Gas bill???$$$$$$$$$$$ OUCH!!!!!

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I keep my house between 63-66 and what I use to pay was $50, when I received the bill last week it was $120.

 

[bicker]

I'm just going over some of the materials in my bill. It says to make sure the bill shows the correct rate code. Mine shows R-3: "Residential Heating (single meter, not more than 4 dwelling units)". However, there is a choice R-4: "Residential Heating - Discount Rate (single meter, not more than 4 dwelling units)." I wonder if I should call them and tell them that my bill is showing the wrong rate code!

 

[Sleepy]

Our gas bill just jumped by $40 a month. We now pay $480 a month for 800 liters of gas during the winter.

 

[cruiserkaren]

I was worried before, now I'm especially worried after reading what most of you keep your thermostat set on. During the day ours is at 72 at night a 70. I tried calling Vectren to get my account # so that I could see our bill online. After a lengthy call (of course!) I was told my bill hadn't been released so it's showing a balance of zero. So much for that. We just moved into this house in October so I don't know what to expect. Our last bill was $100 bucks but that was before we went into a deep freeze.

 

[golfgal]

I'm just going over some of the materials in my bill. It says to make sure the bill shows the correct rate code. Mine shows R-3: "Residential Heating (single meter, not more than 4 dwelling units)". However, there is a choice R-4: "Residential Heating - Discount Rate (single meter, not more than 4 dwelling units)." I wonder if I should call them and tell them that my bill is showing the wrong rate code!

Chances are that discount rate is to have a meter on your house that they can turn off during peak usage (at least with electric companies they can to turn off your air conditioner).

 

[MagicKingdom05]

I live in a condo so mine are probably going to be much lower, but my bill for Oct 15-Nov 15 was $20 and Nov 15-Dec 15 was $90. I was figuring I would be about $100, so mine wasn't all that bad. I keep it a 60 when I am sleeping and at work and around 68 when I am at home.

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

Our house was built in '76. It's 2400 sq. ft. We keep ours set at 66 degrees and our bill was a whopping $221.

When we were gone in Oct. for 2 weeks, we turned it way down and it was $75 and it was turned basically off for 2 weeks. Ridiculous.

Our furnace isn't the most efficient thing-our bathrooms get super hot-there is so much warm air coming from the vents. The bedrooms are super cold-not a lot of air goes to them. Very poor system. And we have a sliding glass door and a lot of heat leaks through that.

I don't know for sure why this is happening, but it's out of control. We are moving to a new house, not because of this, but I'm sure it'll sky rocket then b/c it's going to be a bigger house. It's too late, but we probably should've looked at that in-floor water heating system. I hear that's pretty cheap and efficient.

 

[golfgal]

Our house was built in '76. It's 2400 sq. ft. We keep ours set at 66 degrees and our bill was a whopping $221.

When we were gone in Oct. for 2 weeks, we turned it way down and it was $75 and it was turned basically off for 2 weeks. Ridiculous.

Our furnace isn't the most efficient thing-our bathrooms get super hot-there is so much warm air coming from the vents. The bedrooms are super cold-not a lot of air goes to them. Very poor system. And we have a sliding glass door and a lot of heat leaks through that.

I don't know for sure why this is happening, but it's out of control. We are moving to a new house, not because of this, but I'm sure it'll sky rocket then b/c it's going to be a bigger house. It's too late, but we probably should've looked at that in-floor water heating system. I hear that's pretty cheap and efficient.

You can close some of the vents, but not almost all like a previous poster did. I would close the ones in your bathroom because they are small and don't' take much to heat. They will be fine with the air from the rest of the house as long as the door is open. It will push more air into the other rooms, too.

 

[novajeanjellybean]

I thought it was just me!!!!!! I must admit the company did send a notice saying the prices would go up but geeeeez. Our bill was $159 last month and $237 for this month and we werent even here for the week of Thanksgiving so just about everything was off!!!!!!!

 

[momof2inPA]

Of course, George Bush, right? He's to blame for everything else that goes wrong.

No, I actually blame it on unchecked greed. If that equals George Bush to you, ok.

