You used more natural gas than similar homes

[teller80]

My gas company keeps sending me these notices, and I wondered if they tell everybody the same thing or if I really am above average in gas usage. Does anyone else get the same notice?

 

[tvguy]

I would think they would want more customers like you. Not sure what they are trying to do with those notices.
Around here the gas company pushes these free energy audits by independent contractors who just happen to sell and install insulation, dual pane windows, and energy efficient furnaces.
My mom finally had them come out. Guy was very excited as he saw single pane windows and a 45+ year old furnace. He said he could save all kinds of energy for my mom. Priced out everything, then he logged into the gas company system to check her gas bills for the past 5 years. He about fainted. Mom had the house super insulated about 30 years ago. Her gas usage ran from the minimum billing of $15 a month in summer, to about $60 a month in the winter. It would take her 150 years to save enough on her gas bill just to pay for a new furnace. He didn't bother figuring the dual pane windows.

 

[teller80]

I think it's an ad for an energy audit. I should of put this in my first post, sorry.

 

[barkley]

I would want detailed information on their basis stats/my actual usage.

when we lived in California and received both electricity and natural gas (Pacific Gas and Electric) through the same provider they PUSHED big time for us to sign up for their balanced payment plan claiming our usage was outside the norm & claiming we would benefit balancing our payments over the course of a year. we found that our usage was MUCH lower than what they said such that their balanced payment plan allowed them to collect several hundreds (over a thousand) of dollars over the course of a year in THEIR bank accounts.

somewhat similar here-we get propane from one company, electricity from another. the electric company hit us up to do a balanced payment plan based on their 'numbers'. I agreed to do it but argued that over the course of a year the cost should be at minimum $40 per month/almost $500 per year less. the company relented but 'warned' that if our payments were below the year end unpaid balance 'tolerance' we would get hit with a surcharge. I said 'go ahead and set it up, I know what I use'. sure enough after a year we not only covered our payments-we had a surplus that exceeded their 'tolerance level' such that we not only receive a refund but (despite dramatic weather forecast's projecting much colder oncoming temps, and projected increased utility costs) our balanced payment plan was reduced by over 10% month.

 

[Hikergirl]

I get a monthly assessment from my gas company. I'm always in the average usage compared to my neighbors. I've tried to get to the less but never could, I don't think those neighbors actually exist.

 

[cmarsh31]

Ours this month said we're significantly below average electric (shocking, we have solar panels ) but over on gas (DH insists on having the house warmer than I'd prefer). Our company just includes that info with the bill on a regular basis.

 

[MinnieMSue]

I have average usage which is pretty good for my 100 year old not really insulated brick house. I keep thermostat very low though. I do budget billing where payments are spread over a year and they are usually spot on.

 

[momtosam]

We get them all the time from the electric company.

 

[Pembo]

We are always over the average each year. We also have a gas heater for a pool so that explains it.

 

[NewRVLady]

can you ask a neighbor?
some people use WAY more electricity than us-we keep the house rather warm in summer during day-but cold at night
AC in the South can vary a electricity bill ( all electric house here) a LOT!

 

[ktmo]

I get a monthly assessment from my gas company. I'm always in the average usage compared to my neighbors. I've tried to get to the less but never could, I don't think those neighbors actually exist.

I don't have natural gas, just electric and I get the same notices. Our numbers are double those of our "neighbors". I am with you, these neighbors don't exist.

 

[ronandannette]

Grrr...I hate this new "information feature". Utilities here are provided by our municipality; they send out their "audits" on very official-looking City letterhead and the matrix they use for a "similar home" is anything in the same postal code. There's absolutely no way the numbers can take into account how many persons are in the household, the living habits, the number or type of appliances and/or systems in the house and 1,001 other things that determine utility consumption. The information is virtually meaningless and LOTS of people become alarmed because they don't stop to think through it logically. I manage the Warranty Department for a new home builder and we get 6 or 7 calls a month from customers freaking out and demanding we "fix" their furnaces, hot water tanks, appliances, etc. because the "City says they're using too much energy"...

