How To Save Money On Gas and Electricity Bills -

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If you follow me on my social media accounts, you may know that I have recently just bought my first house and honestly, I wish I had been a lot more prepared for the cost of bills and spending!

It’s hard enough trying to scrimp and save for the house deposit, furniture and emergency funds that you may need to use in the future for any unexpected expenses.

When my boyfriend and I first moved into the house around 6 weeks ago, the first thing we did was have a money makeover. To do this, I wanted to see how much money we could save on bills by switching the gas, electricity and broadband providers that the previous owners used.

Since I have been furloughed from my job due to the current situation, I am spending all of my time at home, which in turn means that I am using a lot more energy in our home than I would be if I was still at work.

So today I want to tell you about how I saved £320 a year by switching my energy supplier with Uswitch.

How do I look for a better deal?

There are lots of energy suppliers on the market right now fighting for each customer’s attention, so now is a good time to look for a cheaper deal and save yourself hundreds of pounds a year on your gas and electricity bills.

I always make sure I am getting the best deal for our money, and I am a huge fan of comparison sites for finding bargains. With a quick Google search for energy comparison sites, Uswitch is the top ranking site, as well as being Ofgem accredited.

Because I have heard so many great things about them, I decided to have a look at some quotes on their website.

You can scout out the best deals using Uswitch here.

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What do I need to switch?

Before you get started with your switch, you’re going to need:

– A recent energy bill, or annual energy statement

You’ll need to know the details about your current energy plan, including how much energy you use and the name of your tariff. If you don’t have this information to hand, you can contact your current supplier to find out.

– Your bank details

If you find a good deal and decide to switch, you will need your bank details.

To get your quotes, you just need to complete some basic information about your property. Once you have entered your address into the Uswitch website, you need to answer some questions including whether you have an Economy 7 meter, if you use gas, if you are on a dual fuel tariff, your current energy supplier and your preferred payment method, whether that is monthly direct debit, quarterly direct debit, prepayment meter or payment on receipt of your bill.

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If you know how much you use or currently spend on your energy, you can complete this on the next page of the site, however don’t worry if you don’t know the exact amount, as Uswitch can also create an estimate for you.

Once I clicked on my results, I was absolutely astounded that I could be saving up to £320 a year on my gas and electricity bills! This got me thinking about what I would spend this extra money on – including a holiday, new furniture or my food shopping.

One deal that stood out to me the most was the British Gas deal, as not only are they one of the biggest suppliers in the country, our boiler is old and can be quite unreliable at times, so their free offer of boiler cover was the thing that swayed me the most.

This cover is only included for the first 12 months of the deal, and after that we would have to pay an extra £2.50 a month for it, however if anything did go wrong with our our boiler we would be covered, which definitely puts my mind at ease.

Make the switch today!

For those of us who are on a standard variable tariff, it is definitely worth switching to a fixed deal, as they are typically much cheaper and you could save hundreds of pounds a year.

As many more people are now working from home, Uswitch have shared that the average household will use an extra 15 per cent energy and 20 per cent gas, which can increase bills by £155 a year.

We don’t use that much electricity in our home, as I am always going around and making sure every plug is switched off! We hardly watch TV either, so it’s fair to say that we were paying well over the UK average at £1225 a year.

If you decide to make the switch and change your mind, you can cancel your switch within 14 days of switching.

You can check your switch progress at any time with Uswitch’s award winning app that is available on iOs and Android.

You can check the best deals for your postcode using Uswitch here.

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The whole process shouldn’t take more than 21 days and your energy won’t be cut off at any point.

It’s worth noting that when you switch energy supplier, there is no need for an engineer to come out to change or fit any new equipment, so you can switch without the hassle!

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April 27, 2021