Sophie made Bill Smoother (aka Volt!) work for her

Simplicity is pretty darn sweet, we reckon. Especially when it comes to paying your household’s power bills. And even more so when you’re living with multiple people in a flatting situation. So, when Flickster Sophie and her three flatmates made the move to Flick in December 2018, they knew that signing up to Flick’s bill-smoothing, set-and-forget tool was a no-brainer.

Getting stress free power payments

Like thousands of other flatters around the country, Sophie and her friends found that the old-school, manual method of paying flat power bills was nothing short of stressful. Between working out what to pay and chasing up payments (and, worst case scenario, covering any flatties that don’t pay on time), it was an all-round inconvenience.

But there’s a solution to every problem, right? And for Sophie and her flatmates, that’s come in the form of Bill Smoother. Aside from offering the flat a way to build up a wee cash stash to take the sting out of any higher than normal bills, Bill Smoother is also the perfect tool to help the flat pay their weekly bills. By allowing them to choose a regular amount (also known as the ‘Regular Payment’) to pay to Flick each week, bills are kept simple and stress-free, the flatmates can confidently budget for their power costs, and no one flatmate is tasked with the job of flat debt collector. Winning!

So how do you setup Bill Smoother to work best for the flat?

Sophie’s flat has taken to Bill Smoother like ducks to water, with each person setting up an automatic payment into the flat account to contribute towards the Regular Payment each week. They’ve set their Regular Payment at an amount that’s slightly higher than their average bill, but one they’re all comfortable paying each week. That way, they have enough to cover weekly power bills, and they’re also saving some away (Flicksters can store up to $500 in their Bill Smoother account - whoop!) for any bills that are higher than usual.

Sophie says, “We set up our Volt [Bill Smoother] so the Regular Payment and Volt Trigger are the same amount: a bit higher than our average bill but what we felt comfortable paying each week. We did this in summer and immediately started building a nice stash of cash in our Volt, because the bills were cheaper than our Regular Payment.

Now in the winter, when we use a bit more power than usual and have a bill higher that’s than our Volt Trigger, the extra is taken from our Volt stash. What comes out of the flat account is the same as any other week.” Simple as!

• Disclaimer - in July 2021 we changed the name of our tool from Volt to Bill Smoother, to help customers better understand what it does and how to use it. We’re still in the process of changing the name, so please bear with us as the transition takes place!