Checking discrepancies in your utility bills

Last week, I got my first gas bill from my new apartment. I was shocked to see it was double what I’d paid at my old place, because I had a gas dryer in my former apartment. This one actually has less appliances running on gas.

I looked at the bill and realized they tell you how much gas you’re using in something called “therms” (short for thermal units). I compared an old bill from my former apartment and saw that, according to the new one, I was using twice as much gas as in the old apartment. No way that was true! I was using less.

It had to be the pilot light that fuels a furnace in my new (new to me, but the building’s from the 1960′s) apartment. I hadn’t thought too much about it when I ordered service and the gas company employee automatically came in and lit it. But who needs a furnace in summer?

I called them and the end of the story was that they turned the pilot light off, discovered the valve was leaking (which they replaced) and the whole system is not very energy efficient. I decided I’m using space heaters in winter (it’s southern California – we barely need heat ever). Here’s what I learned from this experience:

Keep your bills! You can’t compare them if you don’t keep them.
Make sure you understand your bill. If you call the utility company and say “This seems high and I don’t get it” they’re likely to rattle off the 500 reasons why this might legitimately be happening. If you’re sure there’s something wrong, make sure you’re able to explain it to them clearly. I called and said, “It says I used more than twice as many therms as I ever used at my last place, and I have fewer gas appliances here – that doesn’t make sense.”
Here are some online guides to understanding a gas bill, an electric bill and a water & sewer bill.
If they don’t offer to investigate it, ask to speak to a supervisor. You have the right to demand the utility company prove the bill is accurate.

Another thing that can go wrong with utility bills for apartment or condo dwellers is when the charges for a common area’s utilities get linked to your unit’s bill somehow. Years ago, I had an apartment where my electricity cost double that of anyone else in the building, and none of the possible reasons the electric company suggested were the case. I never managed to get them to investigate it (didn’t push as hard as I should have), but a former electric company employee later told me I had probably been paying for the lights in the hallway or something, and the company should have come out to investigate instead of brushing me off.

In the case of my recent gas bill, we’re talking about a difference of $10. For me it wasn’t just about the money – it was also about not wasting a natural resource.

If you find out you really are using more electricity or gas or some other utility than most comparable households use, the utility company should still be able to help you identify the likely culprits so you can modify your usage. You can also do research online to see where you’re going wrong. An old TV, for example, that you leave on all day long to make it look to potential burglars like someone’s home might be using far more electricity than you realize. Replace it with a new energy star model, and it might pay for itself within just a few years.

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