Price comparison website, Moneysupermarket, has found that mobile phone customers could be wasting £8bn each year because of confusion over phone tariffs. Moneysupermarket says many customers do not understand their tariff and how many minutes and texts are included nor how many they actually use.

The average plan includes 166 call minutes and 123 text messages. The average customer however, incurs additional charges through using an extra 23 minutes of call-time over and above their monthly allowance. In addition 23 extra texts are sent each month also incurring extra costs.

Over 20% of mobile phone customers are surprised by their monthly bill admitting they do not know the details of their tariff. Changing to a plan with more inclusive minutes and texts could help make substantial savings.