Budget plan...

[TheHaitian]

So after being homeowners for 1 1/2 years so far and had everyone asked us if we were or were not on a "budget plan" and had a few friends that were on it we decided to do it.

So we went on a budget plan for both natural gas and electricity. For gas it is now $66/month and for electrify it is $133/month.

I kinda like the idea how it is the same amount every month and reduce on the mild heart attacks during the really cold months or really hot months after we get the bill!

Anyone else on a budget plan?
How do you like it?

[Blonde Granny]

We have it for natural gas and electric.  Ours operates a little differently for electric, instead of "level billing" ours is a rolling average of the current month usage total and then the last 11 months then divided by 12..  So it does change by $5 or more sometimes during the summer.  Natural gas stays around $50/mo.  Certainly is a better deal that skyrocketing summer bills and high winter heating bills using natural gas.

[Deleted]

We did the level billing thing back before I got divorce so maybe 25+ years ago. We had a heat pump, and our bill was $300 every month. It was one of the reasons that I didn't fight to keep the house actually. $300 in the early 1990s would be astronomical today.

I liked knowing what the electric bill would be every month. If I had level billing now, it might keep me from asking my husband if we really needed to run the a/c while he wears sweats.   For some reason, he likes to be cold and then warm inside that cold.  That costs $$$.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I had it in every residence prior to my current one. We're flush enough that I can run my own budget plan. Because we move in the summer time, we end up owing in the summer and having to pay them the owed amount. Since I can run my own budget plan now, it will make the next move easier in that particular regard. 

[Lizard Queen]

I would feel really nervous if my budget were so tight that I had to worry about my gas or electric bill jumping up $100-200 for a month or 2. I prefer feeling the immediate effects of my increased use of heat or AC, so that I can suck it up a little and adjust the thermostat the next month.

[sapphire12]

I was on the budget plan when I first bought my house. It wasn't to my advantage as I was the second owner and the budget was based on the prior owners' usage. Well, I keep my AC at 78, which is considerably higher than most people, so my bills are not on par with the prior owners. For me, I only have a high natural heat gas bill, Jan - Mar, maybe April, so I just pay what is due.

[Tiny]

I am on the natural gas budget plan - but I send a fix amount that I determined was correct (based on 5 years of my history downloaded from the Natural Gas provider's website and the excel spreadsheet with my spending/bill payments.)

I absolutely HATE the actual recommended "amount" I'm suppose to pay. I attempted to 'follow the rules' for 2 years as it kindled a hatred backed with the passion of 1000 burning suns for my local gas provider. Under the 'official' budget plan, my monthly payments would start out at $28 a month for 3 months (april/may/june) then go to $90 for 3 months (july/aug/sep) and then when I'm behind by $300 or so it jumps up to $120 a month (oct/nov/dec) - heading into January the coldest time of the year I would owe the gas company about $250.. but they'd say I could pay the
budget amount of $150 amonth (jan/feb/mar) In march they'd send me a nasty gram suggesting I might want to pay the balance to 'true up' the account because I owed them a bit of money! and then when I did that they set the damn budget amount back to $30 a month.  Thus setting me up to have big budget plan bills during the future winter months.     
I have no idea why the gas company's algorithm can't figure out that I spend a minimum of $800 a year (they've got 5 years of info on my useage - maybe even 10 or 15 years if they haven't archived any of their data - heck I figured out how much I spend! ) and just set the damn payment amount at - say $70 and then be done with it. Actually, I said screw your stupid 'budget amount', I just send them $70 a month and I'm done with it. If I need to I can come up with an extra $100 between Jan and Feb to cover any shortfall - I didn't have a short fall last winter. Did I mention I HATE my natural gas provider?

My electric useage is pretty steady so I just pay the bill each month - I'm not on a 'budget plan' for that. I do assume I'm going to have $100 electric bills in June/July/Aug and plan accordingly.

For the most part - I like the idea of a budget plan. My personalized natural gas budget plan works great for me. I barely think about the ups and downs of the cost to heat my house.

