Question on "balance billing"

[DISdreamin']

Do you get a accounting of your actual usage each month?

Our Electric company does this and have been considering it.

Our bill has all the useage details a normal bill has, the only difference seems to be an extra area showing the budget billing, including the amount we owe the company or the amount we are owed by them. I really like the budget billing - yeah, I could do it myself, but it's so easy to let them do it.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

My SIL lives in Central Mass and has NSTAR for gas. Her house is old and has terrible insulation, her gas bill is pretty high. She has always done the budget plan and made out fine.

 

[minnie1928]

The irony of the above is that when you do it in a cold climate and start your budget billing in October, you get to use their money until about the following September. Each month I watch the amount I owe them climb and climb until around April or May when it starts to fall - by the end of the 12 month cycle, we're back to even, but there are times I have owed them in the neighborhood of $500 or $600 in the dead of winter when the heat bills are through the roof!

So, moral is to set the budget billing up at the right time of year and your scenario above works in reverse.

Good point! I started mine in June of this year, so it's all mine. I've already saved a $1000 in cushion for this winter's gas bill.

 

[kellia]

We had the "budget" plan for a couple of years and our combined gas/elec bill was $325/mo. Then for some reason I quit, I've never had a month go over $350, and most are down around $200. (Michigan) So, I think they either added something on and I didn't catch it or they added quite a "cushion".

 

[DISdreamin']

We had the "budget" plan for a couple of years and our combined gas/elec bill was $325/mo. Then for some reason I quit, I've never had a month go over $350, and most are down around $200. (Michigan) So, I think they either added something on and I didn't catch it or they added quite a "cushion".

Hmm...the way our bill is, it show our actual useage just like a normal bill does. So basically we know the total owed is what we would owe anyways even if we weren't on the budget plan.

I do wonder, though, if I would be more energy conscious if I were paying those $350 winter bills!

 

[Waseller77]

I decided to do my own budget billing. After 12 months I went to the utility company's websites and found out what my balanced billing amount would be each month. I now take that amount out of my budget every month and allocate it towards utilities. Then when the actual bill comes, I pay it out of my utility budget. This way I have a balanced bill, but instead of the utility company holding my extra money and earning interest...I am.

I do this too with oil. Around here the cheapest places do not automatically deliver. So I would pay more per gallon to have automatic delivery (and balance billing). So I estimate a year's usage and break it into 12 months in my budget. Then I set aside that amount each month so I have the money waiting in the winter when we fill up!