How it works is when it's colder outside, you use more gas. There's a huge difference in the gas it takes to heat your apartment from 35 outside to 68 inside as opposed to 5 to 68.

Right and everyone would accept almost $200 is a fair price for an apartment of 600sq feet. That’s an entire house gas price.

My house is 4 times the size of your apartment and based on current rates I’m calculating that I’ll pay about 4 times as much as you did to heat your apartment, so this checks out. The main question I have is why do you keep your heat at 70 when it’s 0 degrees outside?

Do you want me to keep it at 60? I’m not understanding your question. The other tenants in my building are paying $60-70 this bill. I’m paying double.

Yes. I keep my thermostat at 65 during the day and 60 at night.

Is it an actual reading or an estimate? I tend to pay way ahead on my gas bills over the summer so when we get a cold snap I don't have to worry about a gigantic bill. That said, gas prices are off the charts due to many reasons and it was also pretty damn cold.

Get on the budget amounts. It won't go up or down as much. I don't know what to tell you as far as fair goes. You pay for the amount of gas you use not some price the gas company randomly decided to charge you.

I mean, check your bill. Did the price per CCF increase from previous months? Did your transmission/storage/dozen-or-so-other-random-fees increase dramatically? If not, then yes, $180 IS what it costs to heat your particular 600sqft apartment to 68-70 degrees in this cold, regardless of what it seems like it should cost.

Did your usage more than double, according to your bill? If so, you’ve definitely tracked down the problem. Maybe your apartment, small as it is, is cheaply built, poorly insulated, and has shitty windows? Maybe the furnace is old and inefficient? You could always try weatherproofing and/or running an efficient space heater like an electric oil-filled radiator to see if that helps.

I have a 130 year old 4 story house and mine was $350. It's a huge punch in the gut right after Christmas, but I'm not surprised

It's that time of year. My October usage per my bill was 4.2 MCF ($74.26) and my November usage was 11.6 MCF ($181.33). It got colder, so my furnace burned more fuel to keep the house at 63 degrees.

Outrageous , sure , out of the question , No. Winter bills are always higher, is your apartment insulated well? Do the windows frost over?

I do the same exact thing

They do not frost over. Bout to put some plastic over them though just in case. Shitty thing is the place was renovated.

Renovated doesn’t mean well insulated , I’ve seen the way some landlords “renovate” and the phrases “Lipstick on a pig” and dumpster fire come to mind.

Remember they minimize their expenses to maximize their return, since they dont pay utilities those areas are usually up to code, but not maximized for the tenant

Yes. Energy prices are up, and you are using a lot more. I had to turn my thermostat down to 67 during the cold snap because it was just running non-stop to keep the house at 68.

Call the gas company. They may be able to help you set up a budget plan. Natural gas is just more expensive than it was earlier this year, and that plus the cold weather has those bills way up.

Yes, use those plastic sheets. I have decent windows but I was still surprised to see how much of a difference it made to cover the windows.

Make sure you paid your last bill on time and that it isn’t part of your new bill. This happened to me once and I thought my bill had doubled. Oops.

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Seems about right. My buddy said his is normally $200 and it was $400 recently - for a house, not apartment mind you.

I expect ours to at least double.

Welcome to higher energy costs, inflation, and winter.

Whenever you use more of something, the price goes up.

Please explain again. So....if it gets colder, expect a winter gas bill to rise. Wait....can you use different words this is still tripping me up.

Turn the heat down

I had an issue with a rental once where I was paying the water bill for both apartments. Someone else suggested that you look at your other bills to see if there is a reasonable explanations. But if other tenants are paying that much less, maybe do a comparison with their bills. Is it possible that some of the common spaces are tied to your gas bill?

Actually - you are the exception. Either your home is seriously well insulated or perhaps your heat runs partial electric? No average house in pittsburgh is going to run sub 200 dollars on gas in a super cold month here unless it’s got some other factor contributing to keeping the cost low.

My place is about 700sf and it went from $88 to $172. It's going to be even worse next month. Get budget billing if you can. When I lived in a 1200 sf house it topped off at about 350.00 and that was a few years ago pricing.

It has in Eastern Ohio. A lot of people on fixed income as well struggling pretty bad. The church I do food drives for has tripled in people served because of this. Hear it all the time.

