Save on household bills

Every April we see companies increase their prices based on inflation – this year council tax, water, broadband and other household bills have gone up. In good news, the energy price cap has come down and with better weather on the way, fuel bills should be set to fall for most people over the coming months.

So where can you make savings on your regular bills? OneStop founder, Eman is pushing for UK customers to start comparing and saving on their phone bills. Lots of us get caught in contracts where prices rise significantly each year because it just isn’t clear what we’re getting into when we sign up.

Eman advises looking at a new contract carefully, to check what the true price will be over the year – if you can find a cheaper deal, don’t be afraid to ditch your current provider once you’re out of contract (don’t worry, these days it’s super simple to keep your current number.)

Top picks in the current market include Tesco mobile, which freezes prices and tariffs for your contract term, so you know exactly what you’re signing up for and the total you’ll pay over the full year. 

For SIM only deals, iD mobile or Smarty have great offers on monthly data plans that don’t lock you in.

Mobile tariffs and payment plans are something all of us have taken out at some point, in fact research shows that 75% of UK mobile phone users have a monthly phone contract. They seem unavoidable, but usually we haven’t the foggiest what we’re actually paying for, or whether we really need what’s included. 

It’s all about bundles and usually says ‘free messages and minutes’ as though any of us are really using messages or minutes that much any more, plus we’re all WFH and using our Wifi rather than data – so paying out on two fronts for essentially the same service.

Every year, lots of phone companies put their prices up plus a little extra – that’s where customers lose out.

If you’re locked into a contract which allows the company to increase the price during the contract term, you’re just waiting for the dreaded letter telling you how much the price of your bill is going up (and you certainly never seem to get one saying it’s going down!) 

An average monthly phone contract bill in the UK apparently costs a hefty £46. In fact an Ofcom-accredited survey has shown that three-quarters of Brits on pay monthly deals are overspending – adding up to a massive £5 billion per year.

What we really need is a good way to find the best and cheapest options in real terms – what do they mean and what do you really need to be paying for.