Budget Billing for electric bills...

[AMISLANDER]

i.e. Florida Power & Light offers this service to us in FL...they average out your bills so that it's more of a constant bill & not varied ....but I've been surfing around, looking for a bit more info on this and can't find out how when for example...I paid $94.00 last month...if I went with budget billing this month, my bill would be $54.00...how does the $40 difference get made up...I know they're saying that it's a 1/12 average every month...???

Anyone have this type of billing anywhere?

[Minnymouth]

Lots of power companies are now offering this type of service.... they average your electric bill by taking what you pay per year and dividing it by 12 months then this is your average..... example $100.00 a month..... You would pay this every month until the end of the year..... BUT IF your electric runs higher than the average they say, then at the end of the year you would owe a BALANCE DUE...... and it would be payable then.

This works for some people, others it does not..... its hard to cough up extra money at the end of the year if its been a real cold winter.... or a real hot summer.....

This is how I handle mine since I am on a limited income...... I check to see what my highest bill is each year....... usually around $140.00 a month....(sometimes a lot less on off months)..... I pay this same bill all the time (thus creating a small credit each time)......

THEN IF SOMETHING HAPPENS (medical bill, car emergency, etc) I always have a credit balance if I need it to apply to a new bill...... This has saved my butt many times over the last 40 years..... (emergencies do happen) and I've always had the money to pay the electric bill.... My phone bill and water bill I always add $5.00 to the bill and thus creating a credit balance on those also for future use if needed. I don't miss it when I do it, can always pay my utilities, and has worked well for me over the years.

If my credit balance gets too high (more than a months bill), then I cut my payment back a few $$$....

By doing this if an emergency does come up, I don't have to worry about the utility bills getting behind..... I've got my bases covered.

It will build up slowly so you'll not notice a lot of money going out at once.....

My thoughts,

[SinkingFast]

We're new in this condo so I got budget billing for the gas but elec wouldn't do it as the previous usage wasn't ours.

Our electric runs down below $100 in the spring and fall but goes higher in the winter and summer. If we had been able to do budget billing with the electric company, they would have set it up around $110/mo.

We were able to set up our gas bill on Budget billing. Right now, with no heat, our bills run $45-$50/mo for the gas hot water heater. Come winter, the bills will be much higher. So our budget was set up for $115/mo. We've been paying that for a couple months now and already have quite a surplus built up going into winter.

[NowOrNever]

Same here. We started budget billing on our electric in April, and our "balancing" month will be next April. Our statements each month show our balance, so we can pay more each month if we need to catch up before April.

We're on propane for our gas and the bills were killer. Not much through the summer, but then we'd get smacked a few times for $500 in the winter when they filled the tank. We just started a budget billing with them. It's so much nicer to know that I won't have to worry about where I'm going to come up with $500 when the gas truck comes.

[AMISLANDER]

Hmmmm....

I don't know the history of the electric bill at the apartment where we are now....our bills for June $80, July, $84, and Aug. $94...I'm guessing that Sept, would be around $90, but Oct. back to mid 80's, Nov. probably $high 70's Dec...as we get to where we don't need the A/C & have the windows open from Nov-April...

Would this benefit me?

Minny, I like your idea of paying $5 extra on the utilities...that would work for me!

[Minnymouth]

Tell ya folks, it really works well for me and always has..... been some mighty slim months if I hadn't had it in place the bills would have been late getting paid, besides a credit balance looks great on a credit application.....

And its a real safety net on keeping the utilities paid all the time...... its like having them paid a month in advance... once the credit builds up.....

Try it, might work for you all..............

Level billing is good also if you keep a close eye on it and don't end up with a big bill at the end of the year......

[jane taylor]

Minny, I like the idea of paying a little extra each month on my utilities. That just may work for us, too, and force us to save extra $$$. We do the level billing for electricity as we live in a VERY hot and humid place and I am extremely hot-natured!!!

jane

[anonymuse]

My gas and electric are on budgeting. For our climate, it works best if you start in September/October so that there is an accurate picture of past expenses. I'm at the end of that cycle. After paying $176 months, I get 3 months only paying $50 and then the rate will be reassessed slightly lower (if they don't anticpate a hike).

[robivi3]

$340.00 here (July). Three boys. All Maytag kitchen, Rheem High Eff. 3.5 ton 12 seer (4 years), water heater 60 gallon whirlpool gold. If had not replaced appliances at old Killowat per day would be near $500. AC Ducts less than 6 years old. R19 throughout.

Three boys, wash favorite clothes when I aint looking! 25 to 30 washloads weekly. High capacity Maytag, less than one year.

[chmastal]

Where I'm at in Florida...

I was on budget billing before moving info my apartment. I didn't get a big bill at the end of the year though. I was evaluated every 6 months & adjusted as needed to cover any under payment & variations in the previous years spending at that point. So if it changed it was no more that $5 or $10 dollars. Worked extremely well for me!!

[AMISLANDER]

I was on budget billing before moving info my apartment. I didn't get a big bill at the end of the year though. I was evaluated every 6 months & adjusted as needed to cover any under payment & variations in the previous years spending at that point. So if it changed it was no more that $5 or $10 dollars. Worked extremely well for me!!

We've been in our new place since June...the bills have all been under $100...even with bf keeping it at 70 from 3:30pm to 6 am...he works outside in heat all day....so, if Sept/oct is good time to do it...I know that my hottest months of year are all under $100 but...I have nothing else to blame the average on except thinking it goes down further now that it will be cooling off here? If I was at my old place on the beach, bills would probably have been $150/mo. for past three months...no insulation whatsoever....I guess I'll try it!

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

Watchout

Minny, I like the idea of paying a little extra each month on my utilities. That just may work for us, too, and force us to save extra $$$. We do the level billing for electricity as we live in a VERY hot and humid place and I am extremely hot-natured!!!

You be careful about that little extra each month, I reside in the state of VA, and this one company got sneaky and put that little extra towards their "energy contribution fund!" I was like "what the ..." so I called them up and asked them why did they do that, how can you do that when I'm on a budget, I cant afford to be giving extra! " Well they fixed up, but they have this thing where if you pay extra each month and its an "even," number the computer automatically throws into their contribution fund! So watch out, wish i could give you the name of that power company to watch out for, if you PM me, than I could (if you reside in the state of VA)

Catchmeifyoucan

[Minnymouth]

Yeah, we have the contribution thing here also..... but I keep a close eye on all my credit balances......

Thanks for the warning though.....