last month and current month usage is the same...the only difference is the bill went from $52 to $195. im currently with centerpoint energy, did anyone else gas bill quadruple?? im not sure if this is an error or not...im going to call and ask tomorrow.
ya, my gf's bill with her roommate was $157 from $68 in Dec. absolute ludacris, I believe they are with TX Energy.
My gas bill was higher than last month, but my energy bill was lower. I think it's just the cold weather.
I should get my gas bill today or tomorrow and I am expecting it to be high as hell. My E/W (electric and water) bill rose $20 from last month.
here's some useful advice: if you smell gas, shut off your gas and call a plumber, do NOT call your gas company. if they find the leak is coming from your house, they will automatically take your meter. this will cause you major headaches and lots of money. instead call your plumber to come have a look at it. my mom called the gas company, they took the meter. now she's been w/o gas a couple of months b/c she has to get EVERYTHING up to code before they will bring the meter back out. if she'd call the plumber first, they could have fixed teh leak and it would have been the end of it. so far, that mistake has cost my mom (and me since i'm trying to help out) a total of $1700 when it could have only been $300.
Yea, my gas bill has been creeping up, too. A good friend of mine who is a real estate investor mentioned to me the other day that the price of gas just went up 50%, and as a result, he was spending 12k to replace the gas boiler at his apt complex with an electric boiler. He said it was going to save him money in his first month. Kind of worrying considering that gas has been touted as a cheaper alternative to electric. That said, if your bill quadrupled, you should probably get the gas company out there to check your lines.
It may be cheaper for him in the short term, but over the long haul, I think he'll be paying more. As for residential homes, having a gas water heater, dryer, and oven is definitely cheaper than if all those appliances were electric. Once spring comes around, gas prices will start to go down again. We've also had one of the warmest winters I can ever remember. I don't think I've run my furnace more than a couple days at a time this winter.
Why is the gas bill so high in Houston? I thought it was a warm place? I had 160 last time but I live in the cold midwest.
Lots of reasons... people being used to using lots of hot water, houses that aren't well insulated and let too much heat out, etc. But the main reason is the price of gas... no way around that. It either factors into your gas bill or (if you run all electric to heat/cool) into your electricity bill.
In the five years I have lived in my house I have only seen a meter reader once. I don't think they ever read my meter? If I cut down on power/gas do they even know? I think they just send out bills for whatever they want.
Three words - ninja meter readers We have two dogs that prevent the meter reader from coming out, so the gas company sends a card out to my house that I fill out myself. I just mark where the readings are and pop it into the mailbox, postage paid. It's really easy. I don't know what the heck the little dials mean anyways, so it's not like I can cheat the gas company and write down a false reading, either. You figure that the gas company would have designed a computerized system that automatically reads the meters by now, to save the hassle and labor costs of meter readers....
If you smell gas, go to where the gas smells the strongest and light a match. That should fix ALL your problems.
