Half of families ‘under big bill pressure’

ONE in two families say energy and insurance bills place huge pressure on their budget, a survey of 12,000 households has found.

The research was conducted as part of the Big Cost of Living Switch – a campaign to deal with the cost-of-living crisis in Ireland. In the past ten years, electricity prices have increased by 22% – and car insurance costs have risen by 61%.

At the same time, the country is suffering a housing crisis with rent and house prices both rising sharply while wage growth is stagnant, said David Liston, the Big Cost of Living Switch’s director of campaigns.

The survey of household budgets found that just under half – 49% – spend more than 20% of their income on gas, electricity and insurance bills, with 11% spending more than 40% of their income and 5% spending more than 50% of their income.

Yet many people are still not shopping around to find competitive offers, particularly for energy, the survey results showed.

Mr Liston said: ‘Half of the population spending more than 20% of their household income on essential utilities and services like energy, home and car insurance proves we’re currently seeing a cost of living crisis. It’s little doubt over half consider their family budgets to be under such huge pressure.’

He added: ‘People need to help themselves and make sure they’re not paying a cent more than they have to. To do that they need to switch. Switching or re-negotiating with one’s own provider is the best way to make sure of this. We hope to be able to use the buying power of our members to unlock exclusive discounts on these bills.’

One Big Switch is a consumer network with 100,000 members.

It negotiates on behalf of its members to unlock large group discounts and special offers on household bills.