Nous launches new AI assistant to make sense of household bills

21st July 2023

• Nous launches new AI-powered assistant to make sense of household bills after it found two-thirds of people in the UK find it difficult to understand their energy bill

Cost-of-living start-up Nous.co today launches a new AI-powered assistant that saves users money, time and stress by making sense of household bills.

The assistant uses generative AI to automatically categorise and summarise bills, alerting customers to important details and saving opportunities. 

Users can upload documents one-by-one, or connect their inbox so relevant bills are forwarded to Nous the moment they arrive, allowing the intelligent assistant to take on the hassle of catching billing issues and flagging them before they become a problem. 

Some two thirds of people in the UK report finding it difficult to understand their energy bills, according to Nous research, and just 15% say they always read the small print. 

By identifying key details from bills and contracts, Nous can save households up to £1,000 a year or more. The company’s automated money-saving service, which is now live after more than 12 months of development in private beta, handles all the admin of switching people to fairer deals.

For instance, the AI tool can tell users within seconds whether their household could save on their energy (most can save £126, some considerably more). It’s then just a couple of clicks to have Nous make the switch.

Nous can also spot suppliers’ attempts to sneak through unwelcome surprises, such as estimated bills.

Nous AI insights will improve over time based on user feedback as more households join the hundreds of thousands of users who have already signed up.

Greg Marsh, co-founder and CEO of Nous, said: “Our new AI-powered intelligent assistant provides instant savings for families reeling from the soaring cost of living.

“We know most people find trawling through every line of their bills boring, confusing, worrying – or all three.  It’s such a problem that in reality most of us just don’t do it.

“Unfortunately companies are all too aware of this, and some use it as an opportunity to bury nasty surprises where they think no one will actually read them. Generative AI is perfectly suited to catching this stuff straight away, saving the need for Nous users to sacrifice hours to ensure they’re not getting ripped off.”

The new feature, which is included as part the free tier of Nous membership, currently works with energy bills and will shortly be rolled out next to other categories such as broadband, mobile phone and insurance documents, and will see alerts delivered via WhatsApp. 

Nous protects customer data with 256-bit bank-grade encryption (the same level of security as a bank), and is fully compliant with the ICO, the UK’s data privacy body. 

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Can AI save you £141 on your energy bill in seconds?

Nous.co’s new AI assistant can save most households £141 on their energy bill in seconds without needing to move to a fixed tariff.

Users can upload a bill or connect their email in a few clicks to get an immediate alert telling them if they can save by switching.

Nous then delivers those savings by handling the admin of switching providers in a few clicks.