Yeah this doesn't makes sense at all unless you spent $5-10k on whole house insulation.

Nope house built in the 60s nothings been done since.

>That’s an entire house gas price.

Not really. In a really cold month, I once got a $550 gas bill for a 3 bed house in Pittsburgh.

Remember when fracking was pitched to the region as a way to keep energy costs down?

Depending when your billing cycle hits it may have not captured this freeze and you'll see it reflected on the next bill.

Or if they wanna increase prices for the same useage whatta ya gonna do?

Atleast peoples gas ceos don't have to worry about a jelly of the month club membership this year

I was $450 this month. $200 sounds like a bargain.

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Thanks Boe Jiden!

If you’re below a certain income you may qualify for LIHEAP.

We are in the same situation. Heat is set on 65-66 all day. We use a wood burner to supplement. Nov $78. Dec $168. I’m not shocked, I’ve lived here my whole life and it very difficult to heat an entire house for less than $200 per month during the coldest parts of winter. This is just my opinion, I live in a 1970’s colonial with some upgrades. Aka your friends parents house. I don’t do budget billing as it has never worked out In my favor lol. Best of luck to all yinz

Did your usage increase?

People have said it but it was cold AF so everyone's heat had to work harder so the bill will be higher depending on your home.

My house was built in 1930 and is double bricked with layers of asbestos between the bricks and my walls which themselves are stupid thick as they are lath and plaster.

Heating for me wasn't all that much higher but I feel bad for people with trash Ryan homes or people living in apartments where the landlords don't care how much you pay for utilities

About 14 years ago I lived in a really old, poorly insulated 2 bedroom duplex. Single pane windows, basement, etc. The last winter I lived there I had a gas bill that was more than my rent (over $600).

68-70? You mfers living in luxury over there. It stays at 60 in my house.

I agree. That’s outrageous and you should bundle up more often.

As if Fracking doesn’t come with its own problems.

OP, people have set you straight at this point, so I won't pile on. The summary here is that your bill is most likely accurate, so taking it up with the gas company would be a waste of your time.

Is it unfair? That's more of a political question. If you choose, you can certainly take it up with lawmakers, in terms of supporting expansion of LIHEAP-type benefits, gas price capping, or improving rental laws regarding insulation requirements. But that's the level this is currently at.

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Same. And I kept it at a balmy 64. Super ball bag move People.

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Unfortunately if you qualify for liheap, you probably dont have your own place or are in subsidized house of. The income restrictions are. Very low.

The price for Mcf has drastically increased due to the commodity price. Even if you’ve used the same amount of Mcf as the year prior you can expect the bill to be drastically more as the spot price of natural gas is substantially higher.

Hope this helps

Well…yeah. And the fringe benefit of cheaper energy costs haven’t even manifested so V cool!

Why do you pay for grubhub to deliver the food and for the food order itself?

Put on layers

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I keep a 3 bedroom townhouse at 74 degrees and my budget for people’s gas is about $70 a month.

You do. Same with gas. You pay for the fluctuating fuel cost, transportation, and whatever overhead. It’s worked into the price.

The electric bill does separate between transmission fees and generation fees.

Budget plans are an answer here. Sure, it may feel annoying to pay a little more in the summer months, but this is the time of year that it really pays to be on a budget plan.

Seems to be happening to everybody with every single utility

Is that what your actual bill is this month? But also, if you are an interior town house you have the advantage of only two of four walls being exterior facing. Even if you are an end unit you only have 3 of 4 walls exterior facing. It makes a difference

Yep. We run propane. Decided to top the tank off. Got the least amount of propane with the most expensive bill we’ve ever had.

It’s an end unit built in the 90’s, so pretty good insulation and windows replaced about 7 years ago. I haven’t seen the latest bill yet, but I think the cutoff date is usually before the polar temps got here.

I’m disabled and receive SS. I own my home and I still qualify.

Scrolled way too far to find this. Will gladly pay a little more in the summer months than $100s more in the winter months.

Happy for you! It’s a good program.

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Why is milk in Hawaii more expensive? Yes, location is just one of the many factors in determining gas. Competition, rural/urban property, etc

You pay for the delivery. And you pay for the fuel price. It’s documented on your bill. If you think you’re being ripped off, seek legal counsel.

