OMG! Has anyone else's Gas Bill Skyrocketed??!!

[debden]

I just cannot beleive this...they kept talking about a rise in costs for natural gas to heat your home but I did not even imagine anything like this! I just got my bill for this month and it was it's normal $216 month but there was a note that said starting next month the bill will go up to $335 a month!! Are they kidding?!! That's a $119 a month raise in heating costs! I thought around $50 or $60 but definitely not over $100's a month.
Has anyone else had a significant raise in home heating costs??
Wow.I was just floored....I think I'm still in shock.
Debbie

 

[tar heel]

Ours went up almost exactly 100% over last December's bill. This year's was for two more days, however. We were still under $300 (barely) and I'm determined not to hit that mark. My youngest son whined that it was cold this morning while he was eating his breakfast.

 

[AllyandJack]

Are you on a payment plan? How can they tell you the exact amount??

I'm on a plan and I'm capped at $1.779, so I pay the same amount every month.

 

[lucky978]

YUP! I opened mine the other day and nearly had a heart attack!

It doesn't help that we're in a new house that is double the square footage as our last house either.

I called them yesterday and had them put me on a budget. I still have to pay the $315 due on 1/15 though. Ugh!

 

[debden]

We are on their 'budget' plan.Where you pay the same amount year round instead of paying more in the winter and less in the summer months. I looked at HEAP (heating assistance program) and we do not qualify. This is going to be a really big dent in our budget.We figured a fifty or sixty dollar increase but not over one-hundred dollars!
I don't know how to deal with a gas bill this high.I've never had it this high before.It's a small mortgage....not a gas bill.
Debbie

 

[sm4987]

me too!!! Just got mine and what stinks is that I was gone a week and a half to Disney and the bill was still high!!!!!

 

[AllyandJack]

How can they increase your payments? Do you sign a contract with them? My contract goes from July-May, so they can't increase my payments until the contract is up in May.

What's the point of the "plan" if they can just change it??

 

[Christine]

How can they increase your payments? Do you sign a contract with them? My contract goes from July-May, so they can't increase my payments until the contract is up in May.

What's the point of the "plan" if they can just change it??

I know that we do not have a "contract" with natural gas. It is what it is. The only control you have is with the budget plan. Usually, they do not mess with your monthly payment but in June, when they refigure everything, you either get hit with a "shortage" payment or you get a some type of credit back.

 

[debden]

tar heel,I'm going to have to crack down and keep the heat down lower than usual.It's cold in here when it's set at 70 degrees.We keep it at 70 most of the time.Just when it's super cold out we put it up a couple degrees to get the chill out..
AllyandJack,I am on a 'payment plan' but unfortuately it doesn't make any difference..
lucky978 and sm4987, I think my reaction was more like a 'stroke'...
I don't like to think if I leave the house and turn down the heat that the bill will be the same anyways....
AllyandJack: I don't know....they said they raised their prices with the raise in natural gas prices.It's quite a hike...and I'm on the 'budget' plan?!! I think that just blew my budget to hell...
And there's no way to fight it....Their the only game in town.So you pay or they turn your power off.
I am not happy about this but there doesn't seem like much I can do...
Debbie

 

[KimR]

I don't pay the bills, DH does, but I haven't heard any profanity while opening the mail, so I can only assume ours is not that bad. I'm sure I'd hear about it if it was because I'm the one who likes to keep it warm in the house.

I can't imagine that it wouldn't be high though because we have a 4500 sq ft house and I keep it around 70 day and night. Although right now I've set it to 72 becuase it's cold outside and it seems the colder it is outside the warmer I need to set the thermostat to stay comfortable. DH would be happy keeping it at 65 but I cannot stand to be cold and whatever it costs to stay warm, that's what we'll pay.

 

[slo]

Our gas and electric bill are together and my bill for December was $596.00 and approx. $350.00 of that was for gas . We don't live in a big house either - our house is a quadlevel.

