My bill this month was ~$330.

It's 3 times what it normally is.

I read the meter and it matches what's on the bill, but I shouldn't be using 3x the amount of gas.

I could understand if I kept the house at 77degF all the time, but dang man.

Is it even possible that the gas meter is broken?

1/8/2009 3:03:40 PM

mine seemed unusually high as well.

haven't looked into it in detail yet, so i can't draw any conclusions.

1/8/2009 3:05:22 PM

I hope you're not a smoker

1/8/2009 3:11:54 PM

thats crazy expensive

1/8/2009 3:12:49 PM

Quote :

"N.C. natural gas customers paying lower rates Posted: Jan. 1, 2009 RALEIGH, N.C. — Hundreds of thousands of North Carolina natural gas customers are paying lower rates. The state's two largest gas utilities began offering gas at reduced rates Thursday. PSNC Energy has cut rates by 14 percent while Piedmont Natural Gas Co. has reduced rates by 6.6 percent. The North Carolina Utilities Commission approved the changes on Dec. 23, and the decrease reflects a continuing decline in the wholesale price of natural gas. The two companies each serve hundreds of thousands of customers across the state."

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/4227592/

1/8/2009 3:13:07 PM

my gas bill in the winter is usually about $80-100 and my power bill in the winter is usually around $30. But thats because my heat, fireplace, and water heater are all gas.

1/8/2009 3:15:04 PM

My gas bill was ridiculously high this month too...

1/8/2009 3:16:18 PM

Ukraine steals your gas.

1/8/2009 3:18:31 PM

The period that the bill covers was that unusually cold snap we had...even if you keep your heat on 62, it had to work OT since we were below 45 during the day and below 20 at night for an extended stretch.

[Edited on January 8, 2009 at 3:50 PM. Reason : oh....I mean...QUIT RIPPING US OFF PSNC!!! ]

1/8/2009 3:30:22 PM

^^ UKRAINE NOT WEAK THIEF!!!

1/8/2009 3:33:32 PM

^^I will ignore your logic and say that everyone is being ripped off

1/8/2009 3:34:53 PM

^ same here. wlb420, how DARE you use logic.

[Edited on January 8, 2009 at 3:44 PM. Reason : d]

1/8/2009 3:44:06 PM

It was also incredibly windy during that stretch as well.

1/8/2009 3:47:24 PM

We did have one of the coolest Novembers on record but it should have been offset by a rather warmer than average december

1/8/2009 6:14:32 PM

good god man. Mine hasn't broken $100 yet, and I have lived here almost a year. I have the heat and water heater on it.

1/8/2009 6:17:07 PM

Our heat and water heater are also powered by natural gas (to the best of my knowledge, at lest). Our bill from 11/14-12/16 was $52.70, including the $10 flat service fee that PSNC charges. That has been our highest bill so far, usually they are less.

Electric bill for a comparable period was $37.

Unfortunately our water bill tends to be the high one, in the $60-$70 range most of the time.

[Edited on January 8, 2009 at 6:36 PM. Reason : ]

1/8/2009 6:35:48 PM

SHIT! THIS THREAD JINXED ME

I just checked the mail and my gas bill was in there. $137.

^ damn dude, my water bill is usually like $25, and I have a roommate

[Edited on January 8, 2009 at 6:38 PM. Reason : a]

1/8/2009 6:37:56 PM

3x higher here, too... but the new roommate sets it on 70 when we aren't looking

Somehow water bill spiked to $90, too. And we actually have less people here full time.

1/8/2009 9:26:18 PM

water bill was the lowest waterbill i've had thus far...30.55 for 2 months

dreading getting my electric bill....last one was 81...hoping for about 65 on this one

1/8/2009 9:27:42 PM

When you guys say "water bill" are you including your sewer bill in that number as well?

1/8/2009 9:56:49 PM

We have a 2400sf house. It was unusually cold last month and ours was about 130 for heating and water....our electric was about 28.....

1/8/2009 10:26:26 PM

Ours was only $70ish, only about $30 more than the month before and we've had our heat on 70/71.

1/8/2009 10:30:04 PM

WTF, my is double what it usually is

1/9/2009 12:16:39 AM

I remember one month about two years ago I got a $220 gas bill and paid it.

When the next gas bill came, it said I had a $195 credit. I still have no idea what that was about.

1/9/2009 8:19:39 AM

i have a hard time believing that the bill would be 3x as high. when i received my last bill it included the cold stretch in november as i'm sure it probably did for those who are above. with an unusually warm december i can't fathom how anyone would have a 3x high bill seeing as how they wouldn't have had to use the heat for 1/3 of that month. (we had 11 days 60 or higher and 5 of those were 70 or higher). something seems afoot. I haven't received my bill yet, but most likely will today. i'm quite curious.

so i just went online

Quote :

" Energy Analyzer Print [Download Data] - Overview Jan 2008 Jan 2009 Actual % Number of Billing Days [Number of days in billing period.] 30 32 2 7% Gas Cost $81.79 $86.16 $4.37 5% Avg Cost Per Day $2.73 $2.69 -$0.04 -1% Avg Local Temp 49° 47° -2° -4% # of Days Below 30] 6 12 6 100% "

The actual and % are the actual change and the % change. The bill cycle was for 12/01 to 1/02. I don't get how it was such a cold average december. I just checked again and did the days below and switched it to 60 and then 50 and according to their data everyday was below 60 and only 4 days were above 50, which i don't believe at all.

see http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/27605?month=-1




[Edited on January 9, 2009 at 9:41 AM. Reason : MADOFF]

1/9/2009 9:23:07 AM

the game is afoot.

Normal Gas bill in cold weather months, ~$100.

