Bill Shock: How Kayley Harris cut her Energy bill by 44%
As a single mum, I have to watch my budget very closely. I have a 12-month budget forecast that enables me to see if any of my bills are not affordable, so I can either contact the provider or move other bills around to accommodate it.
Part of my budget obviously includes my energy bill and I currently pay $260 a month and, until recently, this had covered my bills. In fact, on some occasions I have been in credit.
Imagine my horror this week to receive a bill for over $1,200, even though I was in credit $288! I was ready to rouse on the teenagers for long showers and using the dryer but when I checked the bill, my power usage hadn’t changed. That’s an increase of 43 per cent!
I called my energy provider and they confirmed the bill increase was as a result of price increases on 1 July that has finally filtered down to my account.
If working for the FiftyUp Club has taught me one thing, it is to never just blindly pay your bills. This goes for just about every bill in the house.
I checked a recent school fee invoice and found there was a $400 voluntary payment for the building fund. I’m not paying that. Over the course of my daughters six years at high school, the school gets around $60,000 from my family, so they won’t be getting the building levy as well.
I also picked up the phone and spoke to my private health insurer and found out I could do away with pregnancy and cataract cover as well as increase my excess and that reduced by premium from $180 a month to $110.
Next, I worked out I wasn’t watching two-thirds of the pay TV channels I was paying for, so I switched to a cheaper package and saved $70 a month.
But back to my energy bill.
A quick call and a simple question reduced my bill from over $1,200 to $671.67 – that’s practically half!
I simply asked, “Am I on your best offer?” To which the reply was, ‘No, you aren’t at the moment, Mrs Harris”.
ACCC Chairman Rod Sims last week announced that energy prices have risen 90 per cent in real terms over a decade. His advice? "If you haven't phoned up your retailer in the last couple of years and demanded a better offer, I'd urge you to do so, and I think you'll save a lot of money, perhaps hundreds of dollars".
Never a truer word has been spoken. Pick up your phone this week and call your provider. Use the FiftyUp Club’s offer as leverage. It’s a competitive energy market at the moment, so make it work in your favour.
HERE ARE 2 WAYS TO FIND A CHEAP ENERGY OFFER:
CLICK HERE to see the FiftyUp Club's MEMBER-ONLY Energy Offers
CLICK HERE to see Mozo's Top On-Market Energy offers for this month+
+ As a result of services provided by us Mozo Pty Ltd may pay The FiftyUp Club a fee of up to 50% of any fees they receive from their providers. These fees may be based on either referrals to third parties or on application or approval for products from third party providers; for further details see Mozo's Financial Services Guide available here.
