Just got my gas bill $301.00 OMG

[Maggie_May]

I think I'm going to throw up.

[Hobarticus]

1. Why do you hate America?

Smile, do not question, move along, nothing to see here...

[Maggie_May]

4. You know thats funny

My husband keeps telling me that I just don't know why I can't.

[Hobarticus]

6. Humor helps ease the sting...

Everybody's profits are going up but my own household's. What gives?

[trotsky]

2. NOW we know what it is meant by the right-wing bumper sticker:

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE!

[tsuki]

41. Reading the thread, I remembered a bumper sticker I saw today.

"The road to hell is paved with Republicans."

Has nothing to do with the conversation. Sorry. Just had to tell someone before I forgot.

[sabra]

3. that's cheap

but actually in the Chicagoland area the average is 300-400/month...

[still_one]

5. It all depends what area you are in and what the weather has been

[progressivebydesign]

7. May I ask what region you are in? And what is it normally?

Our natural gas rates out this way (pacific northwest) weren't expected to rise much this winter, due to a variety of reasons. Haven't gotten this month's bill, but last month was $77.00 bux. I"m sorry for your bill. Of course, Bush saw to it that they cut the amount of money used to help people with their heating bills...

[mike_c]

16. mine rose from about $80 to $125 this month (NorCal)...

...which is pretty much in line with previous december bills. Natural gas accounts for about 2/3 of that bill. Bear in mind that the coastal climate is mild here, even though we're about as far north as, say, Pittsburg, and I burn wood as my primary home heat source-- I use gas for secondary heating, cooking, and hot water. I live well below the snow line.

[Maggie_May]

22. I live in Michigan

I have the groovy Money works program on my PC and last year my highest gas bill was $180.

[cliss]

31. Same here, progressive.

My PGE bill is around $70.00 per month. Now, that doesn't buy you a lot of heat. We turn the thermostat down to 55 degrees during the day. At night, we shut it off completely. MAN we were cold about 2 weeks ago when it went down to 20 degrees.

I wear a sleeveless down vest when I'm home. And I wear wool socks on my frozen feet. It works. You get used to it.

[B Calm]

8. My son has a little two bedroom house and his was $250.00. Like

you, he's ready to throw up too!

[ReverendDeuce]

9. Just got my $27.41 bill...

Thank goodness for public utilities!

[Boomer]

10. And that's on the low side...

...according to other recent posts on DU.

My last bill was about $350 for a 2200 sq ft house, which is at least a $100 above "normal" for this time of the year. And it would probably be a lot higher if we didn't have such good insulation.

Of course, it would probably also be lower if we didn't have four dogs going in and out, in and out, in and out of the kitchen all day long. I don't even want to know how much that adds to our bill....

[haydukelives]

11. Ouch

My last bill was $270. Next month is going to hurt

[Boomer]

13. Oh, don't remind me

The temperature plummeted down for at least 2-3 weeks of my next bill. Thank god for a decent performance bonus this year, which will offset this winter's utility bills. I'm just grateful that I have the luxury of that buffer.

[LibinMo]

15. My November gas bill was twice last year's

$55 last year-$114 this year. And we only had about a week when we used the furnace. We do have a gas range and a gas dryer.

Since then, I bought a Sun Twin (electric)heater. We have set the themostat @55. The furnace has barely run. They read my meter yesterday so we'll see if the Sun Twin lives up to it's claims. ($1 a day to operate)

[MODemocrat]

12. Me too, Our bill was $412.52, usually around $200.00 this time of year

What a disgrace. My husband and I are in our seventies, he's in real bad health; and I'm seriously thinking about trying to get a part time job. I thought when it came time for my retirement, my working days would be over. Oh, if only I'd have worked for Halliburton, etc.,

:scared: :dem:

[asjr]

17. I think this administration's main goal is

to get rid of all the seniors. If the Medicare-D goesn't bankrupt us we will freeze to death. And all we get for burial is $255.00.

[MODemocrat]

39. I believe you're right

It's almost scary to be a senior citizen with this administration. Their only goal is to gain yet more power, and M O N E Y and to hell with the rest of us.

[LibinMo]

21. What part of Missouri are you in?

We're in Springfield. Our utilities are municipally owned. Still going up though.

[MODemocrat]

38. I live in an area about 25 miles north of Kansas City

The Kansas City International Airport is only 7 miles South of my town of Platte City, here in Missouri. :hi: :hi:

[gizmo1979]

35. I would pass out and die

if my bill was 400 dollars.I work fulltime and could not afford that.

[MODemocrat]

42. It has to be hard for you younger people

Trying to make it now with everything so high, and raise a family, is just so tough. I'm thankful
our three children are grown and have a job, but it still doesn't make things easy. This rate hike is absolutely obscene. When I think of the sick people out there, the little children and the elderly having to cut back on everything just to have heat and groceries, it breaks my heart for them.

