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The word 鈥渂ills鈥� used to be synonymous with 鈥渇ixed expenses.鈥� But there鈥檚 nothing fixed about many of the bills a typical household pays today.

Some bills have introductory rates that expire, shooting monthly costs skyward. Others offer secret discounts or upgrades to those in the know. Providers constantly tweak their plans and pricing, which means long-term customers can overpay by hundreds of dollars a year.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like airline seating pricing,鈥� says Steven McKean, founder and CEO of BillShark, a bill negotiating service based in Boston. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 say [people] are overcharged, but I would just say that the pricing is very opaque.鈥�

BillShark calculates Americans could save $50 billion a year by haggling over their bills for cell phone service, home security, internet and pay television. The company, like its competitors BillFixers of Nashville, Tennessee, and BillCutterz of Corpus Christi, Texas, offers to negotiate for consumers in exchange for 40% to 50% of the savings.

Some of the biggest savings right now can be found in cell phone plans as a price war roils the industry, says BillFixers founder Ben Kurland. 鈥淎 lot of the cell phone providers have introduced multiple plans just this year,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you have a cell plan that鈥檚 more than 6 months old, you may not be on the most efficient plan for you anymore.鈥�

In addition to聽cell phone plans, bill negotiators say the following services often have plenty of room for negotiation:

• Pay television聽(cable or satellite)
• Landline phones
• Internet
• Alarm systems
• Storage units
• Satellite radio
• Bottled water delivery
• Gym memberships

What these bills have in common is competition: In most areas, there鈥檚 another provider that you can hire. You also can opt out, at least theoretically. It鈥檚 typically much harder to tell your electric company that you can do without lights.

Most BillShark customers would rather stick with the service they have than deal with the sometimes considerable hassles of changing providers, McKean says.

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to rip out their DVR, and they don鈥檛 want new equipment, and they don鈥檛 want to sit around [waiting to] set up all this stuff,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey just want a lower price.鈥�

Sometimes a competitor鈥檚 deals are so much better that it鈥檚 worth the switch, he says. That鈥檚 particularly true for cell phone providers, who are paying customers鈥� early termination fees and offering other bounties to switch.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e all desperate to steal each other鈥檚 clients,鈥� Kurland says. 鈥淪witching providers a lot of times just comes with an instant payoff, and then over the long term, as long as you switch smart, you鈥檒l find that you can save money month after month.鈥�

Knowing you have that kind of leverage can help you negotiate better deals and聽save money. Here are the steps:

Gather competitors鈥� offers.聽These may be touted on the providers鈥� websites, or you may have to call and ask what the best deals are for new customers. Make sure you nail down the details, such as the speed of the internet service and which television channels are included, for example.

Call your provider.聽Let the telephone representative know, right away, that you鈥檙e thinking of switching to a competitor or canceling the service if you can鈥檛 get a better deal. That typically means a transfer to the customer retention department, which often has more leeway to adjust your bill. Keep an open mind as you talk; there are many ways to聽cut the cost of cable, for example, not just negotiating the price.

Tell them what you know.聽Companies have caught on to empty threats to cancel, Kurland says. 鈥淏ut if you call up and you say, 鈥楬ey, this is the other provider on my street, and this is the new price that they鈥檙e offering. I know that your new customer pricing is even lower than that. Why don鈥檛 we strike a deal?鈥欌�� Kurland says. 鈥淭hen you鈥檙e talking their language.鈥�

Don鈥檛 accept the first offer.聽If 鈥淐an鈥檛 you do any better than that?鈥� doesn鈥檛 produce a deeper discount, tell them you鈥檒l sleep on it. That may produce another price break, or you may get a different agent the next day who鈥檚 more eager to deal.

Get clear on expiration dates.聽Any discounts you negotiate may expire in a few months. To help you keep getting the best deals, enter the expiration dates on your calendar with a reminder to restart negotiations before your bill jumps up again.

Think bigger.聽Monthly bills such as mortgages and car insurance aren鈥檛 negotiable in the same way, but you can and should revisit those rates at least annually. The savings could be bigger than all your smaller bills put together.

Liz Weston is a certified financial planner and columnist at NerdWallet, a personal finance website, and author of 鈥淵our Credit Score.鈥� Email:lweston@nerdwallet.com. Twitter:聽@lizweston.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.