BIG gas bill from Southwest gas (Phoenix, Litchfield Park: 2009, unemployment, water heater)

[sweettearose]

Originally Posted by isabella20948

How do I turn it off. What do I have to do? I lived in Florida for 18 years and never had gas, everything was electric and my bills were always under $200 in the hot summer and winter months. thanks for the info

My apologies, I should have prefaced: you can turn your water heater off. I meant to say turn the gas off that heats your hot water container. It has a handle or manual switch. Most of the gas used in Arizona homes are primarily for the hot water containers.

[sweettearose]

Originally Posted by lulubug

Thanks to all that have shared their frustrations with me. Someone had mentioned it may be an installation issue... the problem with that theory is that last year the occupants' usage was only a third of what we had reported on our bill.
If I didn't mention it before...I work out of my house and also was laid up for three of the weeks during the billing period of the $295.00 bill. There is no way I could have been laying on my heating pad with the heat cranked on for three weeks and survived.
Thanks too to Albuqueque- who validated that their bill was lower than mine.
I doubt that SW gas is involved in outright fraud- maybe it's a combination of mishandling customer's complaints and human error. They are the ONLY gas company availble in Arizona- so without a competitor to keep them honest and fair- perhaps they have let their integrity slack...

Like another poster mentioned, it comes down to the number of therms you used. I would definitely take pictures of the meter before and after. You may even want to do daily photos just to get an idea of how many therms you use on a daily basis. Or turn your gas off on your water heater. Turn your central AC/Heat to OFF. Take a photo of the meter then stay with a friend for a day and check the meter the next day. You didn't use any gas so the number of therms shouldn't increase. If it moves, something is wrong because you didn't use any gas.

[gosolar]

People have to do something about Southwest Gas. We're being robbed!
I'm in Tucson. My gas bill is also ridiculously high, $130.00 for January. (I hardly use the heat, but the water heater is gas.) I have a gas fireplace, forget about me using that, I feel like I'm throwing dollars bills into a furnace.

There is a "delivery charge" on my bill for $34.00, plus a basic "service charge" of $9.70. The taxes are $12.57. The cost of the gas would really be about $64.00 without these extra fees. (I know we have to pay the tax, and some service charges, but a $34.00 delivery charge every month PLUS a service charge?)
Get solar panels. You aquire credits with the electric company for the excess power they generate, so on cloudy days when you need to use electric, you can use your credits and have a really low electric bill.
If Southwest Gas employs "High Bill Investigators," doesn't that indicate a problem? And also a waste of money - they had to pay someone to think up that title! Can't a regular service technician tell what the problem might be?
I recently moved into this house, they charged me a $310.00 deposit when my account was set up. I wonder if they are overcharging people in California also.

[mdtoaz]

Originally Posted by gosolar

I recently moved into this house, they charged me a $310.00 deposit when my account was set up. I wonder if they are overcharging people in California also.

Wow... I was only charged a deposit of $80.00 and an "establishment fee" of $37.25. How could the deposits be so completely different? I didn't even have a letter of good credit from BG&E (my old power co.) because they suck and won't fax anything.

I don't think my HOA allows solar panels.
But I think hubby's thinking of something solar to heat the pool.

[audiovisions]

My bill for Jan and Feb just does not make sense.

Since Jan 28th I have 'supposedly' used 280 therms.

Only on the coldest nights I was turning on my furnace to about 70 degrees and running it for about 6-8 hours. Other than that the only other thing that I have that uses gas is the water heater.

They came out on the 28th and installed a new meter. I am wondering if they didn't screw me and install a meter that was not set to 0. But something is definitely off.

Jan's bill was $280, Febs just shy of $200, thats absurd!!!

There simply has to be something wrong with their meters or they are intentionally screwing us. I am going to see if I can purchase my own meter to measure against theirs to see if it is indeed accurate.

[maxch]

Wow, it's a good thing I found this thread. My regular gas bill was around $40+ and that's considering my wife cooking every day using stow and the oven for hours. January bill spilled out over a $100 that was the exact month when my wife decided to take a break from the kitchen and we had a vacation for 2 weeks. Feb. bill was over 80... still almost twice more form regular. I don't have the exact usage numbers right now, but I sure will look them up. I did call the CS SWG and they fed me with a bull crap about may be taking my water heater lower a notch, and turning my air heater to 72... it's on 68-70 all the time! I've got to figure this out ...I'm really surprised to see so many people having the same issue...

[sablebaby]

I don't know what's going on but I'm having big gas bills. I am paying AS MUCH in the winter now for gas/electric as I pay in the dead of summer! Last year was the first time I have noticed such an increase. My gas bill has been around $170 the last 2 months!

[car957]

I would be calling the Arizona Corporation Commission if I was in this boat. They regulate Southwest Gas and I would voice the concerns I've read. If a rate change occurred, they can also advise you of this.

http://www.cc.state.az.us/divisions/...erservices.asp

[ksm85719]

My SW Gas bill went from an average of $26.22 per month (calculated over the last 38 months) to $277. My highest bill ever was $79.
They said that the meter had been read incorrectly for 2 months. They came out to do a high bill investigation and said the high bill was because the meter was read wrong. BULL. Something is wrong. They also said that this has been the coldest year on record for the last 25 years. BULL. It seems to be a very mild winter to me. There is a problem and they will not admit to anything. They will not explain to me exactly how the meter was misread.
I used 75 therms last janurary 2007 (this was the highest usage ever for 38 month) to 161 therms.

[maxch]

They just changed all meters about 2 months ago in my community... not sure though if it was just before the hight bill... or after...