Our gas bill increase... 60%

[underpants]

Yep just paying off this month's bills following the holidays (wow for a "low key" Christmas we really shelled out the bucks). Anywho I open up our gas bill and BAM! "Hold it there has to be something wrong" I say.

Nope at the bottom of the bill in red letters it says.

Effective immediately, the purchased gas cost (PGC) has increased from $.980 to $1.575 per Ccf due to rising prices imposed by energy companies. The average monthly bill for a residential customer using 70 Ccf of natural gas is $148.36 plus applicable utility tax. The PGC rate is charged to recover the cost of gas purchased with no markup added by the City. For more details on programs available to assist you with winter heating costs, please refer to the enclosed Utility Talk insert.

By that's a real kick in the teeth. Luckily we ONLY use gas for hot water but still our usage (gotta keep everything real sterile for the baby) is more than the "average".

60% Richmond Va.

[acmejack]

1. Time to consider that tankless on demand hot water heater

It will pay for itself rather quickly at that rate. That increase is unbelievable. I used to come to Richmond frequently, I liked to canoe the James. You folks have a nice city.

[underpants]

2. Yeah my father-in-law is putting one in

We are currently renting so we probably won't install one.

Thanks for the compliment...this city doesn't get many of those.

[distantearlywarning]

3. Yeah, it's a shocker alright.

We got our bill for December a few days ago. $400!!!! :wow:

This was for a less than 1000 sq ft apartment where the thermostat is set at 65 degrees 3/4 of every 24 hour day, and for a month in which the average temperature was in the forties. It's out of control. We can afford to pay it, but this is crazy. I seriously worry about other people - minimum wage workers and old people.

And yet, we can't be the only ones experiencing this outrageous gas bill this month, but we haven't even heard a peep about it on the news. And this is in a very blue area where you would think that they would want to cater to their audience. I guess not. Stories about lost kittens and celebrities are WAY more important than soaring gas prices. :eyes:

[PassingFair]

16. Holy Crap!

For an APARTMENT!
Our 1,700 sf ranch house cost us $300.00 on the last bill, and we're in Michigan.
It was an estimated (gasp) bill, but when I checked it against the meter, it seemed
to be a good estimate.

I, too, wonder how much it's costing to heat the McMansions, with their vaulted ceilings.
My daughter's friends come over and gripe that it's too cold
in our house, and I just throw them a "hoodie".

[MadHound]

4. Do you own your house?

If so, I highly recommend that you install an exterior wood furnace. It will heat both your house and your hot water. It is very cheap, renewable, and with a catalytic convertor installed, very clean. In addition, since it sits away from the house, it won't drive up your insurance rates like an interior stove wood.

We had to deal with the sticker shock last fall, when I did the propane pre-buy a week after Katrina hit. Wound up being 1.60/gallon, and then and there, we started saving for such a wood furnace. It will be in place by the end of next summer.

You can also save energy with a hot water heater blanket, they're available at most hardware stores. Wrap it around the heater and tie it up. It does indeed keep the heater much more insulated, thus saving you energy.

[dubyaD40web]

13. Hot water heater blankets rule!

I did the math and it saved me 25% on my bill alone. (Just the hot water heater)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

5. Good thing there is no inflation, huh?

just those pesky price increases.

[madokie]

6. Yeah, my sister whom I love even though she is kinda' fundie

stopped by yesterday looking at our pellet stove saying if they get another gas bill like the last one they gonna have to do something. She is recuperating from surgery or I would have reminded her of the reasons for this huge increase, from last dec at 70 bucks to this last dec +200 bucks. As my dad used to say you want to get someones attention get into his/her hip pocket.

[democrank]

7. Take comfort in Bush`s words....

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."

[insane_cratic_gal]

8. I don't keep my house above 65

my bill in Dec. was 150.00 (and change)

It rose 20 bucks in one month. And I used the same amount of gas (slightly less) then the previous 130. bill.

I had to drop our heat to 60.. and bundle up in sweaters and fleeces throws (one in every room). I'm sure even with that, our bill will raise to 170 or higher this month.

[underpants]

9. Well we heat with electricity

and we can't do that unless we were to bundle up a 6 month old and hope and pray she never got sick.

This is ridiculous.

[Vinnie From Indy]

10. You didn't think BushCo was going to go to the trouble of

fixing elections and trashing the Constitution without getting paid did you? The energy companies are being allowed to vacuum up as much money as they can under BushCo. It is all a scam no matter how many times they repeat the decades old phrase about supply and demand or some refinery shut down as the reason for these prices.

[The Whiskey Priest]

11. Tip from the Last Great Republican National Economic Debacle

Build a President Hoover Overcoat…stuff old newspapers inside your clothing. You can find old newspapers in the alleys tossed aside by the well-to-do.

It might be a good idea to write of book of tips for middle-class survival of a Republican Economy.

[don954]

12. and it kills me that we here in florida are burning

tons, and i mean thousands if not millions of tons of chiped up downed trees from the storms. We have piles all over the place, here in Broward we have at least 4 sites that i know of that are larger than 2 football fields wide each and about 50' high. Big bulldozers pushing materal around on them look like toys in scale. We need to truck this stuff up north for you guys!

[Lindsay]

14. If we had a government that was actually concerned

about the people of this country, they would be doing just that - trucking the wood from the south to the people who need it up north.

But I guess nobody has figured out a way to make obscene profits from that.

[SujiwanKenobee]

15. Our gas bill for this month was $800.

We have an older house (@ 3200+sf) built in the late 50's with a gas stove/oven and gas powered hot water heater and furnace.
I keep the house below 65 24/7. We're having a relatively mild winter in the mid-Atlantic so far-I can't imagine if it was much colder. Wonder how the newer style Mcmansion costs are ?

[underpants]

17. Welcome to DU

:hi: