Natural Gas (Meter Reading 101)

[Guest]

Guy,
I was just joking about the long hot steaming showers for the most part.
I'm going to have them come back out and read the meter again...
I just took a look at the statement from the month before...
I didn't even go over the baseline limits the month before and I wasn't cutting back then either...
Total NG charges for the that month $22.70
Something is not right here...

[gailkaitschuck]

Dean

Your gas company may be like mine (and Georgia Power electric). They tell you they read the meters every month but in truth, they don't.

One cold (well, cold for Georgia) January I got one heck of a whopping bill from Atlanta Gas. Called them up, heard all the excuses on how it was a cold month. Didn't believe me when I told them I kept the heat down so low that the cat had isicles on her whiskers and the dog never left the warmth of the bed to go outside and do her business.

Next month I got a bill that showed I owed 0 dollars. And the month after that. They "estimated" that January bill. Way off.

Same with Georgia Power. Two months ago got one shocker of a bill. Called them up; same excuse (a warm fall, lots of air conditioning used, etc. etc.). Essentially it was "tough nuts, you owe this". This month the bill showed I owed exactly....zero. Had a credit. And for next month too.

Hopefully this is what you are going through.

Gail

[Guest]

False Alarm!

I went out and read the meter myself and noticed they made a 100 therm mistake...
Called them and my adjusted and corrected amount for last month's NG is $26.16.
Maybe I should go take a nice long hot shower, just to celebrate.

I feel a bit silly here about leading everyone on a wild goose chase, but if not for the fact that I took cutback measures last month, (With some kind advice from the TDN...) I probabably would have just paid the bill and not even questioned it with the onset of winter coming.
Just goes to show that it's a good idea to look at the bills more closely...
Thanks TDN!

[alaska teardrop]

Dean - Ah.... to have Natural Gas! So close-yet so far. Fred

[asianflava]

Dean: Maybe that avitar is doing something to your brain?

[WarPony]

I encountered the same thing last year some of you did. I was real happy to have $150 gas bills in the winter and then get a $400 one in March!! I called and they give me the ol' "We must have estimated" line!! Now my gas company has to raise the rates to pay for the money our old President and CEO of Westar Energy pissed away. They got caught and are spending, I think 25 years, in Leavenworth. Not enough time, as far as I'm concerned !!!

Anyway, now that I'm not as pissed, what brand of the on demand water heaters did some of you use? That seems like something I could get in to. I'm going to look into these tomorrow.

[Rob]

Here's a list of websites I accessed. I have a Takagi and am happy with it. No financial interest in the company, just my personal opinion.
Bosch - http://www.astravan.com/
List of sites - http://www.tankless-waterheater.com/
Home Buyer First - http://homebuyerfirst.com/info_tips/tip_waterheater.htm
Patterson Sales - http://pattersonsales.com/
Supreme - http://www.waterheater.net/products.html
Takagi - http://www.takagi.com/index.asp
Plumbing supply - http://www.plumbingsupply.com/instant.html
Seisco - http://www.seisco.net/

Rob

[bledsoe3]

Rob, Thanks for the links! When I had my house built two years ago I had dual gas hot water heaters installed. It sounded like a good idea at the time. With two daughters and a wife I figured I could still use the whirlpool tub with hot water. Now I'm afraid to use it. I better get one of those on demand water heaters. Another thing to think about is a programable theromstat. I just put one in and it should help a lot.

[TonyCooper]

We have two programable thermostats, one for upstairs and one for down. They save us about $30 / month. They cost us about $60 each.