My last gas and electric bill were both just under 100.I was not happy about that either.I am at a fixed gas rate that our company offers.
I want to get the energy saver light bulbs but it will need to wait untill I can afford them.Anyone have a cheaper place to purchase them?

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~~Sharon...wife to Bill for 17 yrs and mom to Kevin,16; Stephanie,14 and Tyler,8~~

OMG!
I would die to have a bill as much as yours.
My gas bill this month is $207 and my electric bill is $168.
I usually oversave for this time of the year, knowing my bills will hike up . But they've been increasing the cost every year, it's starting to get out of hand.

We do the balanced buget plan and our gas and electric was 150.00 last month, the most so far. I think it went up because we bought an electric bed and heated water bowl for the dog. I've resorted to only plugging them in at night and un-plugging them in the morning. And I'm CONSTANTLY turing off lights that my husband leaves on! Drives me nuts!!!

Our gas bill was $60 this month (that is about the highest it is as we have gas heat). Our electric was $93 because we had to use the a/c last month for a few days.

In the summer our gas bill will be $25 (for hot water heating) and our electric will be as high as $200 in the hottest month.

So, I love the winter months, but the summer ones really get us. I don't do budget billing as I would rather pay as I go and just budget for those extra months. I found we would be paying a bit more than we needed to on the outset.

bamemm, if you really think your utility bills are outrageous, I recommend doing a couple of things.

First turn off every electrical appliance you can think of then go out to the meter to see if is still turning. If it is, something is still using electricity and you need to find out what that is.

If you can find your gas meter, track your usage daily. Compare that with the actual bill. In my area sometimes the meter reader can't make it to the house so they estimate your usage - often in their favor - and don't take into account your savings efforts.

Lastly, call the utility and ask for a free energy usage survey. Someone will come out to your house and show you ways to save energy without tripping around in the dark. They will probably also load you up with a bunch of coupons for free or reduced cost low-energy lightbulbs, etc.

And look out for problems in the system like a minor gas leak (in a place we used to live, a small crack in the pipe leading from the meter to the house) or a broken electrical appliance that is drawing too much current. Even a bad ground can be wasting electricity.

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

We are on the equalized payment plan. Is that the 'budget plan'? We pay the same amount every month no matter the time of year. This helps with the budgeting. We pay $158 for gas and electric every month. We use to pay $265 based on the previous owners but we cut back so much they lowered our monthly rate to better reflect what we were actually using.

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Well I was close mine went from $147 to $223. Since I am on level pay they will most definately be increased when they re-evaluate. AAAAGGGGHHHH