Wednesday 4 March 2015

Time For Me To Switch Energy Providers And Save Money

I am currently on maternity leave and as most people will agree maternity pay sucks, it is less than half of my normal wages. With an extra little person to provide for we have had to start cutting back on our spending, goodbye takeaways and regular meals out and new clothes for mammy and daddy. With my maternity pay soon coming to an end and entering the non paid for part of my maternity leave I have started to worry a bit about money and have been looking at ways that we can cut down on our spending.

I have tried cutting down our grocery bill and failed and I have been looking at cutting down are sky subscription and cancelling all those unneeded direct debits, goodbye magazine subscriptions. But one thing that I had not even thought of changing was my energy provider until I heard that families could save a whopping £200 per year just by switching provider.




I am one of the many customers who never compare energy tariffs and just pays whatever my energy provider charges me without even thinking about it. Which is crazy when I think about it as we spend a lot on our gas and electricity bills spending £200 per month on energy. It is our third biggest household expense after rent and groceries.

Having a young baby means that we do have the heating on most of the day during winter and our washing machine and tumble dryer are on non-stop throughout the day. We also use a lot of electricity using the steriliser and bottle warmer throughout the day too.But there are some steps I could do to reduce my bill, such as hanging my washing on the line to dry instead of using my tumble dryer, turning off radiators in unused rooms, switching off lights and appliances at the socket that are not in use and only filling the kettle with as much water as I need. But £200 a month is a lot of money for such a small house, especially when I hear of other families spending half of what we spend who live in much bigger houses.

I would not say I am loyal to my current energy provider, I have just stayed with the same one since I moved into my home almost ten years ago as I always thought that switching providers would be a lot of work. I have recently found out that is not the case at all, thanks to The Department Of Energy And Climate Change and the recently launched  #PowerToSwitch campaign, which is encouraging people to switch their energy supplies and save money simply by highlight the benefits of switching.

As well as the potential £200 or more per year savings some families can make by switching providers, there are other benefits too. Such as some companies having fixed energy deals that are up to £100 less then they were just a year ago. There is now also 27 energy companies on the market here in the UK, making it more likely that you will find a company and a tariff that is right for you and your family. There is no need to trawl through every companies website trying to find the best deal either as you can simply visit www.BeAnEnergyShopper.com a really easy to use site where you can find out the best deals for your household and also find out how easy it can be to switch.

All you need to do to see if you can save and switch is to get your hands on a recent copy of your gas and electric bill then visit Be An Energy Shopper.com to find out about comparing tariffs, then contact the company you would like to switch to. It really is as easy as that. And what is more it will no longer take you weeks to switch as switching times have been cut from the previous five weeks to only 17 days.

Since finding out this information I have decided that it is about timeIi switched providers, it sounds so easy to do and potentially saving £200 or more this year by switching means that I can treat myself to some new clothes! although I will probably end up spending the extra money on treating my children, like most mums do.


 * I'm working with BritMums and DECC alongside the #PowertoSwitch campaign. I have been compensated for my time. All editorial and opinions are my own. Visit the website for more information about switching energy suppliers.



SHARE:

1 comment

  1. Babies are expensive little things but also adorable, well done for taking a look and I hope you get that £200 back soon to treat yourself. Commenting for myself and BritMums, thanks for taking part.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for commenting I read and reply to every single one.

Blog Design Created by pipdig