Lowered thermostats haven't kept gas bills from soaring

[CatWoman]

And this is GEORGIA, folks!!!

GEORGIA!!!!

we are enjoying 60 degree weather. the coldest it has gotten was in late November.

Don't tell ME we are not being ripped off!!

"I'm cooold," the caller shouted into the phone, before even introducing herself.

That's how the Georgia Public Service Commission's Cynthia Johnson recalls one of many desperate calls pouring in to the commission these days, as the winter's home heating bills arrive.

The caller was a 72-year-old woman who'd met the winter armed with a cranked-down thermostat and a battery of sweaters, only to open up a gas bill that she couldn't believe.

In December, the number of gas bill complaints to the PSC was as high as it's been since 2000 and 2001, when the effects of the state Legislature's gas deregulation law hit so hard, according to Johnson, the PSC's consumer affairs director.

Some Georgians are seeing bills up 300 percent or more from just a month before, and the average bill was 55 percent higher than a year earlier.

Customers are mad — and shocked.

Winter gas bills are turning out even worse than expected.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/business/stories/0113bizgas.html

[Upfront]

1. Don't like it?

Try voting for some Democrats.

[CatWoman]

2. well,

DUH!!!!

Who the fuck do you think "I've" been voting for????

[NYC]

5. I wish the other people could

relate cause and effect. They don't seem to be able to. So, they keep voting the wrong way. All of us get to suffer. I think it heightens the suffering that we understand why we are suffering.

[maxsolomon]

3. welcome to the future

its no mistake that our standard of living is in decline.

sure, you could have solar heat & power, but how could the oligarchy profit from that?

[bballny]

4. Deregulation

means as a consumer you're screwed. I also live in Ga. and my bill is 100% higher than last year.

[Dr.Phool]

6. I just got a $300 fucking electric bill in Florida!!!!!!

It should only be about $100 this time of year.

[gizmo1979]

7. I haven't seen this months bill

yet.If it's not lower than last months I'm going to go Popeye on their ass!Friend of mine did say natural gas has gone down to .91 cents a therm down from$1.13 a therm last month.

[CatWoman]

8. I haven't seen mine yet either

and I'm more than ready to open up a can of whup ass on them.

[MadHound]

9. And the sad part of this is that this shit will hit the elderly, poor and

Those on a fixed income the hardest, those who are least able to afford such runaway gouging. Fortunetely I'm in a position to do something about it before next year(woodstove), as are many others here. But if this continues throughout the country during this winter, summer and next winter, we're going to see the least fortunate among us start to drop like flies.

[ewagner]

10. Thermostat down, burning wood

and the gas bills are STILL BIGGER THAN LAST YEAR!!

Usage (therms) are down over 30% but the bill is up over 25% from last year! :grr: :grr: :grr:

just came back into the house after splitting firewood for tonights fire...we run the wood burner from around 4PM to 11PM every night...the gas fired boiler shuts down until around midnight.

I don't like getting ripped off by WE Energies....

[SoCalDem]

11. I bet the damned bills are already "calculated"

regardless of how much you use.. It would be an interesting experiment if some news organization "rented" a place and then used NO gas...(ie. no one living there, water heater OFF..furnace & pilot light OFF..and then sat back and watched the bills roll in..

[bballny]

12. nice picture

of George Bush in one of his more curious poses.

[Loonman]

13. Bush's rich oil buddies are fucking us over

I doubt their thermostats are at 55 degrees.

[Nutmegger]

14. I'm using sweaters and blankets

Pretty sickening. And the power company just raised rates on top of that!!! These people are money grubbing bastards.

On edit: No one in the country should be cold.

[Rowdyboy]

15. $455 for natural gas this month, $115 electric.....

How could life get any better? :sarcasm: