How much will your heating bill be next month?

IrishEyes

IrishEyes

Sharon
Location
Midwest
My electric co. sent me a prediction notice that they predict my
bill will be $100 over the bill I just paid.
I know we used more but really, that much? I kept the temp the
same as last month.
Good thing the wind wasn't blowing hard or it would have been higher for sure.
 

Jeni said:
lucky so far that my area has been warmer then usual all winter and bill relatively flat so far this winter.
Click to expand...
Feb. is usually the worst month here, so I am hoping it came early and Feb. will be a bit warmer like they say
it will be. And Congrats to you! Glad someone is getting a break.
 

My utility provider always sends me a forecast much higher than I actually use.... for example.. last month they predicted I would use £160 for the month.. when in fact my bill was £77.... and it always hovers around that price, so I don't know what they use to make the predictions
 
Last edited:
My combined gas and electric bill for January will be around £300, which is about the highest it ever gets.

The supplier used to have me on a fixed tariff of £300 per month a couple of years ago, but then they sent me an email saying they were putting up the direct debit to £350 a month. So I rang them and asked them how much I was in credit in their records. The woman told me I was nearly £600 in credit, so I told her to put me on a variable billing system that only billed me for the energy I actually used. Since then my bills have been much lower, especially during the summer, and the money stays in my account rather than theirs until I pay the bill.

So my guess is that by paying for a fixed tariff the supplier must have made quite a profit out of me in the interest on the money they were taking out of my bank account over and above what was needed to service the actual debt.
 
I have propane heat and pay when they fill my tank which was last week, $700.25, I believe it was $2.64 a gallon. Typically I get propane about every eight months but since it is so cold this winter (-17' F this morning) I expect this to be an expensive year.

It doesn't matter what the cost is, I'm sure happy to have heat on a day like this!
 
They always over estimate what it turns out to be, but I expect it to be higher than last month, because of the recent winter storm. I've been supplementing with wood heat for the last two weeks, and that will have an effect, but I don't have a clue how much if at all. I don't know if they make those predictions by reading my meter, or if it's some mathematical algorithm based on weather.
 
The gas and electric companies do not ever send us a "prediction notice" on what our upcoming usage will be. We just find out when the bill arrives. I have gas heat and expect it to double or triple but there's nothing I can do to change that, so I'll just have to pay it. Until a week ago, we had higher than normal temperatures, and realized some savings on our gas bills, so the next will be higher, and it will average out in the long run.
 
BJintheUK said:
My combined gas and electric bill for January will be around £300, which is about the highest it ever gets.

The supplier used to have me on a fixed tariff of £300 per month a couple of years ago, but then they sent me an email saying they were putting up the direct debit to £350 a month. So I rang them and asked them how much I was in credit in their records. The woman told me I was nearly £600 in credit, so I told her to put me on a variable billing system that only billed me for the energy I actually used. Since then my bills have been much lower, especially during the summer, and the money stays in my account rather than theirs until I pay the bill.

So my guess is that by paying for a fixed tariff the supplier must have made quite a profit out of me in the interest on the money they were taking out of my bank account over and above what was needed to service the actual debt.
Click to expand...
£300?... jeez that would give me a heart attack.

I just had mine 2 days ago for January.. total bill elec and gas ( and I have Gas central heating )... was £160.. that's the highest it ever goes... . but it's usually under £100 for both for 9 months of the year
 
MACKTEXAS said:
The gas and electric companies do not ever send us a "prediction notice" on what our upcoming usage will be. We just find out when the bill arrives. I have gas heat and expect it to double or triple but there's nothing I can do to change that, so I'll just have to pay it. Until a week ago, we had higher than normal temperatures, and realized some savings on our gas bills, so the next will be higher, and it will average out in the long run.
Click to expand...
My electric company just started doing this about 3 or 4 months ago, and I was surprised when they did. It changes nothing and the estimated payment comes a couple of weeks or less before the actual payment notice. It seems like a week, but I haven't been counting. The last one came last week with an email heading "Unusually High Electrical Usage."

My first thought is they are softening the blow for when their next rate change takes effect. But then I opened it, and they were advertising their 12 month average payments plan, where you get the same amount every month (until you don't). So it's higher in the summer than usual, and lower in the winter. This doesn't help because it's not like I have to sell stocks in the winter to pay my bill.

In summation, I don't know what they are doing or why. It's just one more useless email out of two dozen I delete each day. But I'll never forget who's selling me electricity.
 
I pay for electric and gas on a budgeted monthly amount calculated from an annual estimate. Any difference more or less is balanced out on the last month of the billing year.

I usually get billed a much smaller amount on that last bill of the cycle.
 
JustDave said:
But then I opened it, and they were advertising their 12 month average payments plan, where you get the same amount every month (until you don't). So it's higher in the summer than usual, and lower in the winter. This doesn't help because it's not like I have to sell stocks in the winter to pay my bill.
Click to expand...
My provider offers an average payment plan, but I've never done that because I average my own utilities over a 12 month period and deduct that amount monthly from my checking account. And, I have a 2 year contract with my electric provider which keeps their charge per KWH the same, but the bill can still go up if Oncor (the State delivery service for electricity) increases their delivery charge. They always do that periodically, generally claiming the need is based on maintaining the electric grid, maintenance of power lines, etc.
 
My electric company emails me a weekly report (which includes an estimate of what the monthly bill will be). With this long stretch of super cold weather I used 61% more electricity week over week. The aux heat has been turning on a lot (feels so good!).
But, their estimate for the month is only 8% more than last month, so either they expect much warmer weather to show up or they have a strange formula for the estimate. I'm anticipating at least 30% higher for the monthly bill.
 
I just received the gas bill, which includes heat, hot water, dryer and range. My final bill was $115.00. It may be $10 higher this month.
We have Columbia Gas Company. The majority of our natural gas comes from Ohio.

Eight years ago, I bought 12 acres of land in southern Ohio. A friend told me the area was known for having gas. About a years after I bought it, I had a geologist do a survey on my land and the statement I received stated that my acreage had gas under it, but probably over 8000 feet. They also list that it’s their findings that oil is also likely on that acreage. The testing took almost 8 months.

ConocoPhillips contacted me and made me an offer to buy my mineral rights. I know nothing about doing this, so I had to hire an attorney, who is also an oil and gas broker at $600 an hour. I requested he forget the hourly rate and just include a contract price to settle. After spending over $3500, I decided to stop the negotiations and keep the land natural. My wife and I agreed that we won’t dig, but will pass the land off to our children and they can do whatever with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top