Any Ideas How to Save on Home Bills?

I just had a freind of my wifes come in and go through our utility bills. We havent had the time to go through any of these before so thought it would be a good opportunity to analyse it a bit.

In the end it was worked out that we could save £233 per year if we used the Utility Wharehouse who she was pushing. This required wrapping phone, internet, power, gas into a single contract which entitled us to better rates overall. My big issue is I know nothing about the Utility Wharehouse - service standards etc...

The main savings were in the phone - whereby we got free local calls 24/7 as all 4 services were wrapped into the 1.

I was just wondering who other peeps use out there - and or if there are many other alternative products out there that could save more - particularly independent companies.

Currently the services are with the big companies. BT, Nildram, Powergen, British Gas ect...

Any ideas?

have you had a look at www.uswitch.com ?

What sort of boiler do you have?
A condensing combi boiler would pay for itself in a couple of years, at current prices.

Or how about ground source heat pump? http://www.nef.org.uk/gshp/

You can get a grant if you install solar PV panels and are connected to the grid.

www.moneysavingexpert.com brilliant generally for saving money. Check the forums too

Originally Posted by Razor

What sort of boiler do you have?
A condensing combi boiler would pay for itself in a couple of years, at current prices.

Or how about ground source heat pump? http://www.nef.org.uk/gshp/

You can get a grant if you install solar PV panels and are connected to the grid.

Yeah one of those - its only a year old. I dont profess to being a greenie - although I know I should be more considerate

Originally Posted by Razor

You can get a grant if you install solar PV panels and are connected to the grid.

Not worth it unless you live in a desert with a huge roof on your house...
besides, the power company normally charges you about 10% more for your electricity that you use than what they pay you for the power you sold them. In germany at least you get paid more than you spend.

Originally Posted by Razor

What sort of boiler do you have?
A condensing combi boiler would pay for itself in a couple of years, at current prices.
.

No Bit of a sweeping statement here I know but in my bitter experience those things are the most unreliable devices ever invented! Spare parts prices and servicing are astronomical, and will wipe out any small gains in efficiency you may see. Get a boggo boiler with a hot tank.... save money along with fit and forget total reliability!!

Hit a nerve on that one

RR

It would make much greater difference if you reduce the amount of energy you use.

Mrs and daughter claim they can't see unless every light is on, so when I get home the place looks like a cruise ship. So I turn them all off and then put on a tshirt and shorts to make the point that the house is like an oven.

Oook my 2p as I have done some research on this as well.

First the green stuff....I did check what savings I would have if i installed solar panels for hot water and air turbine for electricity.

At the current prices and taking into account my consumption I would need about 10 years before these paied off....so I ditched the idea.

Now the standard stuff I have both elec and gas with British Gas on their Dual Fuel internet saving scheme which according to them and a few sites is the cheapest around (again for my figures).

I have changed all bulbs in the house to energy saving, I switch off plugs so things are not on standby, I have extra insulated the loft and added flooring on top of that and I don't walk around in shorts and t-shirts but were something a bit warmer so that the boiler doesn't work 24x7.

In terms of internet/phone/BB I would say that it depends on what use you do. If you are in a cable area then going with Virgin (NTL) is your best bet as you don't have to pay BT for the landline fee. If not then a lot of companies do packages that combine all 3 (maybe plus TV if u go with SKY).

hope I helped

Originally Posted by Reckless Rat

No Bit of a sweeping statement here I know but in my bitter experience those things are the most unreliable devices ever invented! Spare parts prices and servicing are astronomical, and will wipe out any small gains in efficiency you may see. Get a boggo boiler with a hot tank.... save money along with fit and forget total reliability!!

Hit a nerve on that one

Well I need people to keep on installing those expensive boilers to keep me in a job.