How has the pandemic impacted bills, with fierce transitions to working from home?

While working from home because of COVID-19 may have saved Australian’s money on their commuting costs, it inversely affected their household bills by making them all spend more on services such as utilities, mobile phones and internet. As a result of being home more, Australians are using these services more often than they were a couple of years ago. The other side of the same coin is that due to most of their employees working from home, businesses’ utilities and internet bills have taken a nosedive.

Since March 2020, the household bill categories most impacted by working remotely – gas, electricity, mobile and internet – have increased. As most of the country was without access to employer facilities for over a year, consumers accumulated larger bills to account for the hours worked from home. Being hit with these increased charges pushed many households to pay closer attention to how much they were paying across these categories. The goal was to cut costs or reduce usage where possible. By doing a quick online search and comparing gas and electricity prices in their state to find the best deal, they may have seen some savings on their bills, and these are savings they can keep even as they return to the office.

Despite residential consumption rising and household bills increasing, there have been significant falls in wholesale electricity costs as well as new laws requiring retailers to pass on these cuts. By doing a bit of homework in comparing energy prices and finding the best electricity plans, Australians will be happy to discover that these changes are likely to result in lower electricity bills in 2021.

While household bills increased, most businesses – significantly smaller businesses – indicate that COVID-19 restrictions had impacted their electricity bills considerably, with a decrease of up to 17 per cent less due to reduced onsite business activity, according to ACCC’s latest electricity markets report. It stands to reason that once more and more employees return to the workplace, the trend for these bills will increase again.

The pandemic has normalised working from home, and even with the increase in household bills, remote working has its benefits. Employees are skipping the obligatory commute; they feel trusted by their bosses and have a lot more freedom to customise their days to their personal needs. Still, they also complain that the home office feels boring and lonely after a while. We all know that work will never be the same, and even if we don’t yet know how it will be different, we can assume that remote working will be a part of office life moving forward. Many people working from home may not even be aware of what plan they’re currently on. So, even if employees are only working from the office two days a week and the rest at home, there is still a significant advantage in using Select and Switch to compare offers.

The best way to get cheaper gas, electricity and internet plans is to visit the Select and Switch website and compare offers. Select and Switch have an extensive network of partners from various industries, making it easy for them to find the best energy deals and help the average household decrease their household bills. They know that gas, electricity and internet services are essential in today’s modern world and are committed to helping Australians compare extensive offers from leading retailers in several essential services such as electricity, gas and telecommunications. Their expert consultants help to cut through the confusion. They do all the work on the consumer’s behalf by comparing their current offer to the best deals available. Their service is free, and there is no obligation to contact them to Compare, Select and Switch, and Start saving today.