How does enrolling in the budget plan for gas really help?

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Flying Omelette	How does enrolling in the budget plan for gas really help?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 20935 (08/28/09 11:53 PM) But you had to have the BIIIIIG salad! Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None I can't really figure this out at all. From everything I've read, it's not like you can enroll for a budget price of $60 a month, and then go hogwild and actually use like $200 the next month, because you'll get billed for that overage. In doing research on this, it seems like almost everybody recommends enrolling in the budget plan. The main reasons are because they know what they'll have to pay each month and because if they use less than what they pay for by the end of the year, they may get a month or two where they don't have to pay anything. But some people have said they still ended up owing money at the end of the year. So, is it just, in reality, redistributing your payments or is there something I'm missing? www.flyingomelette.com
CLOUDBOND007		#1	[-]
Posts: 12369 (08/29/09 7:35 AM) Lunitari Mage Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	It's just so you don't get sticker shock from huge bills in the winter. It's probably overrated, but it makes it easier to know what your total monthly expenses will be. You're paying far more than you'll need to in the summer and that money goes toward what would be the extremely high winter bills. There seems to be a glitch in the system with ours right now. It could be because we went under budget for a while and then accidentally overpaid on top of that. They owed us money for a long time, a very long time. But it's basically telling me I still don't HAVE to pay every month, but I'm positive they don't owe me any more money at this point, and even at the bottom it says my balance is now $200.00. When they owed US, that amount was a negative number. CB007's Review & GPT Archive After 2000 years, I will be forgotten, and the Time-Loop will close. I will live forever, and you shall meet your doom!!
Crawl and 1OOO		#2	[-]
Posts: 15626 (08/29/09 9:06 AM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I thought gas heat was supposed to be less expensive than electric, but it doesn't seem that way. We had electric heat and A/C (obviously) at the last place, and our electric bills were consistently about $100/month. I'm guessing if we did not use the budget plan, our gas bills in the winter would be something like $300/month, or more. Holy shit. Plus we'd still have an electric bill. One thing we haven't been researching at all, but maybe we should, is if it'd be better to have an electric heater than a gas furnace.
Flying Omelette		#3	[-]
Posts: 20935 (08/29/09 9:39 AM) But you had to have the BIIIIIG salad! Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Plus we'd still have an electric bill. Well, the electric bill should theoretically go down since we won't be running the air conditioner. We had electric heat and A/C (obviously) at the last place, and our electric bills were consistently about $100/month. It was smaller than this place. Once the weather gets cooler, we need to seriously consider cleaning out and insulating the attic. And getting that outer upstairs door replaced (or covered over with plastic at the very least). I'm guessing if we did not use the budget plan, our gas bills in the winter would be something like $300/month, or more. Holy shit. Maybe, but it also depends on how much we use it. You're the one who likes to blast the heat all the time. I'm fine with using blankets. One thing we haven't been researching at all, but maybe we should, is if it'd be better to have an electric heater than a gas furnace. I remember CB007 saying that electric heat usually costs more, but I haven't done any research on it outside of that. Since my mother is paying for the furnace anyway, we could still go with the idea of getting a couple more space heaters to save on the gas bill. Using clotheslines instead of the dryer is also helping us save, and we could just continue to do that (although once we get the dryer problem fixed, I might need to run my work clothes through it once in awhile to get rid of the lint and cat hair. I'm fine with using a lint roller for my street clothes, but the bits of lint and cat hair that it misses on my work clothes stand out a lot more.) www.flyingomelette.com Last Edited By: Flying Omelette 08/29/09 9:43 AM. Edited 1 times.
Crawl and 1OOO		#4	[-]
