About the University of Reading research...

The University of Reading recently shared an article about the cost of student bills packages, which, among other things, tied Fused to some costs which don’t represent the actual cost of our service, and makes some questionable price comparisons.

There's a lot to say about this, but here's a quick summary.

• The good news: 
  • University of Reading Student Union have started an Energy Advice Service to educate students about utility bills 🥳
• The bad news: 
  • The way data is presented in the article is unclear and potentially misleading, likely to leave a reader less informed than they were before 🙃 
  • This unfortunately detracts from reports from students who felt pressured and misled by student bill package companies 😫 This is never okay and should probably have been an article on its own.

Let’s clear things up when it comes to what students get from Fused. We obviously can’t speak for any other service.

Basically: Unlimited Energycosts more than going directly to a supplier because you’re getting a different service.

Nobody would write an article raising concerns that an unlimited mobile deal was more expensive than a pay as you go deal, but that’s more or less what’s happened here. 

Fused Unlimited energy packages:

• Save time and offer loads of convenience for thousands of students every year (just look at our Trustpilot score)
• Cover all residential energy usage with one monthly payment (There's no 'so called' about it, it's just unlimited.)
• Remove the risk of students being billed more later, or seeing mid-contract price increases
• Improve the university experience for thousands of students
• Are completely optional

Unfortunately the real experiences of students who feel they’ve been misled have been tacked on to a story full of confusing figures.

If you want more information and a deep dive on which bits of the article we’d like to put right, keep scrolling!

What was covered in University of Reading's article?

The University of Reading Student' Union compared costs for:

• Capped energy, capped water and broadband directly from utility suppliers
  • These figures were based on the medium usage figures from the energy regulator for a 2-3 bedroom home, not the costs for a four-person house share.
• Unlimited Energy bill packages with broadband and water from several student bill providers.
  • • These were based on four students sharing a house.

Here’s why that’s a problem

The cheaper supplier quote doesn't cover enough energy for 4 students

• The £223 quote is the average cost of medium energy consumption for a 2-3 bed home, about 55% of what four students would use in a year as you can see in the graph below. 
• If four average students did pay this much for energy, they’d see increased monthly payments by their second term, or build up energy debt for the rest of their contract once they'd used their allowance.
• The energy quotes were also six months out of date at the time of publication.
• Comparing the costs of the two services is like comparing an unlimited mobile contract to a pay-as-you go deal. 
  • One is obviously cheaper, but it comes with fewer benefits too and can lead to an increase in monthly bills, or debt at the end of your contract.

This graph shows how much energy is covered by the cheaper quote, and how much energy four student houses actually use. 

Four students sharing a house use a lot more energy on average than is covered by the University of Readings cheaper quote from suppliers, which isn't surprising given that they quoted on medium energy use for only 2-3 people sharing a home. 

Unrealistic broadband costs

• The supplier quote used in the article includes a broadband speed chosen by only 21% of students for their Fused package.
  • Their quote uses 400mbps, which is considered high speed, but with multiple devices connected for data-intensive activities, especially in the evenings, it’s common for students to opt for more bandwidth.
• More than 40% choose 1GB broadband for their Fused package, which allows more devices to be connected and more data-intensive online activity to happen at once, which is what most students seem to want for their house share.

What wasn’t covered in the article?

Going directly to a supplier is an option a lot of students choose, even with the downside of extra costs when you go over your energy allowance.

According to Save the Student’s 2025 National Student Survey, however, the majority of students’ daily lives are impacted by the expense of going over their energy allowance.

• 59% of students avoid putting the heating on
• 55% of students stay in bed longer than usual to stay warm
• 51% ask housemates to use less energy
• 44% are staying longer at uni so they’re not using energy at home

Unlimited Energy is one solution to these issues, and one that tens of thousands of students opt for every year with Fused and other suppliers.

And this isn’t just a matter of staying cosy; The World Health Organisation recommends a room temperature of 18°c for adults to stay healthy. This is impossible to achieve during UK winters without consistent use of heating.

Cold room temperatures increase the risk of mould (and related health conditions), respiratory problems, and can affect mental as well as physical health. 

Let’s look in more detail at the claims in University of Reading's article 

Costs:

The claim: 

• Unlimited energy providers like Fused cost a four-bed student house £408 a month for energy, water and broadband vs. £223 from a supplier. 

The facts: 

• The £223 figure is not the price for four students, as youread above.
  • The lower figure only covers medium energy usage for a 2-3 bed house, and would leave students with higher bills, or in debt at the end of their contract. 
  • It also covers a lower broadband speed than most students choose.
• The Fused package in the University of Reading’s own data is £44 cheaper a month than the £408 figure above. 
• A new Fused quote we generated on 29th September 2025 was still £40 cheaper, even allowing for more than double the broadband bandwidth (900mb)
• The University of Reading research ties Fused to the most extreme costs from our most expensive competitors, despite Fused being amongst the cheapest even in the data used for the research.
• Full transparency about service costs is vital, and is unfortunately lacking from this research.

Neither figure in the article reflects reality. The £223 figure sets an unrealistic expectation of utility costs for four students, and £408 bears no resemblance to the cost of a Fused package for the same scenario.

The claim: 

• “Students paying £2,200 extra for ‘concerning’ energy bills”

The facts: 

• Some students choose an Unlimited Energy bills package rather than going directly to a supplier, but the £2,200 extra figure is a distorted representation for a Fused package and for many other suppliers.  
• The methods and energy allowance covered by this data is questionable, as outlined in the infographic above
• Our main concern here is the students who felt they’d been pressured or misled by their supplier into signing up - this is wrong for any service, no matter the cost, but is lost amongst the confetti of figures. 

Bills packages are framed as a problem, and the real problem is missed entirely

The claim:

• “Companies are selling expensive packages to young people that they may not need during a cost of living crisis.”
• “It is very concerning to see companies targeting them to sign up for contracts that encourage profligate energy use or charging them for more than they need.”

The facts:

• It’s clear from the Save the Student research that energy costs and the cost of living are an issue for all students, regardless of how they pay for their bills. 
• The quote used by the University of Reading article allowed the students less energy than they need for the year potentially leading to financial problems and a nasty shock later.
• Services like Fused offer the option for students to pay more to stay safe and warm in winter, rather than encouraging ‘profligate’ energy use. And, again, the service is optional. 
• The cost of energy is a real concern, and students shouldn’t be in a financial bind when it comes to meeting any of their basic needs. Whether or not students have the option of unlimited energy packages is not a root cause of the problem.

The data supplied by University of Reading

Below are key figures taken from the spreadsheet the University of Reading shared with us. This isn’t data we can verify, and can’t comment on its accuracy. This shows how the £408 figure was calculated. We have reordered the data in order of cost for clarity.

All bills package costs are reportedly for a four-person house share in Reading, featuring Unlimited Energy, water and broadband, unless otherwise specified.