Are you Switching on to Energy Savings?
#AD – this is a collaborative post
Ask me a few years ago about switching insurance, energy or household utility providers, and I would have probably looked at you like you were mad. Switching? It all sounds like far too much hassle.
When it comes to household expenses and managing the bills, paperwork and renewals, I will be the first to admit I tend to bury my head in the sand. I am guilty of sticking with the same provider just because its the one I have always used, not paying much attention to rising premiums and slow increases that may no longer be offering me the best value for money. Whilst I was familiar with the concept of switching, for me it was only something that was done by people who had plenty of time on their hands; time to spend on hold on to a call centre for an hour, filing in online forms and waving goodbye to their evenings in order to save a pound or two. Time, of course, which I don’t really have; with a young family at home and two jobs to focus on. I decided not to bother – until recently that is.
A recent survey (the full findings of which you can read here) found that the population of the UK are fast switching on to the concept of switching – and I for one am most definitely becoming more switched on about the benefits.
Last week I bought a new car, and when I rang my current car insurance provider to advise of the new vehicle they very kindly advised that there would be no change in premium – great I thought – everything is staying the same. What I failed to realise, but very quickly learned after a bit of shopping around, is that this was hugely over priced and I actually went on to save over £400 on my annual premium. It took me 20 minutes in total, but I saved myself a huge amount of money in the process – money which we can put towards a family holiday this Summer.
It’s not just car insurance that can be switched. A recent survey from the Energy Switch Guarantee found that 48%, that’s almost HALF of us, have switched energy providers in a bid to secure a better deal. Last year alone, 5.8 million customers switched electricity suppliers and secured a better deal.
We used the Energy Switch Guarantee service last year to switch our energy providers, and saved ourselves an absolute fortune, and I now use comparison sites annually to keep checking that we are getting the best deal for our family. Contrary to my prior belief, the process was relatively simple and pain free, with the most challenging part remembering the details of my current provider logins, and moving all the rubbish in the cupboard under the stairs in order to take a meter reading. After those initial hurdles, the switching process was easy and simple – even for me!
If you haven’t yet switched on to switching, I strongly advise that you look into your options. Think of all the other things you can buy with the money that you save!!
Lucy x