Just want to suggest the Budget Plan for gas bills.

I don't know if all the service providers offer it, but People's does for sure.

Gives you one flat fee that you pay year round (mine is $107) and then at the end of the year they will either reimburse you or charge you more based on usage.

I don't believe I ever had to pay more and usually get reimbursed a nice chunk of coin every year. Helps to plan finances throughout the year.

Yes. Compare this years cost to last years. The rates increased.

Hmm interesting although if they’re always reimbursing you, one could agree that’s not a good financial decision to be on the budget since you’re generally over paying each month.

Are they on the budget plan? That's the way to go and have pretty much the same bill month-to-month.

Yup. Kind of depends on your situation. I like the flat fee to plan my finances more accurately per month and then treat the reimbursement as a little bonus to buy something nice.

I was looking closely at my bill this afternoon (Columbia Gas of PA) and while it was indeed a colder December this year than last year which upped our usage a bit (keep the house at the same temps), the Supply charges doubled from last year to this year and the Delivery charges went up a decent amount as well. Those three factors are ultimately why folks are seeing significantly higher bills this December compared to last year. Mine personally jumped almost $150 from what it was at the same point in late 2021.

Sounds like more bullshit. Any proof fracking in the region will lower MY winter heating bill? No? Didn't think so.

Salty chef.

I agree, that does seem really high. If you log into your gas company account it should show your usage history - take a look and see if the usage doubled or if this is just a price issue. Do you have a gas fireplace in there that you’ve been running, etc

Budget billing doesn’t work in your favor or against. It’s just to smooth out the payments. You’re not going to get ahead or fall behind because I’d budget billing.

I guess for me paying $100 per month as a set rate never gives me that chance to figure out if I’m keeping the heat too high. Before you know it I have like a $500 balance at the end of yr because I was always over using. So I just pay my actual bill each month no surprises.

You really do not understand. Anyhow have fun

Last month mine was $103, this month $300. It blows. I have a small house and keep it on 66 day/60 night... so I'm not even warm, and my bill is still $300.

I do marketing for a solar company and they said all the local electric companies jumped 22-28% this year and already determined a similar hike next year. Basically the state isn’t going to subsidize the infrastructure so they need to raise prices substantially.

On Peoples’ website, you can toggle your usage graphs to show what the dollar amount would be if you weren’t on budget billing. I watch this stuff like a hawk and graph the fuck out of it myself 🤓

Doubt they’ve even seen the bill for last weeks cold snap yet. Wonder if they’d just been estimating usage and did a meter read this month.

Mine is 600$ this month thankfully I’m on budget billing 😂

Well this is scaring me I have a three bedroom apartment in my bill on the payment plan, is already $300 a month. If it's $600 a month I'm going to have to start burning furniture or something.

OP, I agree. I live in a SMALL apartment, in the summer it’s $70ish right now is it $200 + which is what my parents pay for their 4 bedroom house in the winter. I have individual room baseboard heating, I only ever have the living room one on, literally can’t afford to keep the whole place on. Obviously, my house is still freezing in the winter 🙃 sorry you’re dealing with this!

Have no fear ex-Mayor of Braddock can fix it.

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WhATever YoUDO DonT bUy a nEwLy bUiLt hOmE

Thank you! Good to know!

I love sleeping in the winter with temp at 60 (I go as low as 58). Better sleep when it’s cold and nice under my cozy layers of blankets! Then temp is up to turn on the heat when it’s time to get up. :)

Understandable. My heating bill last month was over $1k. I live in a small apartment that's poorly insulated. After the winter storm and a threat from the health department, they're finally doing something to fix it

Definitely agree. Way easier to budget for month to month consistantly, than get walloped after it was like -27. Especially in the area with all the old drafty homes

Gotta revisit that climate income map

Wont accept anymore downvotes. Hmmmm...your felliw tenants probably did not have theyre heat cranked up is why theyres is less

Are you on the bottom floor? Or have more of your walls being outside walls than the neighbors?

Plus if you have the extra money you can always pay more than the budget minimum to average that bill down over the year.

Not everything is political

My bill doubled from the same month last year, even though I used almost the same MCF of gas. Prices are just up.

