By Nikki-Lee Birdsey
Former Investigative Writer | Kaituhi Mātoro
Whether your spending spiked during the festive season – or you’ve noticed the price of petrol and food rising – it always pays to check to see if you can get a better deal.
Here are our top tips to make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck.
Save by switching energy providers: We’ve found the average household could save $388 simply by switching energy providers. Consumer NZ’s Powerswitch website is a free and independent electricity and gas price-comparison service that can help you find the most affordable deal. If you find one, you can switch in less than five minutes. Head over to Powerswitch to see what you could save.
Check you’re not paying too much for insurance: Our latest home and contents insurance survey found a difference of more than $2000 between the cheapest and most expensive insurance policies for a standard-sized house. Quotes for a large house differed by more than $3000 across five different cities. Scope out our survey to see the median price for premiums. You can compare prices and policies between different insurers here.
Review your bank accounts: You could easily be paying too much in bank fees. You don’t have to use one bank for everything. For example, you could use your current bank for everyday banking, and another with a lower interest rate for your credit card. Here’s our guide to choosing the best account, avoiding fees and switching banks.
Compare broadband or mobile plans: Shop around broadband and mobile plans to see if you could be paying less for your household’s telco services. Just make sure you’re at the end of your contract to avoid any break fees. Here’s our guide to getting broadband, which breaks down each type from basic ADSL to ultra-fast fibre.
Could your next power bill be smaller?
Powerswitch is the free, independent way to check your power plan in just 3 minutes, and see if you could save - backed by Consumer NZ.