[TheOtherMe]

Being in the midwest, my electric and gas usage varies widely.  I have separate companies for electric and gas.  I have both on the budget plan.  The gas plan can change quarterly.  The electric plan adjusts annually.

[justme]

I'm not. But all I have is electric and only once or twice has my bill hit 100. My new unit was actually 20 cheaper than my old west facing unit in the same building that was 400 sf less. It was my first full month bill and it was Aug-Sept which is pretty hot for Florida weather. Considering I'm going to have to put a new ac unit basically now it'll probably go down even more.

[Deleted]

Not me.  My electric doesn't vary enough to worry about it, and heat I usually pre-buy in one lump sum in the Summer. 

[cranberry]

I've done budget plans twice.  The first time, I took over my Mom's budget plan for oil heat.  I was living with her and taking care of her because she had dementia.  She always had the heat turned way, way up (but insisted it didn't work), but after she went into a nursing home, I kept it much lower.  Basing my usage on hers wasn't the way to go, but I got a nice adjustment from the oil company at the end of the term. 

In a condo I sold in July, I was on a budget plan for electricity, since I had electric heat.  That worked out nicely.  It came to $143 per month.

Now I'm in an apartment with units above, below, and on either side of me.  The sun pours in all morning until mid-afternoon. I haven't even turned on the heat yet and it went down to 21 degrees last night.  I'm curious to see what my next electric bill will be.  In the summer, it was around $75 at its highest.  I don't think I'll sign up for a budget plan here, though.  It's a smaller place and much less expensive to heat and cool. 

[bobosensei]

We have budget billing for our electric.  It's the first time I've ever had it.  But it is still a surprise at the end of each billing cycle whether we will owe money or have a refund and have the payment adjusted up or down.

[teen persuasion]

Oct 19, 2015 22:35:53 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Not me.  My electric doesn't vary enough to worry about it, and heat I usually pre-buy in one lump sum in the Summer. 

This is pretty much us, too.  Our electric is about $40 - $50 a month year round.  I used to prebuy our oil in August, but lately our oil company has been dragging their feet on putting out the prebuy flyer.  I had to call them yesterday to get them to mail one to me.  Competitors' offers closed mid-September!

I think I need to offer to help them upload the forms to their website - they've got the service contract form on there (that one I received months ago by mail), but not the one I want.  This area is so far behind...

[yogiii]

I don't. With the gas bill higher in the winter and the electric higher in the summer, in a way they balance themselves.

[MarleyKeezy78]

Oct 19, 2015 17:11:14 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

So after being homeowners for 1 1/2 years so far and had everyone asked us if we were or were not on a "budget plan" and had a few friends that were on it we decided to do it.

So we went on a budget plan for both natural gas and electricity. For gas it is now $66/month and for electrify it is $133/month.

I kinda like the idea how it is the same amount every month and reduce on the mild heart attacks during the really cold months or really hot months after we get the bill!

Anyone else on a budget plan?
How do you like it?

I put us on that when we bought our house five years ago and I love it! It will change from time to time but not by much. It makes it way easier 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I am on the budget plan for gas and electric. When I was in Surgery Research I only got paid once at the end of the month. It made it a lot easier for me to budget if I knew exactly what the bills would be before they arrived.  

I've kept it that way since.

They reconcile my balance at least once a year, there have been a few times where I've owed $0. I know logically it's b/c I overpaid in other months but it's still nice to see a $0 when I open up the email.

[garion2003]

In my last apartment I did the budget plan for oil. The first year they based it on the prior year before me, and it was a 10 month plan that had some extra. The next year they revised their usage estimate downward, and went to an 8 month plan. So my payments didn't go down but the term did, so I had some "extra" money those 4 months without an oil payment.

[The Captain]

We've been on the budget plan for years (also in Midwest - Chicago area).  Separate gas and heat companies.  Both swing dramatically during the year.

There is a true up from budget to actual once a year so it's not like you're over or under charged.  I like having my monthly cash flows as predictable as possible since most bills are on autopilot. 

