Is your gas/electric on a set price monthly

**Palooka** · 05-29-2008, 02:40 AM

Do you have that option? Where they just average your bill out for the year? We had them figure our gas bill and pay the same amount every month. I think every six months they adjust it. It can go up or down by a few bucks. We have done this for a few years with the gas. It all comes out the same but it is just easier to budget that way.

Now the electric is just crazy in this house. I am thinking about calling them up and see if they can just figure it out an adjust the same monthly payment every month. The summer bill with the air, I am dreading.

I rather have like a set price that I know I have to pay every month and not be shocked when the mail comes that month to see it was a hundred bucks higher than what I expected.

So do any of you do this with your utlilites?

Can you guys think of anything that would be bad with a set price too? Negatives and positives?

TIA

**Neeley** · 05-29-2008, 03:30 AM

Our house only has electric, no gas or other heating oils. The power company here has a budget billing option that we take part in. They re-evaluate our usage every two months and give a month's notice if your bill is going up or down. Ours rarely changes. We were at $328 per month forever. A few months ago we went down to $312 and last month they notified us we were going down to $292.

I prefer the budget billing. Especially in the summer months when our bill would be in the $600 range if we were not on the budget billing plan.

I wish our water company would do it. In the winter we pay around $60-$70 per month for water/trash/sewage. But in the spring and summer it goes up to $300. Between watering the yard and adding water to our pool our usage really shoots up.

**Buc-O-Mama** · 05-29-2008, 05:31 AM

I used regulated billing for our electric at one point years ago and was very dissappointed with it. It was based on prior usage and took a long time to come down while we were reducing our usage, if that makes any sense. They only refigure the average every so often and we didn't know that when we signed up.

Know what you mean about high bills though, last summer we saw more than one bill over 400$. It was tempting to make an arrangement like that, but we decided that we could cut our usage and lower it ourselves. I'm glad we did, because we are seeing our effort pay off right now. Plus, the really low bills of cooler months is a nice treat for us.

As far as using a billing program for gas goes, I wouldn't know. We use natural gas for heat, cooking and our hot water heater and our highest bill of the year is about 80$.

**Jskell911** · 05-29-2008, 05:48 AM

We do this for our home heating oil. I think last year we went a little over 900 gallons. First year with oil for me, so I have no idea if that's good or not. DH was smart and locked us in at a max $3.05 a gallon so it wasn't too awful this past year.

We don't have that option with our electric.

**baxjul** · 05-29-2008, 06:48 AM

We aren't on the budget. Ours doesn't get high enough to warrant it.

**Michelle** · 05-29-2008, 07:44 AM

Yes, we do this for our gas bill. Once a year (summertime usually) they check to see how much we should have paid vs. how much we paid in flat monthly payments, and then they bill us for the difference and increase the flat fee for the next year. We've only done this for about 1 1/2 yrs, so I'm curious to see how much it will increase (can't imagine it DEcreasing, yk?) come mid-summer.

**lwlynch** · 05-29-2008, 07:47 AM

I am on budget billing
for the gas it is $50.00 a month.
for electric it is anywhere between $125 and $160 in the summer..
Hey I also call in sept and get a certain therm on my gas. I never knew you could do that and came up on it by mistake. I asked them why they didnt tell customers and they said they just wait till they call and find out...just an idea to check out..

**YankeeMom** · 05-29-2008, 08:01 AM

We are on what they call the "Budget Plan". They average our usage for a year then we pay that average all year long. I like it because then we don't have the sky high winter bills, we can spread it out over the whole year. Before getting on the budget plan, it never failed right after Christmas we would get a bill for $400-500. Now we pay a straight $270/month (that's for gas & electric on a VERY big house) all year long.

I think they adjust it more often than every six months though, they've adjusted it twice just in the last six months. Thankfully it went down and not up...but it's only a matter of time.

**stinkbug** · 05-29-2008, 12:46 PM

I'm on both gas and electric budget billing. Would not have it any other way! No surprises, and it's adjusted once a year. Either a credit, or they up it a few dollars to offset the increase. I've been on it for 6 years now. We have 3300 sq ft. Gas is 138.00, electric is 86.00. I can't imagine why more people don't do this.

**mombottoo** · 05-29-2008, 12:49 PM

I'm not on the budget plan for either gas or electric and wouldn't want to be. But, I am charged a flat rate every month for my phone and cable/internet service.

**shoiji** · 05-29-2008, 01:03 PM

I am on a budget plan. The first year here was horrible since I never knew how much my gas and electric would be. It took a year before I could get on a budget plan. They evaluate twice a year. For me it never has changed over the couple years since I try really hard now to be careful about usage. Last year at the end of the plan year I got a $100 credit to my account. Seems I used less than they projected for me. For me it helps with the budget to know how much each month the utility bill will be.

**Palooka** · 05-29-2008, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by Buc-O-Mama

I used regulated billing for our electric at one point years ago and was very dissappointed with it. It was based on prior usage and took a long time to come down while we were reducing our usage, if that makes any sense. They only refigure the average every so often and we didn't know that when we signed up.

Know what you mean about high bills though, last summer we saw more than one bill over 400$. It was tempting to make an arrangement like that, but we decided that we could cut our usage and lower it ourselves. I'm glad we did, because we are seeing our effort pay off right now. Plus, the really low bills of cooler months is a nice treat for us.

As far as using a billing program for gas goes, I wouldn't know. We use natural gas for heat, cooking and our hot water heater and our highest bill of the year is about 80$.

See this is something I would be afraid of. The last 2 summers are electric bill was so high. I would be afraid that they would average it high for a long time.

Maybe this year I will try to cut back and just deal. I think our highest was around 350.00. We put in new windows, just lacking a couple so maybe that will help.

I'm happy keeping the gas on this plan.

**Drgnfly423** · 05-29-2008, 11:50 PM

I'm not even sure if they offer this here in Oregon...I might check into it and see if it would be worth it to us. Our gas bill actually goes down in summer and really high in winter.

Electric is the opposite, but it's still not as drastic a change as the gas bill.

**favesis37** · 05-30-2008, 07:21 AM

i don't, we are all electric, and i pay them 200.00 a month, the budget is 199.00, so i give them an extra dollar

**staciah** · 05-30-2008, 08:10 AM

Budgeting is the way to go. We are on a budget plan with our Elec & Gas. It is $159 per month. It has gone down in the last 2 yrs because of the energy saving light builbs, and the insulating we have put in. We have never gone over at the end of the year. Actually they have had to pay us back 2 yrs in a row.