How about calling in your own gas meter reading. Its accurate but the gas co. would probably prefer to have it inaccurate, go figure.

If you can add a wood burning stove to your home you can drasticly reduce your heating bill. I'm furtunate enough to come across wood all year through my job, it can be a lot of work but well worth it. Our home is a tri-level style home with the bedroom upstairs our stove puts out enough heat that leaveing the bedrooms open is enough and the furnance rarely comes on. Granted we'd had a mild winter so far our gas bill has been under $125 last month. Wood isn't just for plugs ya know.

My gas meter is read over the phone lines via a modem they installed right to the meter a few years ago. No more estimated readings.

I upgraded to a high eff. gas furnace, I also use a pellet stove in the fam room. So far this year I have used only one ton of pellets, as compared to two last year, and the gas company lowered our monthly budget payment almost 1/2 of last year. So mild winter and better furnace= more boat fuel !!!

It all evens out in the end...

That is what I figure. If the winter stays mild for the next couple of months they will raise prices even more to make up for lack of usage.

It's funny you mentioned that how they would prefer to have it in there favor,Well It's true!

Four years ago we switched over to gas for heat,we have it for stove & water heater anyway that first winter was record cold,not to mention our bills were record high!I called and tried to talk with them bill after bill.(phone line metering)they told me it's a cold winter & you have an old house.I got fed up & did some digging on the bills I went out side to my meter & read it myself & compaired it with the bills they were off by a country mile!WTF!

Also in there defense they told me that their metering based on last winters heating bill.
Really!Tell me how can that be?I had oil last year!!!
Then I get the...O-maybe your meter is faulty we'll come out and take a look @ it.Well it was faulty and they replaced it.They would come out each month and take a reading.
Our bill was fixed but WFT If i said nothing at all we would still be paying through the nose,but If it was anything to do on my end they would cut us off:yak:

Whenever they tie into the phone line to get the reading you are asking for trouble.I have heard of it screwing up home security systems and there are also privacy issues.People have also complained about the clarity of their conversations after this system is installed.Then if you call the bozos from the phone company they come and indiscriminantly start hacking away at wires.:rocketem:

2.05 is good Ross,
I filled up once in December, and I've been shivering for the rest of the winter.
Still got a 1/2 tank left, gonna try to make it on one fillup.
Lots O' cooking around the Bomba house..stews, etc...anything that makes steam.
Later,
Rick

$2.30 a gallon, 200 gallons = killing me

By the way, shouldn't it be called "heating day degrees" rather than heating degree days? I'm aware of how HDDs are calculated, but let's say the average temp on a particular day is 50. That means that there were 15 heating degree days on that DAY. How can you have X number of DAYS in any one particlar day? Wouldn't it make more sense to say that there were 15 heating day DEGREES on that day?
The nomenclature would then reflect the fact that the temp of your house was 15 DEGREES below the avarage temp for that DAY.
I've always wondered about that.

:conf: :think:

Just send someone to read the damn meter, like they did in the old days, that's all I ask.

My meter's outside, and easy to get to. Don't matter if no one's at home--just read the damn thing. I'd rather pay $200 every month than pay $500 one month and get a credit the next.

Same thing with LIPA, our "not-for-profit" electric company. 3 months out of 4 I get an estimated bill, or a card to mark. I wouldn't mind marking the card if Richie Kessel and his political cronies weren't making 6 figure salaries for heading up a "not-for-profit" utility. 2/3rd of LIPA employees make more than 100K a year. Can a few of those leeches and hire some meter readers for $25K a year :rollem:

I'll save my opinions about lawyers.I can also look past bitching about the salary of "not for profit" companies(put in dummies so you get bad ideas).But please,try not to belittle meter readers.We have installed over 7,000 transponders for drive-by readings within the past year at our water department and that is a lot of work .
Irony is;.... a lawyer calling ANYONE else "leeches".

:buds: :bshake:

Why is everyone bitchin about how much fuel costs -- just a thought, what was in that energy policy that VP Cheney wrote and nobody can get a glimpse of ??? Who are the Pols that are now in office that have MAJOR interests in the OIL industries?? How come a Mass politician can go to Venezuela and make a deal for low cost oil to be delivered to New England when the party in charge lets prices climb right off the wall. How many Billions of dollars are being spent on a 7 year trip to PLUTO? How many homes would that heat?? I think I will shut up as this is not a poitical forum. OR MAYBE IT IS AND WE JUST MISS THE POINT. I wonder how much fuel we burn in Iraq daily ??? :confused: :confused:

By the way, I am on a fixed income and have the same gripes as you. I sometimes have to scrape to pay that @#%#$^%oil bill too.

And while on the subject .. A trip to the ditch with my Wrangler takes almost a tank of gas. I think this year will see less trips to my favorite fishing spots with the cost of gas. I think we will see a new group of politicians next election.

Yeah.....a new group of politicians will right the ship!:doh: :hs: :uhoh: :jester: