I'm at a loss. I can't figure out why my gas bill is as high as it is,while my neighbor's bills are MUCH lower.I moved into this house a couple years ago and I've had sticker shockevery time the gas bill arrives. The new house matches my old one asfar as appliances as I brought them with me. The only difference isthe furnace and water heater.As an example; the largest bill I've ever had at my old house was $125where the largest bill to date at the new house was $320. The house isbigger by 600sqft but that should only account for winter bills...I use to think the old furnace was the culprit but my bills are highall year around. (I even replaced it without much effect) A typicalbill at the old house was $12-$20... the new house never has a billbelow $100, even when the furnace is off all month!I started suspecting that the meter was bad so I had NIPSCO come outand check it several times until they replaced it on my insistance. Itdidn't help. While they were there they checked of leaks too.I just talked to the old owner of the house and found out that he toohad the meter swapped. So even he knew something was up.So my gas bill last month was $101 and my neighbor's bills average $25. I don't know what to do next. The only thing left to try is replacingthe water heater but I can't imagine that it is even capable of usingthat much gas.The NIPSCO guy shut the water heater off for 20 minutes and checked themeter. No gas was used. This weekend I'm going to shut it off for afew hours and see if the meter moves. When I relight the water heaterI'm going to see how much it consumes over X amount of time in caseit's a leak after the shut off valve.In the meantime, I'm open to any suggestions. If my natural gas billgoes down, I might be able to fill my car up with the savings!Thanks for reading this long post.

You think that a water heater can make a $70-80 difference? Everyone Italked to said no way. I'm thinking about replacing the water heateranyway and see what difference it makes.As for the gas leak, what if it was underground? I'm on a slab (bothold and new houses) and I've been wondering if a leak under the slabwouldn't be as detectable.Another way to check that would be to have a pressure test done.And to Tom's reply, If it was an estimated bill it would eventuallycatch up with me and I'd eventually have a low bill. In living here2.5 years, I've never had a "low" bill.

Why is my gas bill so high? Ideas?

Sep 01, 2005 21 Replies

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CL (dnoyeB) Gilbert 20 years ago

There is also the possibility that the neighboor's gas bill is unusually low. Check a 2nd neighboor.

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Kevin Ricks 20 years ago

Does your gas co. have a some sort of bill equalization program? The gas co. where I live has a program where you pay more in summer and less in winter in an attempt to make the bills near the same all year round. They do an adjustment a couple of times a year to catch up if needed. Maybe you have that and don't know it? The user has to sign up for the program, I don't use it. FYI - I had a bad water heater my bill was went from $15 in one summer to $7 with the new water heater. Kevin

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