How much can you save on gas and electricity?

One of the strange things about switching gas and electricity providers is that although it's very quick and easy to do, lots of people never actually get round to it. This is just like throwing money down the drain.

Since it take very little time to switch and costs you nothing there's no reason why you can't find a cheaper gas and electrity supplier every six months to continually make sure you're getting the best deal.

But how much could you save?

Well of course this depends on how much you spend at the moment, but it's very quick and easy to find out (see How to get cheaper gas and electricity bills) but if we imagine that you're able to save £200 per year for example then wouldn't that be worth an hour or so of your time?

How long would it take you to make £200? Chances are it's more than one hour.

What's more that saving is "tax free", depending on how much you earn and how much tax you pay you can add on another 25 - 50% back on to that for the amount you'd have to work to earn that money and all of a sudden it becomes £250 to £300, every year.

Of course if you run a business then the savings could be even higher as savings of over £1,000 are possible which would go straight onto your bottom line profit. Just imagine how much in sales you'd have to get to generate £1,000 extra profit. If you have, say 30% margins on your products then you'd have to turn over more than £3,000 to generate this same £1,000 profit. I'm sure you'd agree that an hour or so on the phone to negotiate a better deal on your business gas and electric bills is a much easier way to increase your profits.

Food for thought? Comments welcome.