[jennbrz]

UGH! Ever since my dh quit his job I thought " Well he won't be wasting money on gas for his car. My bill this month is over 350.00

[HollyHobby]

Last month my electric bill was twice the amount as usual. The meter reader turned in 1 number off so it said I used like 1000kwh more than I used. I called and they had DH read the metre to them and it dropped the bill to $95. Might want to check that? Unless you know it's right.

[chort1313]

u should call them.. i know that my gas/electric is estimated every other month and someone comes out to look the months in between.

I spend less (50% less)on electric/gas at my new house than my old house cause the old house had no installation!

[skyesmom]

***ducking before I say this...***

I work for a/the gas company (depending on your location) and have learned a lot about utility bills. First of all, if you think your bill is high, check your meter and make sure the reading is right. Most times the meters are read from the street/alley and not right at the meter. Also, compare your usage to the prior year and factor in things like is the temperature warmer or colder than that period the prior year. If all of that is kosher, then it just boils down to the fact that the price of gas has gone up. But before you jump on your local utility company, realize that they are only charging you what they paid for the gas. There is NO MARKUP in the gas cost from your utility company. We only get the small fee chrged at the bottom to cover our overhead. All of the taxes, franchise fees, and gas charges are paid to governments and the major pipelines.

SO.... Blame Mother Nature and the Pipeline companies for your high utility bills!

[ladywine]

I got that thing where they average out your bill over 12 months because every year (at random times) we would get one bill that was about 3 times higher than all the others. When I called, it was because they didn't come to read our meter very regularly...I know I could have requested that they do it more often and all that, but it just seemed a lot easier to get the bills averaged. Something to think about if you're on a pretty tight budget and something like that really throws you for a loop...

[HollyHobby]

Originally Posted by ladywine

I got that thing where they average out your bill over 12 months because every year (at random times) we would get one bill that was about 3 times higher than all the others. When I called, it was because they didn't come to read our meter very regularly...I know I could have requested that they do it more often and all that, but it just seemed a lot easier to get the bills averaged. Something to think about if you're on a pretty tight budget and something like that really throws you for a loop...

DH wanted that kind of billing I don't want it because I like a $8 gas bill in the summer when i need the extra $ for vacation or whatever.

[chort1313]

Originally Posted by HollyHobby

DH wanted that kind of billing I don't want it because I like a $8 gas bill in the summer when i need the extra $ for vacation or whatever.

true dat! we have budget billing here (if we want it) where they average it out over 12 months and i don't want that! ! i want my $8 bill too!!

Also, with my company you can either call or fill out on their website what your actual usage is. And if you don't know how to read the meter, they explain it to you!

[ladywine]

I don't have gas, just electric, so with AC in the summer, it really didn't make much difference, EXCEPT I didn't get that one huge bill each year! I'd love an $8 power bill! Even when we didn't use the AC or heat in the spring or fall, it didn't make all that much difference in the month to month bill.

[HollyHobby]

Originally Posted by chort1313

Also, with my company you can either call or fill out on their website what your actual usage is. And if you don't know how to read the meter, they explain it to you!

OH! I wonder if ours has that. I'll have to look!!

[HollyHobby]

Originally Posted by ladywine

I don't have gas, just electric, so with AC in the summer, it really didn't make much difference, EXCEPT I didn't get that one huge bill each year! I'd love an $8 power bill! Even when we didn't use the AC or heat in the spring or fall, it didn't make all that much difference in the month to month bill.

Our Electric bill varies from $60 to $150 through out the year. The only thing that runs n Electric here is my central air, washer and just normal stuff. I cook, my dryer and heat with gas which here is MUCH cheaper than Electric! Eltric rates must have gone up though because my bill has been unusually high the past few months with not much usage difference from last year.

[ladywine]

No gas at our end of the street! Every year or so, they send us something saying one of the neighbors has requested it, but to make it cost effective for them, we have to commit to changing over to gas within a year, which isn't really cost effective for us! I mean, that would be 2 new heat pumps, stove, oven, dryer, hot water heater....I guess we could lie & just get one of the things...

[glassmanswife]

I have both gas and electric and my electric bill is always lower than my gas bill but then everything here uses gas except washer..fridge and lights.......They estimate my bill all the time since my meter is in my basement and they have never come out to read it since we have moved in...and that is fine because I think it would be higher if they did read it.......