking at risk. If a motorist lives in an area of high crime, or where there are a lot of uninsured drivers, they will be seen as a greater risk and therefore the price of their insurance may be higher.

The list below shows postcodes across the UK which have been deemed as ‘high risk’ by insurers.

Post code*	Area
BD 2,9,10	Bradford
BH 3-5, 7-9	Bournemouth
CF 5,10-11,14,23-24,63-64	Cardiff
CH 41-42, 44	Chester
CR 0,4,7	Croydon
DA 8,14-18	Dartford
DH 5	Durham
DN 1, 4-5, 11-12	Doncaster
E 10-15, 17	East London
EN 2-4	Enfield
HX 1, 3	Halifax
IG 3, 9-10	Ilford
LS 1-13, 15-16, 19, 26-27	Leeds
M 25-29, 32, 34-35, 38, 43, 45-46	Manchester
N 2, 4-6, 8, 10-11, 13, 15-17, 19, 22	North London
NE 2-3, 7, 12, 27-29, 32-33, 36-37, 39	Newcastle
NW 3, 10	North West London
OL 1-5, 7-9, 15	Oldham
RM 1, 6, 9-10, 12	Romford
S 4, 9, 11, 13-14, 60-61	Sheffield
SE 1-2, 4-8, 10-11, 13-19, 21-28	South East London
SK 1, 4, 14-16	Stockport
SM 4, 6	Sutton
SW 1, 3-7, 10, 12-20	South West London
TS 3-4, 6, 10, 20	Cleveland
TW 1, 9, 11	Twickenham
UB 5, 7-8	Southall
W 1-2, 5-6, 8-9, 12, 14	West London
WA 13	Warrington
WC 1-2, 99	London
WF 3, 11	Wakefield
WN 1-4, 7	Wigan

Source: carinsuranceexplained.com

The Motor Insurers’ Bureau also publishes data of the areas with the highest number of uninsured drivers. In the top 20 list, 12 locations are found in the West Midlands, five are in Yorkshire and the Humber, while two are in the North West and one is in London.

[See if you can cut the cost of your car insurance – shop arund with our comparison engine]

Life insurance and pensions

When you buy life insurance or an annuity, the insurer will look at several different factors and then predict the number of years you’ll be alive for.

One of these is life expectancy and the longer you live, the cheaper the life insurance policy will be. Therefore if you’re living in an area with a high life expectancy, you will be paying a cheaper rate. But you'll then be expected to pay more for an annuity.

The two tables below show the areas of the UK with the highest and lowest life expectancies at age 65.

Those living in Bootle, Merseyside, have the lowest life expectancy of 84.4 for men and 89 for women and therefore would be paying a lot more for life insurance than those in Hinton St George, Somerset, where the average age is 88.7 for men and 91.6 for women.

Top 10 areas with the lowest life expectancy rate

Rank*	Town	Male	Female
1	Bootle, Merseyside	84.9	89
2	Castlederg, County Tyrone	85.0	89.1
3	Strabane, County Tyrone	85.1	89.1
4	Belfast	85.3	89
5	Saltcoats, Ayrshire	85.4	89
6	Londonderry	85.3	89.1
7	Prestonpans, East Lothian	85.3	89.2
8	Port Glasgow, Invercylde	85.4	89.2
9	Kilbirnie, Ayrshire	85.4	89.2
10	Alloa, Clackmannanshire	85.4	89.2

Top 10 areas with the highest life expectancy rate

Rank	Town	Male	Female
1	Hinton St George, Somerset	88.7	91.6
2	Aldeburgh, Suffolk	88.7	91.6
3	Frinton-on-sea, Essex	88.5	91.8
4	Seaview, Isle of Wight	88.5	91.5
5	Ferndown, Dorset	88.4	91.5
6	Lyme Regis, Dorset	88.4	91.5
7	Salcombe, Devon	88.4	91.4
8	Broadstone, Dorset	88.5	91.3
9	Budleigh Salterton, Devon	88.4	91.3
10	Bembridge, Isle of Wight	88.4	91.4

*source: Towers Watson

[Shop around and see if you can find cheaper life insurance]

Broadband bills

The price we pay for broadband internet varies quite a bit across the country. Around three million households pay out an extra £170million every year because of their postcodes, research from broadbandchoices.co.uk shows.

This is because many people don’t have access to cheaper broadband deals as their postcodes are excluded.

Surprisingly the pricing doesn’t seem to have much logic as even people living close by could have very different broadband bills. Those living in Bartons Place in Newmarket, Suffolk, for example, face bills 200% more than other houses around 50 yards away. And they’re getting speeds just a third of what their neighbours can access.

The data doesn’t stretch out to postcode level but instead shows by county the most expensive areas for broadband bills.

The most expensive areas for broadband

Rank	County
1	Herefordshire
2	Rutland
3	Cumbria
4	East Riding of Yorkshire
5	Devon
6	Shropshire
7	Somerset
8	North Yorkshire
9	Norfolk
10	Northumberland

Energy bills

The amount we pay for gas and electricity has risen dramatically in the past few years but there is still quite a difference when looking across the UK. Those living in Merseyside and North Wales, for example, pay the highest average bills of £1,425 whereas if you live in the East Midlands you'll be looking at a bill around the £1,373 mark.

Rank*	Region	Typical annual gas & electricity bill
1	Merseyside & N Wales	£1,425
2	SW England	£1,420
2	W Midlands	£1,420
4	SE England	£1,403
5	Southern England	£1,402
5	Central & S Wales	£1,402
7	NE England	£1,400
8	N Scotland	£1,399
9	NW England	£1,398
10	Central & S Scotland	£1,395
11	Eastern England	£1,394
12	London	£1,388
13	Yorkshire	£1,387
14	East Midlands	£1,373

*source: Energyhelpline.com

There are lots of ways to cut your energy bills such as switching to another company which can save an average of £300.

[See if you can save money by switching to a different energy supplier]