Consumer cost of living champion Nous has launched a free online service to help families calculate and understand the specific impact that the cost-of-living crisis is having on their personal household spending. Nous’s ‘smart forecast tool’ will work out - on a personalised basis - a family's current household bills, and calculate – in pounds rather than percentages – the effect that every single cost-of-living increase will have on their outgoings.
It predicts the impact of future changes in expenditure to help millions of people get smart about budgeting and save on bills in the face of rising living costs. Among the household bills Nous takes into account are gas and electricity, satellite and cable TV, broadband, mobile phone, petrol/diesel costs, mortgage, council tax, water bills, and national insurance. Car and home insurance will be added in the coming weeks.
Current predictions are that a family of four can expect their annual household bills to rocket by more than £3,000 in the next 12 months. But the figures can vary dramatically and the impact is different in every household. The launch comes after research earlier this year showed more than 80 per cent of Brits massively underestimate how much their bills are going to rise and think their personal hike over the 12 months will be just £1,000 – as little as a fifth of the real figure.
Nous founder and CEO Greg Marsh said: “We want to help people understand what the cost-of-living squeeze means to them personally, both now and in the future. And we can show that in real-money terms, rather than confusing averages and percentages. Not everyone has the time or know-how to keep track of their bills. But we at Nous believe that knowledge is power, so we can warn people who sign up to our website of upcoming financial pressures and alert them to make savings.
“Nous makes it much simpler for consumers. Keeping track of all the household bills is boring and daunting I know, but this will make it easier. Now is not the time for anyone to bury their head in the sand”.
The Nous service is completely free for anyone who signs up at www.nous.co. And the company promises not to make money by selling on data or receiving commissions when users switch providers. Next year the company plans to launch a subscription service in which they will manage a household’s bills and make sure everyone is on the best deal possible, but the free service will continue.
The idea for Nous.co was hatched in 2020, well before the cost-of-living crisis developed. Greg Marsh had time on his hands. The entrepreneur – who had developed and sold the successful luxury rental marketplace Onefinestay – was stuck in quarantine with Covid, and his wife was about to give birth to their second child.
Then he noticed he’d been ‘accidentally’ moved onto the wrong British Gas tariff. Faced with paying thousands more than he should, Greg saw red and realised other consumers would also be overpaying for not just gas, but countless utilities: energy, broadband and mobile.
He calculated that with further costs such as TV, insurance, credit cards and mortgages taken into account, the typical UK household busy with children is losing £1,000 a year to these "price bandit" companies. And so Greg founded Nous as a way to help the millions being taken advantage of to manage their finances most carefully.
He added: “The cost-of-living crisis has made Nous even more timely. Not only do we want to empower people against the tricks of the big providers, it’s now more important than ever that everyone is on the best deal possible.”
"Each household is different, with different providers and types of spend rising at different rates, so we urge people to get smart on exactly how the cost-of-living crisis will impact them.”
You can use Nous’s free dashboard by going to www.nous.co and signing up. It takes just a few minutes and is completely safe and risk free.
