Price Watch/Conor Pope: Eoghan Walsh, a reader from Cork, got in touch to highlight an obvious but often overlooked cost-saving measure that could reduce your telephone bill by at least €2.50 a month.

This is the amount Eircom still charges some of its customers for hiring a "telephone instrument" - or phone to you and me.

In the early days of the telephone service the P&T, as Eircom used to be known, routinely hired out the then costly handsets to its customers. Walsh points out that it has long since stopped this practice, however, and wants to know why Eircom still charges some of its long-standing customers for handsets. (Bear in mind that while €2.55 a month may not sound like a lot, over a half a lifetime it adds up to more than €1,000.)

If you have your own phone, a call to 1901 will bring an end to the charge. Even if you don't have your own handset, Eircom will sell you the one in your home for about €11, which means that in just five months you start saving money.

And there's more. If you've been using your own handset for a long period, says Walsh, a little persistence could see you getting a refund from the company for up to two years of erroneous charges.

Eircom, which stopped charging the fee to new customers in November 2000, defends the continuing existence of the telephone-instrument charge by pointing out that it gives users more than a handset.

"We're not charging for the handset alone," says a spokeswoman for the company. "We are also charging for a maintenance service. If your phone breaks down we will replace it."

Another PriceWatch reader, Tony O'Connor, has noticed a big difference in the price of basmati rice.

Superquinn in Ballinteer, in south Dublin, charges €4.49 for a kilo of Roma basmati rice, but Dunnes Stores in Cornelscourt, not far away, charges just €2.69.

The difference is even greater when compared with prices in the UK, where Aldi sells the same type of rice for only €1.15 a kilo.

Last week's Value4Money

All of the orange juices we reviewed last week come from the UK, according to Michael Phelan, a reader and OJ aficionado. He says that Sunshine Juice, which is based in Carlow, makes one that is the equal of any of the brands we tested. It's available from Dunnes, Cafe Sol and many smaller stores. If you notice a significant price increase or discrepancy, let us know by e-mailing pricewatch@irish-times.ie