Savings Stories - How Tara saved £381 on her household bills with Nous

Tara, 32, lives in Peckham with her housemate and her golden retriever, Riley. She works as the Head of Operations for a start-up. Tara saved £381 on her energy and mobile after Nous switched her to fairer deals.

How did you manage your household bills before you joined Nous?

I own the flat where I live with my housemate, so all of the bills are my problem. Before I joined Nous I sorted the bills begrudgingly. Getting hold of companies and having to interact with them is always so painful. I’d end up on hold or they’d make me go through a big long list of questions. The conversations were like talking to a robot and weren’t very productive.

How much time did you spend hunting for good deals?

I’m impatient. If I needed to switch I’d sit down and go to a single comparison site and make it happen. So I’d get a decent deal but wasn’t on the absolute best deal. I just needed to be sure I wasn’t being completely ripped off.

If I thought I could be a fiver a month better off I’d question whether I cared enough to sit on the phone and sort it. But that’s how companies end up overcharging us.

Have you ever ended up with an unfair deal on your bills?

Yes definitely. Less on the big household bills because they’re such a big spend. I deal with them but my housemate pays for some of them, so I did feel a responsibility to make sure we weren't getting completely ripped off. But on insurance and mobile and the more personal ones that’s definitely happened and the price has gone up.

How did you find the experience of joining Nous?

It was straightforward. Communication on WhatsApp was useful, messaging somewhere where you don’t have 200 unread messages like you do on your emails makes it a lot easier to track.

It was really nice that I could input what I care about. For example I could say that I cared about having a travel allowance on my mobile bill. It was customised, which it isn’t when you use a price comparison site.

When I switched my energy I had some questions about how the tariff worked. I switched to Rebel Energy and I hadn’t heard of them and Nous was able to give me lots of information about them. 

What do you care about the most when you’re looking for a new deal?

Cost comes first, then customer service is definitely next. With my energy I’d prefer something environmentally friendly.

Has your household cut back because of rising bills?

We’ve cut back our energy use. I freeze in my flat because my housemate runs hotter than me and turns the heating off! We've always been pretty careful with lights and heating, but we were definitely more careful with the heating last winter.

What do you plan to do with the money you saved with Nous?

The money I saved will go towards holidays. I want to go to Australia and I’m saving for that at the moment.

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