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

We get these all the time about our electric usage. I never believe them; we are a household of only 2, so no way we use more power than the families in our area.

 

[jknewberry]

In my opinion, they may not be comparing apples to apples if they are making actual comparisons at all. We get notices like this for one of our rental houses, comparing us to our neighbors who have multiple meters per house (one per apartment) where we have only one meter, some have electric heat and electric water heaters, ours are gas, the list goes on.

 

[crisi]

We are way over on electric, but I think its because we have a small datacenter worth of computer equipment running in our house. I suspect most people do not have eight personal computers sucking juice.

 

[barkley]

Grrr...I hate this new "information feature". Utilities here are provided by our municipality; they send out their "audits" on very official-looking City letterhead and the matrix they use for a "similar home" is anything in the same postal code. There's absolutely no way the numbers can take into account how many persons are in the household, the living habits, the number or type of appliances and/or systems in the house and 1,001 other things that determine utility consumption. The information is virtually meaningless and LOTS of people become alarmed because they don't stop to think through it logically. I manage the Warranty Department for a new home builder and we get 6 or 7 calls a month from customers freaking out and demanding we "fix" their furnaces, hot water tanks, appliances, etc. because the "City says they're using too much energy"...

In my opinion, they may not be comparing apples to apples if they are making actual comparisons at all. We get notices like this for one of our rental houses, comparing us to our neighbors who have multiple meters per house (one per apartment) where we have only one meter, some have electric heat and electric water heaters, ours are gas, the list goes on.

We are way over on electric, but I think its because we have a small datacenter worth of computer equipment running in our house. I suspect most people do not have eight personal computers sucking juice.

I agree.

even within an individual home a change in appliances or just in personal habits can make a huge difference. when our old washer and dryer died despite getting much larger machines we replaced them more energy efficient ones-saw the usage go down. when additional computer equipment came into our home-saw it go up. when dd moved out and we took her laundry out of the mix-usage went down (but goes UP, UP, UP when she sucks up to bring huge piles home 'because your machines work better and are easier to use than the ones at our apartments'-yeah, they're easier to use because it's mom running the loads). when I retired and was home all day using lights/appliances you would have thought it would go up but b/c my habits changed-doing laundry (actually getting it washed/dried then immediately folded or on hangers vs. throwing it into the dryer as I left for work and then having to run even a short dry cycle when I got home to fluff out the wrinkles before folding/putting it on hangers), keeping the hvac at a constant temp vs. thinking it was more efficient to keep it colder during the winter/hotter during the summer while we were at work/school but then having to turn it up/down to make it comfortable when we got home....our usage significantly decreased.

something as seemingly insignificant as the type of curtains or blinds a person has on even their windows can make a big difference in how much utilities they have to use to keep individual rooms warm/cool.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

My gas company keeps sending me these notices, and I wondered if they tell everybody the same thing or if I really am above average in gas usage. Does anyone else get the same notice?

After several years of receiving similar notices (from both my gas company and my electric company) I invited them out to audit my meter to make sure my neighbors' meters weren't connected to my account as well. There were several recent stories in the news here about customers who were "inadvertently" charged for their usage as well as their neighbors for years on end. They assured me they would have noticed if others were connected to my meter after recent improvements in my neighborhood, so I asked them to stop sending me such notices as all they did is made me cranky and lash out at my power hungry family . I asked them to instead credit my account for the cost of the stamp each month but, of course, they didn't do that. However, they did stop the stupid notices.

 

[kidshop]

I would make them come out and check everything to make sure there is not a leak somewhere. I mean, if they are that concerned, they can check all the lines.

 

[Owlpost23]

We get these,too.And we know ours are higher.We have an inlaw arrangement,so we have two hot water heaters two gas stoves,and two furnaces.No surprise to us.