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Voting has consequences

It do be cold outside

My house was about 52-55F through the cold snap. At one point the thermometer said it was 48F inside. I could have turned the heat up but I figured that I could put up with a couple of days of discomfort in order to save on the gas bill. Back to normal now. I was curious what the daily usage was but it was too cold to go out and read the meter every day.

Have you looked into a cheaper suppliert?

I never paid attention to doing that but this year I did and it saves me about 30% on at least the gas supplier side.

I do the budget plan because we have more cold months as opposed to warm and it just made sense. No regrets.

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Yep, mine have doubled. I live in Irwin in a 2k square foot house with a steam boiler. Went from 175 to 327 on a budgeted plan. It’s a bit unreal to be honest.

Duquesne said I used 106percent more energy and my bill is estimated to be 400

Join the club

What are the chances the meter thingy duquesne used to measure is wrong ? Can we ask for it to be inspected to ensure it’s functioning appropriately?

It’s crazy how much gas everyone seems to use. I live in a 1400 sq ft house and I used 0.7 mcf for Oct and 2.5 mcf for Nov.

Oof really? Was it unusually big? Biggest I ever got was 320 or so

Yep. Normal. Gas was predicted to go up and it’s been really cold. We keep our house at 66 and supplement rooms with small electric heaters to keep the gas bill down.

Correct. We will be digging out of the last administrations mess for decades.

Yeah, it was an extremely poorly insulated house though. Original 1901 windows. After that we bullied the landlord into replacing the windows and it dropped to about $200 in regular cold winter months and $300 in frigid months.

Important to note this was 9 years ago- between regular inflation, extra inflation, and gas prices, I'm sure the same house's bill could be even higher today

Seems right

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That seems pretty low for such a large house.

I've been on budget since buying my home 4 years ago and it still feels like my bill has doubled in the last year and a half. I just got a bill for over 400

Still worth applying for if you're on the edge of it.

Doesn't help that we continuously block our own energy system

You’re asking rudimentary questions and reacting in disbelief after receiving answers from someone who works in the industry, but Im the one who doesn’t understand? Makes sense. Bye, now.

That doesn’t solve OP’s problem of a high gas bill though, it just shifts it around a bit. If prices go way up like they have recently, the user is still on the hook for way more $$. Added fees may also apply.

Better off focusing on things that will bring energy costs down long term, such as replacing old drafty windows, adding/replacing insulation, and upgrading the heating system.

Political games for political gain

I mean, mine is $130 for a well insulated 1000sq ft house that I keep at 68. Sounds about right to me if yours isn't as well insulated as mine and you keep at a higher temp.

Yes, our usage has apparently been up 243%. We’ve been doing the budget option to try and save a little but it’s fucked.

Complaining when the gas bill is < $200 😂

You forgot voting democrats out of office.

This. Best part is (at least for me when I lived in NJ) was that at the end of the calendar year, the electric company usually will reach out and offer two choices:

• Get money you overpaid back as a check
• Roll what you overpaid into next year

I usually just rolled it into the next calendar year so I didn't have to pay as much.

Thought it was the coldest December since 1960? Or maybe it was just a few days or a week that broke the record,….

So you think milk is more in Hawaii because they have less or no dairy farmers than say Iowa. But Pennsylvania pays higher natural gas fees because they produce the 2nd most gas producing states in the USA. This is a simple question that you simply do not understand.

Especially not oil

Not all power is from oil.

political policies friendly to oil and gas companies don’t necessarily guarantee low oil and gas prices. The market dictates the price.

My house was $400 last month

I don't think that I heard it as the coldest December since '60, but that is possible. I do know that our Christmas time cold broke some records though.

O’Rly please explain

Those are all great things you can do...if you own a home AND have the income or credit to fund them, especially given how expensive they currently are. None of those suggestions solve OP's problems either, as they're in a rented space, and there's little to no incentive for a landlord to modernize when they have artificially inflated market price profits to offset utility costs when they don't have tenants.

Hydro... Wind... Coal....

And what are these things built with ? Unicorn farts ?

Believe it or not. Oil isn't used in everything.

Keep kidding yourself.

Ok name something

But I have grey laminate floors, why wouldn't I expect everything to be ship-shape?!