Posts: 15626 (08/29/09 9:54 AM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	We might be able to use the lines in the summer, but in the winter I doubt it'll work. The clothes might not dry at all. Maybe, but it also depends on how much we use it. You're the one who likes to blast the heat all the time. I'm fine with using blankets. The budget is based on the previous tenants usage. The gas company obviously doesn't know how much I run the heater. Have you seen the historical usage on the bill? It leaps like 10 times up during the winter months. Let me see if I got this right. If you have a 100% efficient furnace, it's not like you'd get heat for free; it's just that for everything you pay, it all goes to heating. Your bill is as low as it can be. So, if you have a 50% efficient furnace, only half of what you're paying actually goes to heat. So, you're really paying twice as much as you should. So, if you went from a 50% furnace (which might be what we have now) to a high efficiency one, you'd save twice as much in the winter. So, the unbudgeted price would go from $300/month to maybe $150 a month. Which is a little more reasonable. "Of the three ways in which men think that they acquire a knowledge of things--authority, reasoning, and experience--only the last is effective and able to bring peace to the intellect." -Roger Bacon
Flying Omelette		#5	[-]
Posts: 20935 (08/29/09 12:20 PM) But you had to have the BIIIIIG salad! Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The budget is based on the previous tenants usage. The gas company obviously doesn't know how much I run the heater. Have you seen the historical usage on the bill? It leaps like 10 times up during the winter months. I KNOW that, but what I'm saying is that whether or not the gas company ends up owing us, we end up owing them, or we break even at the end of the year depends on how much we use the furnace, and that's usually dependent upon you since you use it more than me. www.flyingomelette.com
CLOUDBOND007		#6	[-]
Posts: 12369 (08/29/09 3:46 PM) Lunitari Mage Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Maybe newer electric heaters are much more efficient, but like I said, we turned ours on when the gas furnace needed repair, and the electric bill was insane. It would have been WAY over $300 for heat if we had to use it the whole month, and this place isn't that big, nor do we keep the temperature very high. I think our highest bill in January or February is around $200. In summer, even with the stove and dryer, it's about 20 bucks a month. That makes sense with what Crawl said about it being 10 times higher. That can be lower, though. As you might recall from that other thread, I do ludicrous and probably unhealthy things with the temperature when I'm in the mood to save money and fight the gas company. Like keeping the heat at 45 degrees at night and 55 to 60 in the day sometimes. This year, fan-heaters will be a bigger part of the overall plan. And layering. After 6 months or a year, they'll probably readjust your monthly budget to compensate for how you differ from the previous owner. CB007's Review & GPT Archive After 2000 years, I will be forgotten, and the Time-Loop will close. I will live forever, and you shall meet your doom!! Last Edited By: CLOUDBOND007 08/29/09 3:50 PM. Edited 2 times.
CLOUDBOND007		#7	[-]
Posts: 12369 (09/18/09 8:47 AM) Lunitari Mage Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Yay! One more winter of sweet, sweet life. CB007's Review & GPT Archive "My name is Ultima... I am power both ancient and unrivaled... I do not bleed, for I am but strength given form... Feeble creatures of flesh... Your time is nigh!"
Flying Omelette		#8	[-]
Posts: 20935 (09/26/09 10:54 AM) But you had to have the BIIIIIG salad! Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Uh...I'm gonna have to pull my old gas bill stubs, but I was pretty sure it said that once you pay the budget amount, you only have to pay that amount every month. So I paid the $66 budget amount last month, and this month it says I have to pay $71, and I'm on a fixed rate. Is that normal? Because if the budget amount is just going to keep going up and up and up every month, then REALLY what's the point? I could have just paid the actual amount and saved about $40. www.flyingomelette.com
CLOUDBOND007		#9	[-]
Posts: 12369 (09/26/09 2:37 PM) Lunitari Mage Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Is that normal? No. Ours only changes occasionally based on long term changes in our pattern of use (such as when my dad passed away and we didn't run the heat as much) or maybe if there's a big change in the price of gas. CB007's Review & GPT Archive "My name is Ultima... I am power both ancient and unrivaled... I do not bleed, for I am but strength given form... Feeble creatures of flesh... Your time is nigh!"
Flying Omelette		#10	[-]
Posts: 20935 (09/26/09 3:20 PM) But you had to have the BIIIIIG salad! Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	If it goes up again next month, I'm gonna have to call them. Maybe there was some reason it was adjusted that I'm not seeing. Maybe we used a little more than they estimated, although I don't see how since I still haven't used the dryer or the furnace. www.flyingomelette.com

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How does enrolling in the budget plan for gas really help?

How does enrolling in the budget plan for gas really help?

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