Gas is about $40 a month, electric is $133 a month.

[resolution]

I just refill the oil tank when it gets low. I am debating refilling it now while oil prices are low, but we still have half a tank.

[Gardening Grandma]

I've used a budget plan for electricity in the past and liked it. Had one for a while after we built the new house, but they never could get the anount right. The first year, the budget payment was too low and we had a bill of several hundred dollars at the end of the billing cycle.

Now, with YNAB, I just budget a set amount and let the cushion build up in the summer. 

[sesfw]

Our home is total electric with a solar water heater. We haven't gone on a budget plan but we do watch the 'time of day' usage and adjust the thermostat accordingly.  Last year our bill ran from $78 (winter) to $220 (summer A/C) .  We just plan for this.

A thought I had in looking at these replies from all of you.  The utilities are encouraging budget plans so they can have a steady monthly cash flow and can plan their bonuses and paychecks.  Hopefully they set some aside for emergencies.  Sorry, I'm being sarcastic.  

[CCL]

I used to be on the budget plan for electric. It was adjusted 1x per year based on an average of the previous 12 months. I was happy with that, but then they changed it. The new way was completely different, i forget exactly how it worked, but I calculated it out and they were charging ~10% premium with the "budget" billing. No thanks. Now I just send extra every month, so I have a credit by the time the bigger bills arrive. Actually, I do this with all my bills. I round them all up so it's easier to balance my checkbook.

[debthaven]

We've had it for many years, for natural gas, electricity, and water.

We pay monthly over 9 months (Sept-May) and the bill is adjusted in June (we usually get some money back in June, but we could also end up being billed for June and / or July.

[bean29]

I use the budget plan for Gas and Electricity. They are billed together. My budget is $211/month. I am in month 3 of the plan year and have underpaid by $17. I usually watch it, and around Jan or Feb if I am seriously underpaid I call and ask them to bump up my budget billing amount.

If you don't do this, at the end of the plan year, you have 2 choices 1) pay the shortage or get a refund of amount overpaid or 2) roll the shortage or overage into next year's billing amount.

This is just an aside, I am on autopay, and I also turned off my paper billing. I look at my bill online, and you can look at several years of history.  If I let them mail me a paper statement, I feel like I need to file it and it gets tossed in a pile until I have time to get to it.  I figure what's the point?  (We have 5 electric/gas bills between our 3 properties). 

[quince]

I enjoy being billed for usage. I've never had a good time with estimates from utility companies. (Or stupid tax/insurance escrow on our mortgage!)

[debthaven]

I enjoy being billed for usage.

I don't know what climate you live in Quince, but we used to get crazy high natural gas bills in the winter, and very low ones in the summer. (I'm outside Paris so temperate climate, but in a very old, badly-insulated house.) It's easier for me to budget / pay regular monthly bills on the budget plan.

The electricity and water bills never had that degree of variation, but the natural gas and electricity bills were originally both on one bill, they only became separate later. 

As the kids "fly the coop" the electricity and water bills have gone down, but the natural gas bill doesn't.

We pay 179 euros per month for natural gas, 79 euros per month for electricity, and 95 euros per month for water (generally for 9 months per year). 

[quince]

We live in a mild climate now, but we lived in Michigan previously, so we did get high gas bills in the winter.  During the summer, the bill was 90% "Service charge" for even being a customer.  It worked for us, as in the end we'd have to pay anyway, and money wasn't tight- shock value also helped us keep sweaters on in the house in the winter.

[debthaven]

Haha I wear sweaters at home too lol

[luckyme]

Never saw the point to a budget plan.  In summer when you save on heating you just set it aside for the winter when the bill is very high.  Although, even at our coldest, I don't think we ever paid over $300 for the month.

Also, when you see that heating bill come in high, you very quickly start turning back the heat and layering up. 

[quince]

I think this is one of those things where it would be fun to look at the data to see if usage behaviors are different for people on level billing plans and people who are billed by monthly usage.