 

[NCRedding]

I am on the equal payment plan, and have had a credit balance since Feb. of 2005. I was paying $82 per month thru Sept. bill, then they raised it to $157 a month. Today I got a notice that I will be paying $243 per month--so my bill went up $161 (200%) in 3 months. And I still have a credit balance. This is nuts.

 

[eclectics]

Oil-heat homes aren't escaping the high prices either. I Keep my house between 63-68 (I would die of suffocation if it was higher than that; I'm a true New Englander!) and I just paid my oil bill for $629...I've never paid even close to that. It hurts. I even wrote "OUCH" on the memo line of my check!!!

I have oil and my monthly budget payment just went from $299 a month to $494! I still have a surplus from last year. They say they are acting early so I won't have a balance due this summer. Thanks a lot! I never thought I would wish I had electric heat!

 

[LoriKay]

We just got our gas bill for service from 11/8 to 12/9 and it's $273. This is our first winter in Oklahoma (it's 60 degrees right now!) so we can't compare to last year. We keep the upstairs zone at 65 degrees and downstairs at 67. I actually expected it to be worse and I'm sure the next 2 or 3 will be.

 

[Nancy]

My bill wasn't that much higher than last year...maybe about 25.00-30.00 over last December. I keep my haet at 68, never lower it when we're gone. I can't imagine how that saves gas...how long does your furnace run to get the house back up to temp? How much gas is being used during that time? I think keeping a constant temp is more energy effecient. JMO. All I know is that my bills are lower than friends and I have tha same size house as they have, (actually a bit bigger) and theirs is newer.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

My bill wasn't that much higher than last year...maybe about 25.00-30.00 over last December. I keep my haet at 68, never lower it when we're gone. I can't imagine how that saves gas...how long does your furnace run to get the house back up to temp? How much gas is being used during that time? I think keeping a constant temp is more energy effecient. JMO. All I know is that my bills are lower than friends and I have tha same size house as they have, (actually a bit bigger) and theirs is newer.

I agree with keeping the thermostat set the same at all times. I have a woodstove which is great! I also heat with propane which i keep set at 65 at all times. When the woodstove goes out, the propane takes over. I only used 138 gallons of propane for heat all year, I just had the tanks filled. I don't know how much wood I burned because I bought some and some was given to me. This year I have 3 cords of wood so I am interested to see how much i burn. I still have over 2 cords left. My house is 1000 sq. ft. so its not that big. I love my woodstove, the heat is so warm. The fire is so pretty at night.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I can't imagine how that saves gas...how long does your furnace run to get the house back up to temp? How much gas is being used during that time? I think keeping a constant temp is more energy effecient. JMO.

Check out this thread, they explain thermodynamics. I found it very interesting the analogy they used. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=982641&page=2&pp=15

 

[wilderness01]

Actually my furnace man told me to never close off vents completely as this is bad for the furnace. He said you can have the vents you want closed cracked slightly so that it does force air into another room if you want to not to seal them off completely. I tried to look online at our bill and it hasn't been read yet. Oh well, I guess I will be shocked after Christmas. If it is not over $225 or $250 I will be happy. It has been veryyyyyyy cold here lately. I keep it at 67 during the day and at 63 at night. Our house is 3800 square feet. To the person who has a $750 bill, are you saying this is per month?

 

[tinkerrn]

Well, there isn't much we can do , except turn down the thermostat and water heater. I did turn down my water heater yesterday to med-low. We all take showers at different times of the day, so maybe it won't matter. I never use hot water to wash clothes in, and use the energy cycle on the dishwasher. I thought I was doing better by keeping it down to 68 to 70. I used to keep it on 74 to 76...hypothyroid.
I walk around with t-shirt, turtle neck, sweatshirt, sweatpant, x2 socks, and am still cold. Did by one of those little electric throws. It does help some. Wesut have an old drafty house. So, much for trying to save for our trips to WDW. Boo Hoo!!!

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

Check out this thread, they explain thermodynamics. I found it very interesting the analogy they used. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=982641&page=2&pp=15

Very interesting! Maybe I should rethink this! Umm....It does make sense.

 

[DiznEeyore]

Ours just posted online yesterday, too -- $340+ for gas and electric. And that's with a new furnace and brand-new insulation sprayed into every wall last month! And we keep it at 66 during the day and 63 at night. Guess we're going to be getting even chillier around here!!