[undeterred]

14. $252.72 and I am unemployed

[MODemocrat]

46. My heart goes out to you, sure hope you can find employment soon

I believe that this is one of the most politically motivated situations in history. Sure, we all know there is a great demand for gas and electricity, but why, all of a sudden, does it have to raise it's prices by 60%? What can we expect next? It seems so hopeless with Bush in office.
God help us all! :grouphug: :grouphug: :cry:

[Saphire]

18. Maybe a dumb question, but consider that my AC is running today..

when it's really cold ( say below freezing) do your furnaces?? run all the time. It rarely gets to freezing here,and when it does, it's only for a few hours. I know my gas heater kicks on ocassionaly, just enogh to keep the temp at 68, but I have often wondered about heating in the north where it really is cold day after day.

[LibinMo]

26. If it is really cold

say under 10 degrees, my furnace will run almost constantly. That is not a common occurrence, thank God. We have good insulation and storm windows.

[Nickster]

27. Really depends on whether you have a programmed thermostat or not.

If you have one, you program it to turn on and run until the target temp is reached, then it shuts off. You can do schedules so it goes down further during the day when you're out and back on just before you get back home, stuff like that. When I didn't have a programmed thermostat, it pretty much ran almost constantly to reach whatever the temp was.

I must be doing alright so far with things, because my last month bill was only 125, about what it was this month last year, but I'm also using a heck of a lot less natural gas too.

[RebelOne]

19. Luckily, I live in a mobile home and have a propane tank,

so I pay as I go and I don't get the sticker shock. I am fortunate that I live in North Georgia where the temperatures so far have been fairly mild and I have just been running a space heater.

[durablend]

28. Propane has been REALLY strange lately

I would've figured ours went through the roof (like everything else), but the last fill up 2 weeks ago was "only" $2.20/gallon (lowest it's been in close to a year). It'd be nice if it stayed at that price (I'd settle for it staying below $2.50/gallon), but it'll be wait and see I guess...

[redwitch]

47. propane in upstate ny is $3.48 a gallon, that's at least a 30% increase.

Got my bill yesterday. I am a bit freaked out by it- it runs our dryer, stove and hot water heater.

[B Calm]

20. I'm glad I cut 15 truck loads of wood this fall...

[MsKandice01]

23. Mine went up $75 from the year before

When my husband opened up the bill, his first reaction was to tell me, "You've GOT to stop leaving the lights on unnecessarily! Because of that, our electric bill has gone up!" I then kindly pointed out to him that we used LESS electricity AND gas than we did last year this time but energy costs have gone up. He KNOWS this too because he pays just as much attention to current events than I do. Then he was forced to kiss my ass. LOL.

[Walt Starr]

24. That's what I figured mine would be

but it was only $169. Got off a lot cheaper than I thought I would, and this was through the coldest period of the year so far!

[Protagoras]

25. How do these track across red state/blue state?

I'm just curious if this has any correlation with voting patterns.

[Nicole]

49. I'm in a red state & my bill was $43.00

It was $38.00 this time last year so it's about the same.

[iwanmycntrybak]

29. Happy Holidays from Bushco

[me b zola]

30. I am really worried about people in "cold" regions

who are impoverished or living on social security.

[gizmo1979]

37. It's only a matter of time

before the stories of families dying in fires or from carbon monoxide because of space heaters or using the oven for heat.Then the politicians will say we didn't know it was that bad.Everyone should fax a copy of their gas bill to their senator so they can't use that excuse.

[knitter4democracy]

48. I've been worried here in Michigan.

It's been cold already this winter, and people were hurting. We're in a thaw right now, so that helps the bills, but it's probably going to turn around again next week.

Our bill was a good bit higher than the month before but less than I'd been budgeting for. They've been telling us here to expect 50% rate hikes over last year or higher. I haven't seen it yet, but I've also been keeping the house colder than normal. I'm a SAHM with a three year old at home all day--I can't turn the heat down during the day too much. It's gotten pretty cold at night (down in the single digits for a week a couple of weeks ago), and even with everything we wear to bed and down comforters on all of us (got them on sale), we've been cold.

[butterfly77]

32. $ 379.00 here

and I haven't cut on the heat that often.

[Missy M]

33. Mine is $449.00 this month. I am in shock.

[gizmo1979]

34. How big of a house?

I use a ceramic heater in the living area I run it all the while we're at home and the electric bill only went up 14 dollars.Now the furnace only runs at night.I keep my thermostat at 59.The living room stays about 70 with the electric heater going.Just an idea.

[The Flaming Red Head]

36. Make a copy of it

then wipe your butt with it and mail it to the president of the gas company.

[William Bloode]

40. My da had a fit this month.

He got his gas bill for his kilns, about $1200. What made him so mad was he signed on at a contract price, and it seems they don't honor their own agreement.

He said "fuck it, i'll run my wood burning ground hog kiln and not pay for anymore gas".

[gulfcoastliberal]

43. $94 dollars last month

Just got my ebill yesterday. Last month it was $44 - don't use central HVAC in winter - only the oil-radiator space heaters when it gets really cold. So it's all electric; and the electricity here is pretty cheap since we have a dirty coal power plant.

[burythehatchet]

44. I won't turn my heat on

even with no heat my bill was $89 last month. I just move my space heater from room to room. I wear 3 layers of clothing all the time. My ex-wife won't let our son stay over my house, and I don't blame her. Things are looking mighty grim.

[baldguy]

45. People are literally going to freeze to death this year.

While Bush and his cronies profit.