Keep Checking For Deals

It certainly pays to keep looking around for deals even if you think your finances are in pretty good shape.

This week I was helping my mother to switch her energy supplier using the excellent www.energyhelpline.com/cashbackmse (this site gives you cashback for switching) when I noticed that her rates were better than mine even though they were both with Powergen. A quick phone call to Powergen, whom I have always found very helpful, confirmed that we were on different tariffs because mine was not an online account. They were happy for me to change tariffs and switched me to the online plan there and then. An extra £50 saving per year for me, excellent.

Anyone still having their gas from British Gas and their electricity from their original electricity board is almost certainly, in effect, paying an apathy premium for not switching. Just look at the energyhelpline website and see how much you could save.

With the imminent arrival of Greg Junior in a couple of months time I have been thinking if there was any other way of saving some money for those first months when I shall be spending cash like it’s going out of fashion on baby related paraphernalia. I decided to look at my Sky TV package. Now don’t get me wrong I love my Sky service, it has given me no trouble and Sky+ is the best gadget known to man, but I pay £36 per month for the privilege and with baby on route I set about seeing if I could do anything about this.

I explained the costs of impending fatherhood to the first person I got through to but she could not do anything for me apart from offer me £3 per month off for 2 months, a total saving of £6. I asked to be put through to the disconnections department, as I was quite prepared to switch down to just the FreeSat channels. I explained my situation and I was offered a £9 per month discount whilst keeping all my channels. A saving over the year of £108, result!

I’ve been a Sky customer for some years and not had a deal before so this may be why I was eligible, but it just goes to show if you don’t ask, you don’t get.