Current Gas bill $330. over 200 therms used. I would have had to set the up and downstairs thermostats to 75-77 all day for a little over a month to use all that gas.

the gas company dude came by to recheck the meter, as it's outsourced and he said it was right.

gotta see if there is a leak upstairs.

[Edited on January 9, 2009 at 12:23 PM. Reason : d]

1/9/2009 12:18:56 PM

^Interestingly enough we have almost the exact issue. Gas bill has been about 120. Last month it was $335.

PSNC says the numbers are right and we don't have a leak.

1/9/2009 2:29:16 PM

why would so many people have abnormally high gas bills, it just doesn't make sense to me.

1/9/2009 3:13:45 PM

After further review, i don't think mine is particularly abnormal. This is my first winter in this house, and given the difference in square feet, it's actually a little better than my old house.

01/08/2009 $254.29
12/05/2008 $220.96
11/05/2008 $97.59

1/9/2009 3:22:33 PM

my bill was $205 in november so my wife and I decided to cut back on the heating.

we stuck it on 70 all day all night (we WERE pushing 72ish on whichever floor we're hanging out on) and the december bill came in for $210

I use PSNC

2500 sqft, living room ceiling goes all the way to the 2nd floor ceiling (not sure what you call that feature ), double pane windows all over, built in 2004


[Edited on January 9, 2009 at 7:53 PM. Reason : ]

1/9/2009 7:50:57 PM

You guys need to learn to throw on a coat. Electric blankets are nice as well to help warm up the bed, and if you have a few fleece blankets on the top it will stay warm most of the night.

[Edited on January 9, 2009 at 8:12 PM. Reason : ]

1/9/2009 8:06:28 PM

we keep our house at 55 lol just wear a coat and its not bad at all. our bill was only 40 bucks for last month.

1/9/2009 8:15:34 PM

We haven't really changed our habits for natural gas usage in the winter other than turning the heat on for 5-10 minutes every now and then. I think the real issue is that our water heater is outside (but still in a "room" on the porch) so it is taking more energy to heat the water.

We keep our apartment in the mid 60s. We can't really get it much lower than that unless we open the doors and windows.

1/9/2009 8:23:19 PM

We use to keep the house at 72, but I finally convinced my wife that it was too fucking hot and changed it to 70. I got the bill a couple of days ago thinking it was going to be lower. The damn thing was still high. $342.

1/9/2009 8:28:03 PM

Gas bill is 101$

1/9/2009 10:25:26 PM

At least you're not in the Ukraine. Then your gas bill would be $0.

1/9/2009 11:00:23 PM

ours was way higher this past month also, but we figured out the furnace wasn't completely burning all of the gas, leading to a strong gas smell outside and in the garage. new furnace now so hopefully no more gas smell and lower bills...

1/10/2009 3:26:21 PM

mine doubled for november

i had to doublecheck to make sure i had paid the previous month's bill because i was so shocked

1/10/2009 4:40:23 PM

My bill was also a lot higher than the previous month. What the fuck?

1/10/2009 5:54:12 PM

how does one have a $343 gas bill?

do you have a 4000sq ft+ house?

1/10/2009 11:36:33 PM

older buildings = shitty insulation.

1/11/2009 12:30:36 AM

our bills also around 300 for this month, even though our avg is <100$ shit is a scam man

1/12/2009 8:48:13 AM

If your bill is tripled, check the following:

-Gas leaks, do you smell gas anywhere in the house or crawlspace?
-Duct leaks, if a heating duct has broken, a lot of your heat could be vented to your crawlspace.
-Water leaks, the number one cause of high gas bills is due to a hot water leak if you have a gas hot water heater. Check your water bill for excessive usage as well.

1/12/2009 9:29:16 AM

on a related note, my electric bill was only $40 this month. so I guess it evens out

1/12/2009 9:42:32 AM

Our bill will come in within a week or so, will report back then...


Perhaps I should be upset, our bills have been in the mid 30s for awhile and then jumped up to $52 for the last one. Damn!

1/12/2009 1:48:48 PM

This is the first winter in our house (built in 1980, single pane windows) and our gas bill was like $180, which I thought was ridiculous. I guess it could have been worse but we have a programable thermostat and it is set at 66 on average. We are going to start replacing the windows this year and I hope that I see a big reduction in the gas bill in the winter and AC bill in the summer.

1/12/2009 9:59:40 PM

what sq ft / age houses do the people with the $300+ gas bill have?

1/12/2009 10:31:39 PM

^I don't think size is the problem.

To many people can't live in a house that isn't 75 degrees or higher.

1/13/2009 6:46:07 AM

^, ^^ my experience with that pain was in a 3000 sq ft house in northwestern WA. the house was on top of a hill overlooking the Puget sound, so the back side of the house was about half glass, and it was about a 30 year old house, so I don't think the insulation was that great. it was a sweet house, but the heating bills were brutal. I had 2 roommates there, and just my share of bills every month was around $200. We also (very much against my minority vote) kept it pretty cool in there...like 68 degrees.

^ man, I think the "keep your thermostat lower to save money" idea is ridiculous. I like to keep my thermostat at whatever temperature I want. What's the price difference? Maybe 50 cents per day? If I couldn't afford that to have my house whatever temperature I wanted, I'm pretty sure I'd tighten up my budget somewhere else. I mean, I'm really very frugal with money in a lot of ways, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

[Edited on January 13, 2009 at 11:33 AM. Reason : asdfasd]

[Edited on January 13, 2009 at 11:34 AM. Reason : asdf]

1/13/2009 11:30:59 AM

I'm glad I got electric instead of natural gas as my heat source, my 2200 sq ft home's bill was about $200 last month.

1/13/2009 11:45:15 AM