How to Spend Less on Your Gas and Electric Bills
If we are responsible for the bills in the home that we live in then we will have to pay for electricity and possibly gas as well. These bills can add up to a lot of money each month and if you add that up across a year it can be a significant amount of money. This means that if you can find ways of paying less, then this could make quite a difference to you. It might also be a lot easier than you think.
Switch supplier
The biggest saving that you can make is probably by switching your supplier to a cheaper one. It is something that some people do regularly anyway and so each year they will look around to see whether they can save money by switching to a new supplier. They may then find that they will be able to keep the price of their utilities down. There are now even some companies that you can sign up to that will switch you over automatically to a cheaper supplier when one appears, meaning that you will always be with the cheapest one. This could mean that you will never be paying more than necessary. Of course, you may only want to go with a supplier that you have heard of and therefore this could mean that you will be more limited in who you can choose from. However, you still may find that you can switch and save money and so it is worthwhile investigating this. It might seem like a hassle but you could save hundreds each year or even more money and so it is good. Imagine that money added up over the years that you have spent needlessly when you could be using it for other things instead. Why pay more when you could get the same thing for a lot less?
Pay Only What You Owe
Many utility suppliers will make you pay a certain amount each month because they want to even out your payments. This means that they know that you will use a lot more energy in the winter because of heating mainly and so they will charge a bit extra over the summer months to spread the cost. This will leave your account in credit, meaning they are holding some of your money. Some supplier will pay you interest on this but most will not and so it could be better to keep this money for yourself. Only pay what you owe, by reading your meters each month or using a smart meter to do it for you and then you will be able to keep that extra money and get interest on it by putting it into a savings account. It can be a good idea to make sure that you are very vigilant about this though as you do not want to struggle in the winter because your bills are too expensive for you to manage. Winter can also be costly because of Christmas, for those that celebrate and buy presents so do bear that in mind.
Turn Things Off
It can be a good idea to make sure that you turn things off when you are not using them. It sounds really obvious but many people will leave their computers on all of the time, leave lights on, leave chargers plugged and things like this. These are all small things, but if you attend to all of them then the savings can really add up. It is easy to get into the habit of doing it as well and it can be much more pleasant doing things turning heating down which could make you uncomfortable and cold. Of course, you could try this if you want, but perhaps just make sure that you set the heating so that it is only on when you are at home.