What the #$^*& is going on with my Gas bills

[polarmystery]

Greetings,

I live in Baltimore in an apartment complex and I have been tracking my bills (mainly gas services) over the course of about 7 months. I never change the thermostat, typically cook my food on sundays for the week, and have hardly any appliances in my apartment yet, my rate has fluxuated wildly without any explanation. I asked my apartment manager what happened on the month were the rate went up more than 12x than the previous month costing me $200 instead of $6 from the previous month. She provided no explanation and just told me to pay $120 less. But tracking the actual rates of gas usage, it seems bizarre. Any insight on the issue?

Edit: most of the other bills are the same, it is only the gas units and cost rate that changes. I'm mainly confused by how I can use less gas but get charged more for it (see the last two months bills)

 

[bignateyk]

Rates go up in the winter time? If you never change your thermostat you are going to use alot more gas in the winter if gas is your heating fuel source.

My gas company also only does an actual meter reading every other month. So some months their estimate is way off and the next month I will have a huge bill.

Though looking at it, your initial rates seem way too low, so your higher rates are probably what you should be expecting. I pay about $400/month to heat my house with gas in the winter months.

edit: and what is their definition of "unit". Most gas companies use ccf, but they are usually on the order of $.70/ccf

 

[drebo]

NWP are a bunch of ripoff motherfuckers.

That said, yeah, gas gets more expensive in the winter time.

My gas bill this winter averaged $80/mo or so.

 

[bignateyk]

These are my rates for the last few years:

http://www.puco.ohio.gov/emplibrary/files/NgA2A/Archive/Historical%20Pricing_Columbia.pdf

But those are in ccf, not whatever "units" your bill is in. Really have no idea why there would be a 10 fold increase in your rate.

But like I said, the intial rate seems waaayyy too low. I can't explain why you got it though.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Lulz at the 548.6% price increase between November and December 2010...

 

[Pheran]

OK, I would be seriously asking WTF happened between February and March that the price per unit increased by a factor of 12! (As in went up 1100%!!) Comparing it to a gas station, it's like having to pay $1.20 per gallon one month and then $15.30 per gallon the next. Contact the gas company and ask what is going on.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

So they charge you for water, and then another charge for HOT water?


Ugh I hate apartments.. :thumbsdown:

 

[DCal430]

Those units are in Cubic Feet, to get CCF just divide by 100. They are charging you the going market rate + some extra. It changes each month because the going market rate changes each month.

 

[spacejamz]

Variable rate plan??? Average Billing???

 

[Pheran]

Those units are in Cubic Feet, to get CCF just divide by 100. They are charging you the going market rate + some extra. It changes each month because the going market rate changes each month.

By a factor of 12? I realize there is more demand in the winter months, but I'm not buying that for a minute.

 

[bignateyk]

By a factor of 12? I realize there is more demand in the winter months, but I'm not buying that for a minute.

Yeah that's way off, but the rate they were charging was way too low. There's no way the OP were getting gas at .06/ccf. Not sure how.. whether it was a mistake or what, but the rate the OP are getting now is more what the OP should be expecting.

 

[sdifox]

0.33413879 cent per cubic feet (11.81c/m3 is what we get charged) is our rate, on top of that we have delivery charge.

We are on equal billing though.

 

[polarmystery]

By a factor of 12? I realize there is more demand in the winter months, but I'm not buying that for a minute.

Yeah the 12x factor increase is when I finally went to my apartment complex manager and asked WTF? Their response: "Pay $120.00 less and it will be okay." So I did, and it's still this variable. I just really want to know what the F is going on. I expect to pay some amount for my gas, (The month where it was about $100 seems about right) but the way their rates change, it's scary to even hope that it it'll level out.

 

[ISAslot]

Are the rates tiered? 1k units, x amount, over 2k units y amount etc?

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Greetings,

I live in Baltimore

I'm sorry.

 

[polarmystery]

Are the rates tiered? 1k units, x amount, over 2k units y amount etc?

I have no clue, but from what I can tell they aren't. In the last two months, I used less from the previous month than the last, but ended up paying more so I don't think it's linear like that at all.

I'm sorry.

Yes, I know

 

[Occ]

In my apartment complex, the gas monitor thingie was broken, so they split the total cost of gas usage evenly among all residents in the building for a couple months. Then they added a little line on the back of the bill saying they fixed it and "sorry for the inconvenience."