Could this lead to lower gas bills for the Equitable customer? (Pittsburgh: rent, credit)

[gg]

Ghose who have had Equitable Gas for heating have always wanted People's instead due to lower fuel costs. Will Peoples continue the gouge or will we get lucky?

Peoples Natural Gas buys Equitable Gas | www.wpxi.com

[ML North]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Ghose who have had Equitable Gas for heating have always wanted People's instead due to lower fuel costs. Will Peoples continue the gouge or will we get lucky?

Peoples Natural Gas buys Equitable Gas | www.wpxi.com

I always preferred Equitable for customer service. Peoples doesn't even do online billing. Perhaps through this merger, Peoples will acquire that service.

[sparrowmint]

Originally Posted by ML North

I always preferred Equitable for customer service. Peoples doesn't even do online billing. Perhaps through this merger, Peoples will acquire that service.

They do now, have for at least six months or so, but it's something like $3.99 per bill. Stamps are cheaper.

[jimmyev]

In real cities utilities have web sites, and have had them since the mid-1990s. You can even pay your school district property taxes on line. I had to re-learn how to write a check to pay Peoples Gas and the Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority when I moved to Pittsburgh. It's only about 20 years behind the times...

[ML North]

Originally Posted by sparrowmint

They do now, have for at least six months or so, but it's something like $3.99 per bill. Stamps are cheaper.

You can pay online, but cannot receive your bill online (I think).

[greg42]

Originally Posted by jimmyev

In real cities utilities have web sites, and have had them since the mid-1990s. You can even pay your school district property taxes on line. I had to re-learn how to write a check to pay Peoples Gas and the Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority when I moved to Pittsburgh. It's only about 20 years behind the times...

I don't know why most of the utilities want to charge you to pay online or don't have web sites, although when you're talking a small water authority I kind of understand. But I've never had trouble paying them with online bill pay from the bank. Been doing that for years, always found it much easier to pay everything in one place. If the util can't accept an electronic payment (such as my water and sewer authorities out here, and small local trash collection company) the bank mails them a check. Always has been credited correctly.

[SammyKhalifa]

Originally Posted by greg42

I don't know why most of the utilities want to charge you to pay online or don't have web sites, although when you're talking a small water authority I kind of understand. But I've never had trouble paying them with online bill pay from the bank. Been doing that for years, always found it much easier to pay everything in one place. If the util can't accept an electronic payment (such as my water and sewer authorities out here, and small local trash collection company) the bank mails them a check. Always has been credited correctly.

Frankly, the easier they make it for me to make the payment, the more likely I am to remember to give them money.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by greg42

I don't know why most of the utilities want to charge you to pay online or don't have web sites, although when you're talking a small water authority I kind of understand. But I've never had trouble paying them with online bill pay from the bank. Been doing that for years, always found it much easier to pay everything in one place. If the util can't accept an electronic payment (such as my water and sewer authorities out here, and small local trash collection company) the bank mails them a check. Always has been credited correctly.

Unfortunately this method makes auto payment impossible unless the bill is exactly the same every month. All of my bills are auto-pay except for my rent. I've been considering having my bank send my landlord a rent check every month so even that is auto pay. Automatic is the way to go!!!

[greg42]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

Unfortunately this method makes auto payment impossible unless the bill is exactly the same every month. All of my bills are auto-pay except for my rent. I've been considering having my bank send my landlord a rent check every month so even that is auto pay. Automatic is the way to go!!!

Oh I see. Well, partly. I see if you want automatic that would be troublesome. But automatic is rather foreign to me. I'm way too hands-on for stuff to be automatic pay. I'd rather be able to fine tune the timing than have to scramble to cancel the automatic payment. I run a lean checking account and get paid biweekly so a specific date per month would be a pain. I could fiddle with the balance some other way I suppose to make it work, but the easier transition from checks back in the day was free online bill pay from the bank, and it still works well for me.

[sparrowmint]

I can't deal with auto-pay unless I absolutely have to. Too many horror stories of mistakes being made and losing substantial funds from one's checking account, with no one in a hurry to fix it for you. However rare overall, it's worth the 2-5 minutes per bill to do them manually. Plus it forces me to be more aware of what's coming up (especially with things that vary, like electric and gas) so I can budget accordingly, before they need to be paid, if they're extra high on a particular bill. But I'm nitpicky about budgets like that.