You move to a new home and find a stack of junk mail waiting on the stoop. Chances are you’ll find a utility bill from the previous occupants.
This is when you make a decision that will affect your expenses for months or years to come. Do you continue with the same utility company as the previous tenants — thinking that it’s the easiest and best deal, or do you shop around?
Have you ever tried to find out which utility providers are available in your area? Is your state regulated or deregulated when it comes to electricity? Is there some type of price-gouging monopoly going on?
In other words, how do you know you won’t get screwed on utilities in your new home?
Competition, if it exists in your town, can help you save a bundle on home utilities, but where to begin?
You could do some Googling. You could ask some neighbors or your new co-workers for the inside scoop; or, you could go to the My Utilities website and search over 75,000 utility providers covering some 100 million homes in the US.
Even before moving in, would-be home movers can sign up to My Utilities and enter the address of their new home. The platform then searches for the best available utility providers in that area, including everything from gas to electricity to broadband and beyond. This platform allows users to better compare the options and prices in their area and make informed decisions based on that information.
An email is then sent covering all the information about the package that was requested including the installations and when the utilities companies will get to work, as reported by Social Geek.
When it comes to moving – especially to a new city – there is no one place where people moving home can find out who the local water authority is; which gas and power companies cover their new address, or what is the best deal on other utilities such as broadband, TV and home security.
“There are over 90 different telecommunication companies in the US,” explains CEO John Harlan. “Just finding out which ones cover your new home can be painstaking and, because you have a million other things to think about when you move, people usually just go with what they can find at the time. You wouldn’t buy a car that way, so you shouldn’t buy your telecommunications or electricity provider like this.”
Each year some 40 million Americans move house. Even in years of difficulty, such as those near the time of the global financial crisis, healthy numbers of people still decide to move house and the industry as a whole represents a $1 billion opportunity for My Utilities, especially as a trailblazing industry starter.