 

[disneysteve]

We actually didn't see a big change. The gas rate went up but our usage was down about 20% so it balanced out. DW went back to work in '05 so the house is empty during the day and I've got the thermostat programmed to drop to 60 during the day so the heat isn't on until 4 when we get home. That's made a big difference.

As for budget plans, they can definitely raise the monthly amount mid-year if rates change or your usage pattern changes.

 

[AllyandJack]

I guess there is a difference in the 2 "plans". I use propane and we sign a contract with the company to lock in a rate for the winter in July and lock in our payments to be taken right from the account.

If used more than we paid for, we'd have to make it up in May. We ended up with a massive credit last year and it just carried over. I don't like a lot of heat and I wash my clothes in cold. The washing in cold is the reason we had the huge credit last year. The year before that, we were paying $350.-$400./month! We also don't have a gas stove or a gas dryer.

My friend swears by the plastic that you put over the windows. She said it's really helped keep her basement apartment warm this winter. She also sealed up one of her doors with weather stripping.

 

[WIcruizer]

VERY IMPORTANT

You need to understand that being on the fixed billing plan does NOT lock you into any rates or payments for a year. A lot of people think that, and it's common. I jsut had to say something when I saw some of these comments in here.

The intent is that you pay the same amount every month, so there are no wild swings in the winter months. I use this plan, because it's just easier to kep track of. BUT that doesn't mean your rates are locked in. They can (and do) raise rates whenever they want. Your energy usage also varies. You aren't "locked in" to anything. What will happen, is at the end of your 12 month billing cycle you'll get a nice big bill for the difference between what you paid in, and what your costs are after the increases.

Think of it this way. How can they lock you in to a certain payment? What would prevent all of us from jacking up the heat to 80 all winter?

My bill shows the actual amount every month, even though I pay the fixed amount. And it keeps a running total. So every month I know exactly how far over (or under) my balance is for the year.

 

[buzzlady]

Just got our bill today. It went from $82 last month to $166 this month. We're not on a plan and I've been trying to keep the heat much lower during the day.

 

[debden]

Quote from Allyandjack:'My friend swears by the plastic that you put over the windows. She said it's really helped keep her basement apartment warm this winter. She also sealed up one of her doors with weather stripping.'

Yup,we already had that done a couple of months agur house is realy old and heat escapes everywhere.We have tried to insulate our house as much a possible but with these old houses you always end up losing heat out the door..

WIcruiser,I did not think it was a 'fixed' rate but I honestly did not think they would raise it as much as they did.(We just got hit with a one-hundred dollar a month increase in our credit card payment-some sort of mandated increase in minimum payments)....
Does anything ever go down?? I know one thing that never goes up and that's my paycheck.
All I can say is yuck,yuck,yuck...
Debbie

 

[cepmom]

our increase didn't seem too bad this month...I was afraid of what it might have been. We are on the budget plan ~ last year we paid $120 per month. This year they increased it to $131 per month in anticipation of the higher cost I guess. Last December the bill was for 30 days and the usage was 115 therms (estimate) $174.96. This December, the bill was for 34 days and the usage was 128 therms (actual) $246.77. Not sure why last December's bill was an estimate and this year an actual read, but I really thought it was going to be worse than that.

We have been keeping the heat low (65 during the day and 62 at night), I had DH turn down the temp on the water heater a little, but I need to get DD16 to stop taking long hot showers, lol. We do have one room n the back of the house that faces north and it has 9 windows...we lose a lot of heat there, but it has a wood stove that we use to take the chill out when it gets really cold. I think I need to look into those plastic window covers to help reduce heat loss there too.

 

[WIcruizer]

We have been keeping the heat low (65 during the day and 62 at night),

If I turned the heat down to 65 during the day, the heat bill would be the least of my worries. The alimony payment would be much higher!

 

[cepmom]

If I turned the heat down to 65 during the day, the heat bill would be the least of my worries. The alimony payment would be much higher!

luckily enough for my DH, I am usually the only one home all day! When I go to work on Sunday, I know he has been turning it up!

 

[punkin]

$397

almost 50% more than last year.