We have gas heating in our home. In the summer our gas bill is usually around $10. In the wiinter about $150 if it gets cold. A few months ago, the bill was about $17 and they just billed us about $10. I had just switched to have it automatically billed to a credit card. So I thought it must have sent in a check for two much the previous month. The next month the same thing happened. This month the bill is $158.69 and they just billed us for $73! There is absolutely no information on why there is a descrepency. Dare I call and ask why?
@Malia
one line says total charges = $158.69 and the next says amount due = $73 with no explanation at all.
And no, we are not on an average billing or budget plan.
Will call them tomorrow.
Are you sure they didn't put you on the budget plan so that you pay the same amount every month even though in the winter months you use more?
Call and ask because when they figure it out, and they will, they will without warning send you a bill for everything you owe and have no sympathy for your ability to pay because you should have known and in your case did know.
I had one of my checks misapplied to my ex in laws account. Since I had it on auto pay this happened for two months when I noticed. When they credited it to my account they zapped it from their account so they ended up owing some 300 more than usual, well more since they kept getting these credit balances.
Have you actually looked at the bill itself, or just the charges on the card?
It could be that there is some form of a "Capital Credit" that is being returned to you... here in Texas, we have Pedernales Electric Cooperative for electricity, and every year, in December, they usually credit us about $30 as the "capital credit" refund.... that is a way of refunding the members a portion of the profits.
I would call....the last thing you want is to find out you owe a big chunk, right?
Yes, you need to call them and figure this out. I suspect you have been enrolled in an "average" billing program.
YES!! CALL!!! Do you really want a past due notice? Do you want a shut off notice? I don't think so.
Call them and ask what is going on and get it in writing...so you have recourse should things go south...
I would give them the $158.69 to ensure I'm not behind in case they have misapplied your payment(s). That has happened in several instances - that happened with our water bill YEARS ago...THEY transposed numbers - sent cut off notices to the WRONG address - all the while taking money from our account....when we printed out our drafting notices from them THAT DAY - they had our water back on within an hour with apologies.
Get it straightened out NOW.
Check your bills to determine the cubic ft used. They might have had problems with reading the bill for a couple of months and just charged you. That happend to my parents water bill. The meter was so covered with dirt, they just billed them the same amount every month.
I would ask...I put new windows and more insulation in the attic and my 1400 sq ft home the bill was 69$ for the coldest month.
You say it is being automatically billed to a credit card. What are the charges on your credit card? Are they charging your card the full amount and just asking you for a minimum payment and you will have to pay interest on the balance? I would check into it, so that you don't end up with a big surprise later.
You should call asap! The sooner you figure this out the better, you do not want to end up in a situation where you owe so much that you cant even afford then. Using automatic bill payment is a good thing though I always recommend people use an automatic bill payment http://www.avidxchange.com/page/automatic-payment service, that keeps track of things like these and pays the bill on your behalf after due checks.
Yes call and ask.
We have Atmos and my bill fluctuates. In the summer it might be $25 because I have gas heat and gas water heaters.
In the winter, it has been as high as $300 but we do use the gas fireplace a lot on very cold days and we know that gets pricey and we expect the bill.
We don't do averaging on any bill..... even when my water bill from Allen was $700 once this summer. I prefer to get a bill and check it first and then promptly pay it vs give the control to the utility or any other company.
