Surviving rising bills: How you'd spend a spare £100 as household bills rise by £36bn

Household bills have risen by £36bn collectively since March, with UK households paying over £100 more a month on average.

We spoke to an expert on what the public can do to cut their bills, with three key potential cost-cutting areas being broadband, mobile and energy.

How can I cut my household bills?

Sabrina Hoque, telecoms expert, said: “It really has been an awful April. So most of us in the UK would have been impacted by the rising cost of bills. Now that's across water, energy, broadband, mobile, council tax, we would have all seen our bills getting more and more expensive.

“It is costing us individually over £100 extra a month, but collectively in the UK that adds up to £36 billion so it is a lot of money.

“Not only is this impacting customers financially, but it is also affecting them emotionally as well, with 12% of Brits are now not able to save at all. Council tax, water for now there's not much we can do, but broadband, mobile and energy is where customers could really help themselves and see some very significant savings.

“It used to be the case that loyalty would pay but unfortunately that's not the case anymore. So for those customers that have been with their provider for four to six years, it's likely that they're out of contract so those are the customers that could save the most. There are some really incredible introductory rates that we see, so if a customer did switch away to a new provider they're likely to make the biggest savings.

“So for those out of contract now's a great time to switch, there’s no exit fee, make a lot of savings. If you're in contract, always call your provider up first to see if they can help you out, if you are really concerned about paying bills. It may be as practical as something like removing a particular service so if you took broadband out a few years ago and you've added TV to it, it might be you might not need the TV element of it, so see if your provider can actually take that element off, but the key thing is call your provider up, see if they can actually help you with your bills.”

What would you do with a spare £100?

We asked people in the UK what they’d do with an extra £100.

Some people said they would put the £100 towards a holiday, while others said they’d spend the money on food or eating out.

A lot of people said they’d use their £100 for their household bills.

One man said he’d put the £100 towards paying his car insurance, while someone else said they’d use it to buy books or records.

Some people also said they’d give the money to charity.

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