OK. On my last months gas bill, I was offered the choice of either paying the 88.00 bill...OR paying $100.00 and going on their budget plan and having a set amount due each month of $100.00.

I chose the latter after giving it some thought. I realize I'll be paying a hundred bucks a month for gas even in the summer months, but I just can't resist the fact that I won't be getting "TOTAL-AMOUNT-DUE-SHOCK"....during the winter.

Even so, I'm still gonna be VERY conservative with the thermostat setting!

Russ

Man Russ, I can't imagine what heating bills are gonna be like for folks in Ohio and northward. It hasn't been over 35 here in days, and it was in the teens last night. Sounds like the $100 plan would probably be the way to go.

You might check all the details on their offer. PG&E has a simular plan out west on natural gas usage here where they compute your whole past years billing and divide by 12 and let you make a constant payment amount without the suprizes for peak months. However they get to 'readjust' the flat monthly amount several times a year as your actual useage is computed. So no free lunch just a more constant billing amount. Natural gas has been deregulated and is always going to spike in high demand Vs supply months and no way is anyone else going to foot the bill but the end user....

Lefty

We've done a 12-month billing plan (for heating oil) since we moved to MA in '91. We also get a fixed price for oil. Some years, that meant we paid more than 'spot market' buyers, but I think we've benefitted from locking in the oil price than we haven't.

Well I am on electric heat. When you get bills of $750 for 2 months in the winter come and see me. I would love to have $100.00 a month heating bill.

My natural gas Equal Payment Plan starts each year, in September. Each September, my EPP is set, based on the previous year's usage, and divided by 12 months. I run in the minus, through the winter, and catch up, in the summer.

Well we work out our own budget plan here. I started doing this well over 25 years ago.

I add up ALL my bills, (Round up) divide by 52 (26 now that I'm on an every 2 week pay schedule) and that goes into the savings for paying bills every pay period (This has to happen whether I'm earning $$ or not, sometimes the savings has taken a hit this past year :sigh: ), some more goes in for actual savings, and the rest is what's available for discretionary spending.

Works well and we haven't had to miss a payment since we started, even when I was off work 4 for 4 month's early this year.

I include EVERYTHING magazine subs, PG&E, mortgage, insurance of all types, groceries, gas, cable telephone, prop tax's... I even have a contingincy car repair "fund" built in...

Takes all the worries out of bills. It also means I review the spending once a year, (more if we add a bill) and think about what we could do to cut any of it.

SWMBO keeps it all in either savings or checking, and keeps tabs on what's what in an Excel spreadsheet. she used to do it with an accountant's book, but overall its pretty simple.