Gas bill skyrocketed! Can this be right?

[cjchaps]

My girlfriend moved into a Chicago apartment in Sept. She has gas everything(water,stove,oven,central air), and her bill from sept 15 to oct 10th was $25. She lives on the top floor of a house that was converted into an apartment. She has her own central air unit on the back porch, and her gas is separate from the other tenets. Her bill from Oct 11th to Nov 15th is $75. During the time from Oct to Nov she was gone for an entire week in which she didn't use the heat at all. She also keeps the heat turned off totally during the day, and only used it at night. Nov wasn't very cold her, and some of those days she never used the heat at night. We are trying to figure out how the bill could jump from $50 for a single person who is only has the heat turned on the weekends and nights... Any thoughts?

 

[kranky]

Is it possible that the first bill was estimated (not from an actual meter reading), and the second bill wasn't? Some places only read the meter every second month.

 

[vi edit]

Make sure they are reading the right meter and charging you for the right meter:|

Had that happen to us. City took the wrong water reading for us a couple times when we lived in a condo. We normally had a $30 water bill. Every now and then we'd get one for $50 +. The city was charging us for the neighbor who had 4 people living in the apartment.