Our utility bill goes up $650 this month

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Posted by Jim on Feb 3, 2008 181 views

A casual opening of the bill from PSE&G today gave us a big shock. Our utility bill for the month is $650 higher. And due in a few days. This is the downside of being on the utility companies equal payment plan EPP. They dont bump it up during the year when they know the end of the year sticker shock is going to slam you in the face. We of course know the usage every month because it is included in the bills, so ignorance is no excuse. And on the last page every month they spell out the actual costs and how your EPP payments are matching up. But when you look at the chart and see the same usage as last year, or even a small dip, you expect a small increase at the end of the year for things like inflation and rising prices.

But to have a shortage of $650 I think they knew about a few months back. That would have been the time to raise the price by $50 a month to start working off that huge hit in February ahead of time. This is certaintly not a good time for us. But I can imagine this breaking some families to the brink or beyond. And that is unfortunate. Do people know when the EPP balances are getting out of whack? Yes. Can the utility make of suggest voluntary adjustments during the year? Easily. And they should. I would hate to think of families who needed to pull holiday spending back getting caught off guard by these bill. The potential for post holiday arguments certaintly makes this another stress factor in any relationship, let alone in time were the economy is in the news.

What is suprising is the usage charts on the bill. Gas some months 50% higher then the same month last year even though the average temperature shows a minor change.

Do you use the equal payment plan if your utility offers it?