We are bombarded, and sometimes harassed, by the avalanche of offers for the supply of electricity and gasOn the other hand, there are 723 companies supplying these two key components of the household budget, and they're fiercely competitive. This means that, faced with constant increases in raw material prices, if we know how to proceed with the right approach, we can save money and avoid waste.
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HOW TO COMPARE ELECTRICITY AND GAS OFFERS
To compare electricity and gas offers, we need to start with a premise. Every bill contains a portion of costs (20 percent for electricity and 25 percent for gas) that are the same for everyone: transportation costs, excise duties, VAT, and system charges. But this doesn't mean, as some would have us believe, that it's impossible to save money and avoid overpaying for raw materials. And it's on this factor—the cost of raw materials and the quality of service—that the responsible and attentive consumer plays their game, knowing that if they can properly compare offers, they'll also be able to make the best choice for their needs.
FREE MARKET AND PROTECTED MARKET
The other premise, before choosing the supplier, concerns the two options that are offered to the consumer, the free market and protected marketIn the first case, electricity and gas prices are set directly by the companies, according to market dynamics and the margins that must be guaranteed to suppliers; in the second case, the cost per kWh of electricity and per cubic meter of gas is set every quarter by ARERA (Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment). In theory, it can rise or fall based on fluctuations in the commodity market, which ARERA records every three months.
DUAL FUEL CONTRACTS
A supply contract that has become very common is the dual fuel, That is, choosing the same supplier for both electricity and gas. The advantages of this solution can be financial and in terms of managing household utilities. Some companies offer bonus points for supplies that, with the contract dual fuel They add up, as do any discounts on your bill. Furthermore, having a single supplier means having a single point of contact in case of problems with your gas or electricity supply or bills. And considering the waiting times and methods for these types of interventions by companies, this advantage of the contract dual fuel It is not to be underestimated at all.
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WHICH IS THE BEST ELECTRICITY AND GAS SUPPLIER?
To find the best supplier of offers electricity and gas, even with respect to your needs, there is a fast, reliable and safe method: rely on a site like CompareSimple. There are only three steps to take. First, check your monthly consumption in kWh (electricity) and cubic meters (gas) on your bill to get a starting point for your costs. The second step is to compare offers, which will happen automatically after completing a form published on the website. The third and final step is to choose your provider, which, once selected, can be activated directly online, saving you another significant amount of time and avoiding the lengthy process of calling toll-free numbers.
Promotions for electricity and gas offers
More complex and less obvious is the issue of promotions, which are very common on the market, where companies try to steal customers from each other, even through campaigns with specific and temporary offers. However, even here, you need to be careful. One of the most frequent promotions, for example, is the "blocked price”, which, however, is usually combined with the inability of the user to switch providers for a few years. This includes the possibility of paying less on the bill with a two-hourly tariff (which provides lower costs during certain time slots). In this case, the downside is obvious: the consumer is forced to consume more gas and electricity during the time slots when the tariff is cheapest, since outside this time frame the cost of electricity and gas becomes much higher.
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HOW MUCH DO ELECTRICITY AND GAS COST?
To make a correct comparison between the various offers it is always best to start from the prices set by theAREA, which in the last quarter of 2021 alone saw a 29,8 percent increase in electricity prices and a 14,4 percent increase in gas prices, primarily due to the boom in commodity prices on the national and international markets. The current price of electricity is 0,293 per kWh and the price of gas is 0,91 pounds per cubic meter.
HOW TO CHANGE SUPPLIER
Competition, means that Users always have the option to change supplierThis transition used to be prohibitively time-consuming and costly: circumstances that discouraged transfers from one company to another and effectively blocked the market. Fortunately, things are different now. First of all, the change is free; you simply need to sign the new contract, and the incoming operator will take care of everything else, from notifying the old company to completing the bureaucratic formalities.
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