Apps to save on electricity and gas bills

An increase in the cost of energy by 145 euros per family is expected for the next quarter. Here are some services to try to keep costs down

light bulb (Getty Images) How to save on your electricity and gas bills will be the mantra of autumn and winter, as energy prices are expected to rise by up to 40%. At least that's what the Minister of Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani had declared at the beginning of September. Now thanks to the intervention of the government - which provides for 3 billion euros of appropriations for the halving of VAT on gas (the main cause of the increases) and discounts to low-income families - we know that the increases will be "milder".

The Energy Authority (Arera) has announced that the upcoming quarter will see an increase in energy bills of around 29.8% and gas bills of 14.4%. In 2021, an average family, according to the authority, will pay around 631 euros, around 145 euros more than last year. Then it's up to run for cover. The fundamental advice is to reduce consumption, making your home more efficient (for example with super bonuses) or optimizing your habits. But there are other aspects to take into account and startups that help to save.

Free market and tariff comparators

In Italy it has been since 2003 that residential customers have been able to buy natural gas and energy electricity for domestic use from the free energy market. In practice, you can choose the operator you prefer regardless of the place of residence. This is possible because the contract is signed with the supplier and not the distributor. The concept is simple: we buy a product and it is secondary who is responsible for delivering it to us.

Those who have not yet switched to the free market have actually remained in what is defined as a service of greater protection, that is the market where the economic conditions are regulated by the Authority and where the supplier coincides with the distributor . The end of the enhanced protection service has been set for 2023.

But what is the difference between free and protected? Taxes, meter and network costs are the same, while the tariffs related to consumption change. So in the free market there is competition and a downward trend, in the protected one Arera (Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment) establishes a variation every three months in relation to the fluctuations in the raw material market. Compared to the possibility of increases, the free market is therefore much cheaper, also because in many cases you can enjoy a fixed rate for 12 or more months. However, it should be emphasized that any supplier can affect and affect only 40% of the costs; the rest between ancillary charges, taxes and more is the same for everyone.

However, there are two possibilities to establish which supplier is the most convenient: get an online quote directly or rely on a tariff comparator. In both cases, the only fundamental data are those found in the last bill since there are references on annual consumption and those by time slot. Among the best known comparators are: Facile.it, Segugio.it and Sostariffe.it. Arera also has its own and is called Portal Offers.

The advice, once the contract with a new supplier has been signed, is to always check notices of tariff changes and after one or two years rely on a comparator for understand if you can enjoy cheaper rates.

Switcho

The word Switcho is a neologism that indicates the possibility of changing, in this case electricity and gas contracts, internet connectivity and mobile subscription. The startup of the same name had the intuition to make the tariff comparison smarter. An algorithm, by scanning bills and the information entered during registration on the site or app, detects consumption and expenses. Then it analyzes them and checks if there is a cheaper offer.

If so, it indicates a personalized savings estimate. Furthermore, if you proceed with the activation, an internal team takes care of managing all the bureaucracy necessary for the transition. Switcho is completely free as it "earns commissions for each contract activated on behalf of one of the partner suppliers". It should be noted that the company claims to be "an independent director who will not try to offer you a change at all costs" and claims to propose to about 10% of its users not to change operators "because it has an already optimized rate".

Mister Bolletta

Mister Bolletta, “the butler of electricity and gas“, is a free service that allows you to save money by using an app, an analysis system and purchasing groups. After installing the app on your smartphone (Android or iOS) you create a personal profile and finally, following the procedure, you take a picture of the bill, which is then uploaded to the system.

Then Mister Bolletta chooses the best solution among the most reliable suppliers and "puts you in a purchasing group that guarantees the best rates on the market". In practice, it negotiates the price with the supplier to obtain discounts that are not accessible to individual users. "After you have given the mandate to Mister Bolletta, he offers you a contract only if it allows you to spend less", emphasizes the company. It also deals with the procedures for changing suppliers and providing clarifications and answers on bills. And in any case you can give up the service at any time without penalty.

Voltz

Voltz is another free service that promises to save on electricity and gas bills. It always starts with the sharing of one's invoice, then the analysis takes place and finally a portfolio of proposals is created. The user chooses and Voltz proceeds with the bureaucratic part.

The advantage is that you can then constantly monitor savings in your user profile and then choose between a manual, automatic or single click supplier change system. In the first case it is decided independently as the first time. In the second, he lets Voltz do it. Finally, in the third, you are informed when the systems identify savings opportunities exceeding € 30 per year.

Dez it

Dez it is a new app that allows you to "subscribe" to services of light and gas. In practice, it acts as an intermediary with respect to suppliers and transforms the traditional contract into a monthly subscription. Obviously you can unsubscribe when you want.

As with other services, you start with the estimate of your consumption or the sharing of your bill. After that, you will receive a monthly subscription proposal. That's all. Payment is then made by debit card, credit or other digital means. The basic idea is that dez it custom builds the subscription in relation to the user's habits and their bill. It aims to simplify everything.

Tate

Tate is a service that not only allows you to obtain a competitive offer on electricity and gas - as others promise - but also makes costs even more transparent. Specifically, it explains all the items in the bill and also its income component. The latter is made up of operating costs and the wholesale rate that Tate pays. In this way everything is clear.

As usual, the first step is to share your bill to evaluate consumption or answer a series of questions to estimate it. Then Tate goes into detail and makes an offer; you can choose between a three-hour version with a variable price or a single-hour version at a fixed price. If you accept, you will then proceed with payments and monthly billing. Obviously, the management of each function can be done online or through the Tate app.




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