Beat BT’s line rental rises – and get free evening calls

British Telecom is hiking the line rental it charges to those on its Option 1 tariff who get their bills by post from £11 a month to £11.75 from 1 April. But switch to online billing and you won’t see your line rental hiked, plus you’ll end up getting it for less - at £10.50 a month.

While some fees are going up, those on Option 1 will get free weekend calls to landlines from April. That is a step in the right direction but costs can still be smashed.

Sign up to Primus, which is a relatively smaller provider, and get free weekend and evening to landlines without paying a penny or changing landlines. Simply call up and join its Saver 2 tariff and you’ll still be paying line rental to BT but get more free calls that way.le some fees are going up, those on Option 1 will get free weekend calls to landlines from April. That is a step in the right direction but costs can still be smashed.

Full details are in Martin’s complete Cheapest Home Phones guide.

Bag the best balance transfer card

There’s a new top 0% balance transfer card out there. The top deal is now Virgin’s 15 months interest free offer which comes with a fee of 2.98% of the amount you transfer. Second best is now Abbey’s 13 month deal at 0% with a slightly smaller 2.5% fee. The previous best, Barclaycard, was offering 14 months with a 2.5% fee has now upped its fee to 2.9%.

Complete details and all the top interest rates are included in Martin's Best Balance Transfers article.

Reminder: Don’t switch energy provider just yet

Scottish Power has become the latest energy provider to announce a price hike. The average cost of its gas and electricity will soar by around 15%. It is the fourth of the big six energy providers to have announced a price rise recently.

But now is still not the time to switch provider, unless you’ve never switched before, or want a capped tariff. That’s because we’re still waiting for a level playing field. We are close as we only need one more provider to hike their prices but we are not quite there yet.

Full information on when to switch utility company is in Martin's Cheapest Gas & Electricity article.

France for £20 with free booze on top

Ferry operator P&O has a great special offer on its Dover to Calais route. You can take a car and up to 9 people on a day trip to France for £20 return, and as part of the deal you get six bottles of wine which normally cost around £25 and you can get a buy one get one free meal on the ferry.

You need to go to book online via P&O’s website, at www.poferries.com, and you must travel by 19 March '08. There are some dates you can’t travel on and you’ll have to pay an extra £10 on a Saturday.

Roses are red… and they can be cheap too

A quick reminder that Valentine’s Day is around the corner. And the cheapest deal we’ve found if you’re looking to get a dozen red roses is a spectacularly low £2.50 in-store at Morrison’s. If you want them posted, you can get them for £16 via the Woolworths' website at www.woolworths.co.uk. And if you want to impress with couriered delivery, Asda Online (www.asda-flowers.co.uk) charges just £18 and includes a free box of chocolates.