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Old 01-21-2009, 11:13 AM
 
Location: El Paso
430 posts, read 1,333,729 times
Reputation: 387

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Hello. I have a question and was wondering what you all thought. I just moved from a two story house where my gas bill was never over $30.00 during the winter to a one-story house that is about 1/2 a mile away in the same neighborhood and my gas bill is $135 this month. Here's the thing: My thermostat is set at 55. I can't get it any lower because it is one of those that you turn the dial on. I don't cook and my water heater is set at average level. My dryer is electric. And no...I never raise the temp in the house. I had the Gas Company come out and they found a leak in the pipe but it was before the register so the tech said that couldn't be the cause. My parents who live right around the corner actually use their heater all the time and their bill was only $80. Plus my mom cooks alot with a gas stove. I can't afford to turn my heat on but now it seems that I can't afford to have it set at 55 either. I requested a High Bill Investigation. What do you think could be happening here? I may have to just turn off the furnace completely but for some reason I'm not sure that will help all that much since the heater doesn't come on all that much.
BTW- it's a rental house so I'm not sure how much I can do to fix it or what will be the landlord's responsibilty if any.
Thanks for any suggestions.
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Old 01-21-2009, 07:47 PM
 
13,134 posts, read 40,500,902 times
Reputation: 12303
Did they charge you a hookup fee which can run around $70.00 dollars.
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Old 01-21-2009, 07:55 PM
 
Location: Glory Road - El Paso, Texas (R.O)
2,619 posts, read 6,107,412 times
Reputation: 1846
Also, did you get two month's bill on your first statement? One of my utilities did that.
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Old 01-21-2009, 08:38 PM
 
4,246 posts, read 11,976,724 times
Reputation: 3150
Sounds like a hookup fee. But man, you keep your thermo at 55?
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Old 01-21-2009, 09:03 PM
 
Location: Glory Road - El Paso, Texas (R.O)
2,619 posts, read 6,107,412 times
Reputation: 1846
LOL and friends give me a hard time for setting mine at 62 degrees.
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Old 01-21-2009, 10:03 PM
 
47,525 posts, read 69,421,472 times
Reputation: 22471
Quote:
Originally Posted by alucard View Post
Hello. I have a question and was wondering what you all thought. I just moved from a two story house where my gas bill was never over $30.00 during the winter to a one-story house that is about 1/2 a mile away in the same neighborhood and my gas bill is $135 this month. Here's the thing: My thermostat is set at 55. I can't get it any lower because it is one of those that you turn the dial on. I don't cook and my water heater is set at average level. My dryer is electric. And no...I never raise the temp in the house. I had the Gas Company come out and they found a leak in the pipe but it was before the register so the tech said that couldn't be the cause. My parents who live right around the corner actually use their heater all the time and their bill was only $80. Plus my mom cooks alot with a gas stove. I can't afford to turn my heat on but now it seems that I can't afford to have it set at 55 either. I requested a High Bill Investigation. What do you think could be happening here? I may have to just turn off the furnace completely but for some reason I'm not sure that will help all that much since the heater doesn't come on all that much.
BTW- it's a rental house so I'm not sure how much I can do to fix it or what will be the landlord's responsibilty if any.
Thanks for any suggestions.
A two story house can be a lot more efficient to heat since you only have to heat the bottom half usually and that heat rises to heat the top half. One story houses are more spread out and everything is directly on the ground and that makes the rooms colder.

$135 seems very high though, I would investigate it because in this town, we almost don't need to heat at all, it's been a very mild winter so far. My heater didn't get turned on until right before Christmas.
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Old 01-21-2009, 10:53 PM
 
Location: 3rd rock from the sun
3,857 posts, read 6,930,310 times
Reputation: 1817
Our winter gas bill is about $40/month on a 3 bedroom bungalow. We only use gas for the stove & water heater & only turn the furnace on when we wake up in the morning & on occasional really cold days.

Check that your bill is just for one month, contains no install fees & isn't an estimated bill. Check the bill against the meter reading.
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Old 01-22-2009, 02:24 PM
 
Location: El Paso
430 posts, read 1,333,729 times
Reputation: 387
Nope. No additional fees. ( it states that the actual cost of gas was $121 and the rest was taxes) The hookup charge was on the first bill for the house. The bill was for 32 days and it matches the reading. I had them come this morning and check everything. The guy stated that my furnance needed to be cleaned so he red-tagged it. He said that my meter was high but he didn't know why. He said that it had to be because my heater was dirty. So, now that he red-tagged it, he shut it off. He said that I can't use it until my landlord sends someone out to clean it. So that means.....NO HEAT. Oh well. I couldn't even afford to keep the house at 55. My major concern is, is that if the bill doesn't drop drastically after not having any heat then something else has to be wrong. After all, this will probably be my bill for the summer too.
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Old 01-22-2009, 02:29 PM
 
Location: El Paso
430 posts, read 1,333,729 times
Reputation: 387
He did a pressure check also and said it was fine. I can't imagine that a dirty furnace set at 55 could do that much damage but what do I know? Guess I'll find out in a month or so.

I'm a single mom of three so I live paycheck to paycheck. I always kept my heat low because I knew that I couldn't afford to use it much. I barely make it as is and I don't even have cable. LOL! I have to conserve as much as I can.

Thanks for your suggestions. I really appreciate them.
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Old 01-22-2009, 02:30 PM
 
507 posts, read 2,054,275 times
Reputation: 534
Maybe the meter was misread. Happened to me once, where unconcerned, disinterested $6/hr. gas employee misread my meter that month and I was charged like $80 more than the usual bill. If you suspect that was the case, call and ask that meter be re-read, though since TX Gas Co. charges for everything, they might stick it to you for a re-read, too. Just a thought.
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