How to save money on your utilities

You’ve seen the adverts for price shopping comparison sites like USwitch and MoneySupermarket.com so what’s stopping you?

The increased competition in the energy and telecoms markets coupled with the heavy recession makes shopping around for your utilities a must. Why stay with mega suppliers when there are loads of cheaper, quality options?

Start by comparing prices online and if you can, buy online as you’ll save money when you change utility suppliers on the internet. They too are facing hard times so they’re providing internet discounts. It’s as easy as filling out a quick form and pressing send.

Check which utility providers are prepared to offer you a discount for filling in a direct debit form. Suppliers who use direct debits do so because it’s cheaper for them and then they pass on the savings in the way of cheaper tariffs saving you money on your utilities!

Some companies offer more than one utility service and will give you discounts for taking more than one of their services eg: gas, water and electricity. The more you take from them the cheaper it becomes for you.

Another way of paying that saves you money is via combined bills. Service companies can combine your bill payment of electricity, telephone, gas etc and cut down on paperwork all round again passing the saving on to you the consumer.

There are a number of online price comparison sites that all aggregate their results in slightly different ways. If you want to make the most of their services run your own household bills through each of them to maximise your household savings.

USwitch: Have a fantastic energy price comparison calculator
Switch with Which: Compares all major energy suppliers saving 233 pa on average or so they claim!
Moneysupermarket.com: Gives you the cheapest energy provider.
Post Office: Cheaper line rental than BT! Great broadband packages.
Cheap Gas & Electricity: Guarantee to beat your area suppliers charges.