“Technology is now the real utility as increasingly households spend more on a combination of technology bills to stay connected than their utility bills,” said Vishal Darr, co-founder of iYogi, the remote technical support company that conducted the survey.
Consumers typically spend 6 percent to 12 percent of their annual income on traditional utilities, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
People spend an average of $94 per month on mobile services, and from $20 to $180 per month on Internet service bills, according to the iYogi report.
Half of the survey’s 1,083 respondents subscribed to bundled packages that included Internet, TV and phone services from a single provider.
Consumer Credit Counseling Services has seen an increase in local clients’ expenses for Internet, cable TV and cellphones, said Terrie Krumal, education and marketing coordinator. In contrast, utility bills have remained fairly constant, she said.
“When we sit down with them, the most common remark is: ‘I didn’t realize how much money I was spending,’ ” Krumal said.
The nonprofit credit counseling service is part of Graceworks Lutheran Services and helps people with credit and debt problems at offices in Springfield, Dayton and Sidney.
Water, electricity and natural gas are “20th-century technologies,” said Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America, an association of nonprofit consumer organizations.
“We can debate the cable or multichannel video, but certainly broadband and cellular are the utilities of the 21st century.”
Brett Everett, a Clark County resident, agreed, saying that while he can give up TV, Internet service is tougher to cut.
“TV is unnecessary,” Everett said. “There are cheap alternative pay-as-you-go phones. Internet, however, is essential.”
Communications services becoming household essentials are signs of a “progressive economy,” Cooper said. “That’s the way you measure yourself as a 21st-century society, is by making these (technologies) basic services for daily life.”
The U.S. ranks ninth worldwide in broadband penetration, with 63 percent of households receiving high-speed Internet service, according to a 2011 Federal Communications Commission report.
In Ohio, 61 percent of households used broadband Internet at home in 2009, up from 7 percent in 2001, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Cooper said people without broadband are generally considered deprived. “They can’t fully participate in daily life because so much stuff goes over the Internet,” he said.
Several local residents said they spend hundreds of dollars a month on technology bills, and while some have cut back, others see it as a convenience worth paying for.
Elizabeth Ackerman Penwel of Springfield said she changed her television watching habits to save about $60 a month, and saved $120 by switching to a more basic phone plan.
“I cut the cable back in August, and since then we’ve been using bunny ears or the computer to watch shows,” she said. “We also didn’t renew our contract with AT&T and went with simple minute phones.”
Others said while expensive, the services have become a daily part of life.
“I think it’s way overpriced, said Shane Boles, of Springfield, “but I love having it there when I want to use it. If it keeps going up, I may be forced to switch to alternatives.”
Krumal said technology bills are one of the first areas where people with credit or debt problems can reduce their expenses.
People need heat, electricity, water and food to live, “but they don’t have to have cable,” she said.
Convincing clients to drop communications services to help them get out of debt is a struggle, especially with younger people who feel the need to stay connected through texting.
“They see it as a connection to their family and friends. It’s hard for them to give that up,” Krumal said.
Cooper said he was surprised that communication service costs haven’t dropped as the technologies have gained wider acceptance.
“They are so important people are willing to pay for them,” he said.
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