--- title: Bills: rent, mortgage, energy, water, phone, council tax — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Bills: rent, mortgage, energy, water, phone, council tax», a lesson of the money course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A bill is a letter or message asking a family to pay for something it uses: electricity and gas for light and heat, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Money](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/) / Bills: rent, mortgage, energy, water,… # Bills: rent, mortgage, energy, water, phone, council tax Lesson 21 of the money course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/0/) — A bill is a letter or message asking a family to pay for something it uses: electricity and gas for light and heat, water from the tap, the phone, and the home itself. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/1/) — Picture Sophie's fridge with a list stuck on it: rent £650, energy £120, water £40, phone £30, council tax £110; add them up and £950 has to go out every month before anyone thinks about treats. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/2/) — Rent is paid to a landlord who owns the home; a mortgage is a big loan from a bank to buy a home, paid back over many years with extra called interest; both are normal ways to have a roof over your head. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/3/) — Council tax goes to the local council for shared things like bins, streetlights and libraries, so the bin men are paid even though nobody hands them money at the door. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/4/) — Small habits add up: a light left on all day costs about 10p, which is £3 in a month, and paying a bill late can add a fee on top. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/5/) — A bill is a request to pay for something you have used, such as electricity, gas, water or a phone. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/6/) — Energy means electricity and gas; when its price goes up, the same use costs more, so a bill can go from £80 to £100, which is £20 more. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/7/) — Rent is money paid every month to live in a home that belongs to someone else, the landlord; at £700 a month it comes to 12 × £700 = £8,400 a year. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/8/) — Renting a home is very normal; millions of families rent. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/9/) — A mortgage is a loan from a bank to buy a home, paid back every month for many years, often 25; because of interest, the total paid back is more than the house cost. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/10/) — Council tax is paid to the local council for local services such as bins, streetlights, roads and libraries; £110 a month is 12 × £110 = £1,320 a year. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/11/) — Fixed costs are bills that come every month, like rent, energy and council tax; they are paid before money goes on fun. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/12/) — A phone contract is an agreement to pay for a set time: £25 a month for 24 months is 24 × £25 = £600 in total. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/13/) — A running tap can waste about 6 litres of water a minute; homes with a water meter pay for every litre they use. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/14/) — Heating costs money for every hour it is on; at about 50p an hour, one hour a day for 30 days is £15, and five hours a day is £75. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/15/) — Paying a bill late can add a late fee: a £60 bill with a £15 fee becomes £75. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/21-bills-rent-mortgage-energy-water-council-tax/16/) — A direct debit is an automatic payment from a bank account that pays a bill on time each month, so no late fees. - ← previous: [Wages, salary and where family money comes from](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/20-wages-salary-and-where-family-money-comes-from/) - next →: [The weekly shop and a family budget](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/22-the-weekly-shop-and-a-family-budget/) - ↑ back to [Money](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/)