Is anyone a Natural Gas expert?

[greenyskp]

I received a bill for $230 dollars and im going nuts.

I just got off the phone with the gas company (TECO Peoples Gas)

And after 2 meter-re-reads, and an investigation. My account stands at $230. And the man said it would stay around 150-250 with the high gas prices.


Now here's the thing. I live alone. In a 400 square foot duplex. I ONLY have a gas water heater. Its the ONLY thing on gas. I wash my dishes once a week, by hand (no dishwasher) (i fill up the sink once) And I take a 10 minute shower every morning. I am single. so no one else is EVER there using it.

Why is my gas bill this high? And what can I do?

They put me on a payment plan for this bill, which tacs on $60 to my bill for the next 3 months.

Im just shocked and at a loss. I cant afford a $200 dollar gas bill every month. My elec. Bill is only $40.

Anything would be helpful...

 

[Bob Slydell]

Do you have gas heat? If so, what's your thermostat set at?

 

[shoes99]

If you do a search on "utility" there is another thread started about hugh utility bills. My average natural gas bill is around $100 for this time of year. We are two seniors and live in a small brick house. My bill from my Jan 05, 06 meter reading was $690.79. I am on the list to have a service rep come out and check the meter. Something is terribly wrong.

 

[In a hurry]

Check to see if their are alternative gas suppliers. We are saving $$$ by having changed. Also make sure you don't have any leaks. Maybe you could use an electric space heater for the area you are in.

 

[greenyskp]

Check to see if their are alternative gas suppliers. We are saving $$$ by having changed. Also make sure you don't have any leaks. Maybe you could use an electric space heater for the area you are in.

In florida, we dont have a choice. its teco or not gas.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Turn down your thermostat. Add weatherstripping to all exterior doors to insure a tight seal when they are closed. Buy some plastic insulating covers for your windows (like those made by 3M). Turn down the thermostat on your hot water heater. If your dryer runs on gas, hang up your clothes to air dry. If your stove is gas, use a microwave more (bake less, that really gobbles up the gas). Call the utility and have them come check for leaks (although if you had one, you'd probably smell it). Close off any rooms you don't use a lot and close the heat vents in those rooms. Clean your air ducts -- a build-up of dust can rob you of heat. Add insulation in any available crawl spaces.

 

[Patch'sD]

If you only have a hot water heater, than the unit might be set to high. Do you find yourself having to run the cold water alot to take a hot shower and not a boiling shower. I would see if you could set the Hot Water Heater temp down. I would also try to put a thermal blanket on it to reduce heat loss. That is way to high a bill for just hotwater. Check your Bill to see how many therms you used last year at this time. Than take the new therm rate and apply it to last years usage to see if it is close to what your are being charged.

 

[Feralpeg]

Since you are in a duplex, make sure that your neighbors are not hooked into your meter. I once lived in a Townhouse. My electric bill ran about $80 a month until spring when my bill jumped to almost $600 for a month. It turned out that they tennis court lights for the entire complex were hooked to my meter. The electric company wasn't very helpful. I ended up hiring a private electrical company to come in and look at things. They discovered what the complex had done. Unfortunately, the electric company didn't care because the meter was under my name. I approached the complex management and they just shrugged me off. I ended up moving. The only way I could have gotten the money back would have been to take the complex management to small claims court. I just ended up writing it off as a bad experience.

Good luck!

 

[Sleepy]

If your dryer runs on gas, hang up your clothes to air dry. If your stove is gas, use a microwave more (bake less, that really gobbles up the gas).

We don't have unlimited gas, but rather have a tank, so we can definitely see the usage. Unless things are different in my area, cooking and drying clothes does not use that much gas...even if it is heating your water. I can make 200 liters (about $100) last 6 months if I don't use it for heat. We are a family of 3.

 

[Sleepy]

Since you are in a duplex, make sure that your neighbors are not hooked into your meter. I once lived in a Townhouse. My electric bill ran about $80 a month until spring when my bill jumped to almost $600 for a month. It turned out that they tennis court lights for the entire complex were hooked to my meter.

This is a common problem here with electricity. Families will build houses in small clusters and run all the electricity from one meter. Then, what happens is they will rent that metered house out to someone else. When you get that 800 Euro bill in the mail the first time, it can be a shock. What is even more shocking is when you shut the electicity off to your house and watch your meter run a marathon.

 

[mrFDNY]

hey,
not sure in your area,but in nyc home gas prices went thru the roof,my bill went up over more than double in under 1 month.i too thought it had to be a mistake and called my local company untill i found out prices more than doubled.call the company that you use see it there was an increase in prices.you could lower your water heater temp a little.i can't imagine you using that much heat in fla? oh yea btw,i did'nt get my invataion to your house party yet?lost in the mail right?

 

[TxDisneyFan]

I consider my husband to be a natural gas expert! BWAHHHAAAAA!!





Sorry...I guess my sense of humor can get me in trouble.


You've received some good tips from other posters....just ignore me now...I'll slink away...

 

[greenyskp]

Ok -

No one lives on the other side of my duplex. Except a ghost that like to BANG into the wall when I play my piano.

MrFDNY- I think you and I should just have a private housewarming party..

As for the temp - My dad turned it down a month ago. I was expecting this bill to be cheaper.

I wrote to my local news company, see if anyone else is having this problem. Going to go home and have a chat with my neighbors tonight...

THanks for all the advice though.

 

[cepmom]

have you had your water heater serviced lately? I wonder if one of the heating coils aren't working properly and maybe it has to work extra hard on one coil to get the water temp up. I don't know....I'm definitely not an expert on this, but I know that our old water heater had that problem, but it was electric. Do you wash your clothes in cold water only? That can contribute a lot to the hot water bill if you use warm or hot water to wash laundry. $230 seems way out of line...my last gas bill was about that much and I have gas heat, gas hot water, gas dryer and I live in MA!

 

[In a hurry]

Any chance the heat has been left on in the other unit?

 

[dennis99ss]

All together now...Thanks George!

 

[golfgal]

You are in Florida, I am in MN. We have natural gas heat, gas water heater, 5 people living in our 3000 sq foot house and my gas bill this month is $160. Something is wrong. I wonder if you have a leak in a line somewhere (dangerous). I would have someone come out and do an energy audit, if they do those in Florida, and see if they can figure out the problem.

 

[outstandinfarmer]

My kitten seems to be a natural gas expert. . . maybe that's actually a natural gas problem.

Nevermind. . .

 

[staci]

Youve definitely got a problem somewhere. We are in Iowa (COLD) with a 1000 sq ft house, 25 year old gas furnace (very inefficient), 15 year old gas water heater (equally as inefficient), and a gas stove. We have 3 people bathing regularly, as well as many loads of dishes and laundry.

Our bill for December was $180 and I thought that was nuts.