Monday, January 24, 2011

$440.00----Come On!



What in the HELL! I have electric heat for the back of my home and gas heat for the front and to heat the water. Everyone knows that heating bills rise in the winter but DAMN, My total combined heating costs for last month was $440!!!!!!
Uuugghh $440!! Seriously?? That is just outta control. I decided to do a lil investigating and discovered that I am paying for our towns lovely holiday lighting decor. Well not just me but it damn sure feels like it's just me. $440! Our town hangs these lovely lil-Christmasy-decor-lighty-things on each of the street lights for the holiday season. They are quite cute. They are snowmen and holly leaves, and Santas and poinsettias,etc. Each light has a rather large one hanging from it that lights up. Oh they are quite cute and they definitely get you in the Christmas spirit but I had no clue that the people, more specifically I would have to cover the cost of the lighting that each one has. Apparently they split the costs for the lights between all the townspeople. That's outrageous!
Call me Scrooge but I would rather not have to foot the cost of the towns holiday decor. Take it down I say! How about hanging some non electric holiday flags? Now I am not insinuating that my family did not use a ton of electric and gas last month. It was very cold and we had several snow days where we were all home and David hadn't worked in weeks, and two of my kids were home two weeks sick, and school was out for two weeks so there was definitely some extra usage going on but come on..$440! Am I heating the White House?
So how much was your largest heating bill this season?

10 comments:

  1. DAMN! I have gas heat. My electric tends to be higher in the summer when I am running the ac. I keep my house really cool (like 62-65) in the winter and use a lot of sweaters and throw blankets, but my combined bill in the winter is always under 200 bucks. And I am heating a 3 story house.

    Get you meter checked to make sure it is reading right.

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  2. Did you know that you're paying higher rates so that companies in town can pay much lower rates too? Yeah well, that's the way things work. haha ;-)

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  3. Mine average around $300 for gas for a 2300 sq ft 3 level home. We have it programmed - it ranges from 64 - 67. If it gets colder like today at 8 degrees I wear more clothes.
    My AC is always higher monthly!!

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  4. what I didn't finish was - were you asked to foot this damn bill? boy I would raise hell about this one Roc.

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  5. Has somebody been messing with the thermostat while you were gone?

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  6. I have gas heat and it was around 150 last month and my electric was about the same. We too had a colder than normal December AND I had all 2000 square feet of my house well lit for the holidays. I would have them come out and re-read your meters.

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  7. After having a bill of almost $500 for like 3 consecutive months during the winter(sounds familiar right?) I couldn't take it any more. The cold months were killing us! So I went on what it called the 'level pay' plan. YOur bill remains the same all year round. So in the summer months my Gas bill is higher then it normally would be but I am A-OK with that if it means my Winter bill is $100 VS $500. Best desicion I ever made! (It's renegotiated every August and surprisingly after the brutal winter we had last year it only raised my bill by $13).
    Do you have that available?

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  8. We have gas heat and it goes up a little in the winter, but not that much.

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  9. Karen- OMG I have my heater set at 74 but my house is old and cold and drafty. I think we should do some weather stripping.

    Jay- Are you tryna get me to show up with a shotgun at my local businesses?

    Peg- That would be a "No" but when do they ever ask?

    Mike- could be

    Mamma- With my luck they would come out and find that "well lookey here we under charged ya"

    Chandra- they do offer that but that seems unfair to me. I enjoy the breaks when my bill is less than $100 in the fall/spring so then what would I have to look forward to? I may have to do that though it is pretty smart from a budgeting aspect.

    Wally- Fuquay-Varina NC

    ASM- My gas and electric skyrocketed. :(

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