74 per cent of UK mobile subscribers are on the wrong mobile tariff, according to a report from mobile price comparison site billmonitor.com. That means that £6bn is being wasted annually – a figure that has increased by £1.1bn since 2011.

According to billmonitors report, which is based on analysis of nearly 70,000 phone bills, if British mobile subscribers adopted a ‘tariff diet’ approach to their contract, we could collectively save an annual £4.3bn.

Of those on the wrong tariff, 74 per cent have excessive allowances – thats 6m paying for oversized call allowances, 8m for data allowances, and 12m for both – while 26 per cent have the opposite problem, with limited tariffs meaning they too often have to pay excess charges.

“A tariff diet could save the UK billions,” says billmonitor founder Stelios Koundouros. “But at a personal level, the right solution for you depends on the precise mismatch between your usage and your tariff. billmonitor’s new free-to-use Bill Check-up service helps you find out exactly where the ‘waste’ in your contract is occurring and remedy that with a match to the right contract – whether you’re locked into a long-term contract or you’re free to switch to a new contract.”