I've received a couple pieces of advertising from OG and E, pushing their new "Average Pay" (or whatever they call it) plan - this is one where your electric bill is the same amount each month, so you don't (I presume) get freaked out in the summer with a high bill when you're running the a/c.
The thing is...they give you a comparison of the "average" of what you pay now, and what you would be paying, on average, for this "we'll predict what you use over a year and divide it by 12." And in my case, what I pay now is cheaper - by $5 - than their estimated average. Which means if I took the plan, I'd be sending them $60 more a year than what I do now, if everything remains the same.
At first I thought, "It would be a simple matter, wouldn't it, for them to program the computer that is doubtless generating these things, to have a line that said something like "IF NOWBILLPAY < NEWAVERAGEBILL, STOP PRINTING NOTICE" (or whatver. I only ever knew BASIC, and it's been a good 25 years since I used THAT).
Then I thought again: but people being what they are, you KNOW there would be someone yammering because they didn't receive the offer, even if their bill would continue to be cheaper under the old, "pay for each month as it comes" system.
I suppose the averaged-out system would work well for someone on a really strict budget, but then again, I know roughly what my electrical bills will be for a given month (about $30 in the winter, between $70 and $100 in the summer depending on how much I have to run the air conditioning) so I can plan ahead.
(I have a fairly small house, I'm not home a whole lot, and I tend to be pretty conservative of electricity. I think in the winter much of my bill is because I have an electric stove and also an electric clothes dryer - appliances that heat require more electricity)
3 comments:
I looked that scheme over the first time I saw it, right before the big Ice Storm of '07; it would have boosted my electric bill by 16.7 percent, a bit more than $120 for the year.
Blogger random word verification: "nonvery". Describes my interest in this program perfectly.
My local utilities both (gas and electric) offer budget billing where you pay a set amount each month. I subscribed to both offerings because it makes budgeting so much easier. This was important to me when I was working but even more so now that I'm on a fixed income. Both companies adjust the amounts a couple of times a year if your actual usage is significantly different than what they forecast. This month, for example, I did not have to pay an electric bill because my account had been overpaid enough to cover it.
In our area where the temps can vary widely, I like this billing method. It can get bitter cold here in the winter and spring. Summer is marked by the three H's: high heat, high humidity, and haze. Heat waves lasting weeks are not unknown, especially in July and August. It's not uncommon for me to have to switch from heat to air conditioning in the same week in the spring and the reverse in the fall because our weather changes can be so abrupt.
To help keep my bills as low as they can be, in addition to the budget billing, I have a programmable thermostat and don't heat/cool the house as much when I'm not home, use the compact fluorescent bulbs in lamps, use my toaster oven instead of the big oven in the stove if I'm only make a small thing which doesn't have to cook for very long, close the blinds to keep the hot summer sun out of the house, etc. Everyone's situation is different but for me, budget billing works.
we use the budget billing, and we get interest on any balances that maintain fora while. it worksout all the same in the end, and it's adjusted once a year. also, since the water meter is in the house, and they can't seem to bother to send the meter reader out in the afternoons when someone is home, it benefits us.
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