Gas bill issues - any ideas?

[lecach]

We have two houses - one that has been for sale since July and is vacant and one that we live in. We have PSNC gas for both. The gas bill for the vacant house this cycle is $19. The one for the occupied house is $10. Both houses use gas for heat, gas logs and hot water. I called the gas company and they said they use an electronic meter so there is no human error.

At the vacant house we have the hot water on vacation mode. And the heat has been kept at 60 so it has not been on in the last month.

Any ideas? I know the amount is not that huge but I am a little worried that something is wrong.

Any ideas of what could be causing the difference? I know the pilot light for the gas logs is probably on - we never turned it off before. Of course it's on in our occupied house too....

 

[powellrj]

If they are in different areas, could it be that the base price is different? I know our water base price is much higher than it was in our old town.

 

[Muushka]

I can't help you on the discrepancy between the 2 houses, but I have the identical situation as the house you live in (no heat, gas hot water only at this time) and our gas bill was $19.

Prior to having gas hot water (in other words using no gas whatsoever), it was $15. I was surprised that there seemed to be a minimum charge for something that is not being used. And glad we switched to gas for hot water!

Forgot to say that I live in Cary.

 

[golfgal]

Base price for gas, service and taxes are different

 

[scrapquitler]

Any ideas of what could be causing the difference? I know the pilot light for the gas logs is probably on - we never turned it off before. Of course it's on in our occupied house too....

Maybe the billing cycles for the two houses are different lengths? I know that with our electric and gas, the number of days between meter readings varies, so sometimes the bill is for 28 days, sometimes for 31 days, etc. Look carefully at the bill, maybe one of them is for several days more than the other one.

Another thought: if they are in separate towns or zones, maybe one of the houses has a slightly different rate for the gas (or the delivery or the generation charge) than the other?

 

[lecach]

I just checked both bills. Both have a base rate of $10 and both charge $.90197 per therm. The vacant house showed 10 therms used, the occupied house showed 0 therms used. Both showed 30 days in the cycle. The vacant house was read on 6/7 and the occupied house on 5/20.

I don't see how it was possible that the occupied house didn't use any gas - our hot water heater does use gas and we use hot water for the dishwasher and for baths for 3 of us.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Are you sure someone hasn't been breaking in and squatting in the unoccupied house? That would the first thing I would check.

 

[dis-happy]

0 therms? For whatever reason you aren't being charged; possibly the meter mis-read or whatever. Bet you get a much higher bill next month.



PS. Any chance you are on one of those fixed-rate billing plans? At the end of the year long cycle there's a catch up month, where it makes up for either overpaying or underpaying. Maybe you had an overpayment credit.

 

[Kath2003]

Are you tell me that the gas bill for the house you live in is only $10? For a month? I'd say THAT'S wrong, rather than the $19 for the unoccupied one...

Maybe you have a standing charge, which gives you a lower rate on the gas you do use?

 

[DrCavin]

Ours rates between an actual reading and an estimated reading each month.

 

[Feralpeg]

If a pilot light on a water heater or furnance is adjusted incorrectly, it can burn more gas even when the appliances are not coming on.