Utility bills. Any Bills

[Tashyboy]

Just reading another blog re gas bills and hiw much it is. Last week Melly asked me how much our gas is. He was gobsmacked. His is a fortune with EON. Anyway i asked when was the last time he went online to compare. Never. Now we do everything from utility to insurances etc etc.
Some dont. Why?
Plus any tips to get bills down.

 

[Beezerk]

Crazy ain’t it, I had to badger our lass for weeks to switch utility suppliers, she was just happy to pay £30 a month more for the same product from a different supplier 😟

 

[SaintHacker]

Advice from a mate of mine who is very high up in Centrica. Go for the longest price fix deal you can find as prices will only go one way. Some of the smaller companies offer good deals compared to the big 6 but the worry is if the company goes pop you will be put with British Gas by default. Also if/when the government bring a price cap in everyone will charge to the cap so in the long run you might be safer going with a big 6 firm anyway.

 

[Crazyface]

Just reading another blog re gas bills and hiw much it is. Last week Melly asked me how much our gas is. He was gobsmacked. His is a fortune with EON. Anyway i asked when was the last time he went online to compare. Never. Now we do everything from utility to insurances etc etc.
Some dont. Why?
Plus any tips to get bills down.

Get a multi fuel burner. You must have a supply of free wood you can rely on though.
Go out visiting friends in the winter and use their heating and hot water for brews.
Sit in the house with the lights off at night.

 

[Marshy77]

I really can't understand why anyone would stick with the same supplier they've always had when you can compare for free and change supplier so easy. Any bills you pay you should keep checking.

Been telling my parents for years and then they compared when they bought a laptop - think they save about £100 a month over various utilities.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Some of the smaller companies offer good deals compared to the big 6 but the worry is if the company goes pop you will be put with British Gas by default.

A smaller NE supplier went bust just last week. Their customers have all been transferred to another smaller company on the same rates as they were paying until September. After September they can either stay with the existing supplier on their rates, maybe the same maybe more, or they can move to another supplier. Either way they have 8 months to look without being disadvantaged.

The change happened seamlessly, no hassle to any customers and no automatic switch to BG. This was all handled by OFGEM.

 

[need_my_wedge]

Get Hive installed, or something similar. My old thermostat only allowed on/ off twice a day, and water, or gas or both or none. The Hive lets me configure multiple different times for each. So the water only heats for an hour in the morning and evening, as opposed to the heating which may be 2 hours in the morning and 4 in the evening. Previously, the water would have needed to be on for the same period as the heating. An hour each end of the day is enough to heat water for 3 showers and keep it hot for the day. Occasionally, if all three of us shower late at the weekend, i.e. after the water has gone off, we can cut it a bit fine.

Saved approx £130 last year over the year before, this Jan gas is £10 cheaper than last year, which in itself was £10 cheaper than the year before that.

I do need to chat with the gas company though, because even making that saving, they have just done an annual review and put my DD up by a fiver a month.......

 

[CliveW]

Think yourselves lucky that you can switch suppliers or pay monthly. We have tank gas so have to pay on delivery and are contracted to a single supplier. Just before Christmas we had our tank refilled at a cost of just under £1,000. Hopefully, depending on the weather it will last us 'till the summer.

 

[ManinBlack]

It's essential to review all utilities & insurance each year. We had, a few years ago, our home insurance with Saga. They hit us with a 40% increase one year. I went online & improved on the previous year's figure. Saga are supposed to look after old people. What they did was disgusting, I've never dealt with them since.

 

[need_my_wedge]

It's essential to review all utilities & insurance each year. We had, a few years ago, our home insurance with Saga. They hit us with a 40% increase one year. I went online & improved on the previous year's figure. Saga are supposed to look after old people. What they did was disgusting, I've never dealt with them since.

Absolutely this, always review. Did all mine last month after getting an increase on my household insurance - going up £5 a month. Did a couple of checks, made two phone calls, got them to drop it by £120.... now down £10 a month. Same day reviewed an number of other outgoings and got them reduced too.

 

[Lazkir]

It's essential to review all utilities & insurance each year. We had, a few years ago, our home insurance with Saga. They hit us with a 40% increase one year. I went online & improved on the previous year's figure. Saga are supposed to look after old people. What they did was disgusting, I've never dealt with them since.

Had both my vehicles insured with Saga a few years back... never again! Their renewals were outrageous, and their customer service was abysmal, not interested at all.

 

[jim8flog]

The first thing to do to get bills down is to review the house set up. Does your loft have the recommended minimum 270mm insulation (new builds have 400). Are you running an old boiler, new boilers really can save 30% of usage. re you setting thermostats too high 20C/68F is the about the same as a nice day in this country.

Do you heat hot water when you do not really need a tankful. A kettle full of boiled water is easily sufficient to do a full washing up load. If you still have a hot water tank is it temperature controlled

Etc etc

 

[SaintHacker]

A smaller NE supplier went bust just last week. Their customers have all been transferred to another smaller company on the same rates as they were paying until September. After September they can either stay with the existing supplier on their rates, maybe the same maybe more, or they can move to another supplier. Either way they have 8 months to look without being disadvantaged.

The change happened seamlessly, no hassle to any customers and no automatic switch to BG. This was all handled by OFGEM.

Fair enough, only passing on what I was told. Maybe its a regional thing?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Could well be SH. I only knew this example because it happened so recently. BG could well be default elsewhere.

 

[Deleted member 21784]

My cars / house is with admiral

£1600 they quoted me at renewal ..

I’d found it for £1300 going through diff companies

They got it down to £1300 so I stayed however what made me angry was that the house insurance they couldn’t beat the quote I had which if they had matched would be£1200 all in

The quote was with Admiral! They said but that’s a single policy we are multi cover

Idiots

 

[chrisd]

I always compare renewal prices for gas, electric, car insurance, house insurance, AA cover and anything else that is on going and needs renewal.