okay i'm fed up!! What do you pay?

[macw1960]

for natural gas and power?

just got a new bill,supposed to be on this new super saver plan with direct energy and they said it would take 3 months to take effect...well it's been 5 months since i switched and my bills are more...

my last bill for power and gas was $256..this is insane!!! i knew i never should have switched to direct energy...this guy got me when i was half asleep,he was at my door saying i would save 5% on my bill...i should never have signed this thing...now im stuck for 3 years...!!!!! grrr....

how much do you pay,who are you with? and how do i get OUT!!!

See reply to Shwa Girl, I messed up with the message.

[kanewtz]

Live in Northern Ontario

Natural Gas: I am with Union Gas, bill is hard to say really, and I'm a little too lazy to calculate an average. Live in a 2500sqft house. Forced air heating and my stove is 100% natural gas, even the oven. In the winter, bill is around $150, in the summer around $30, take an average from that.

Electricity: With HydroOne on Time of Use billing. In the winter around $70, in the summer around $120 (because of A/C).

[Draggy]

I live in Ottawa and pay $100 every 2 months for hydro and and about $50 a month for gas. I have a a 2 story plus basement 3 bed town house

[Lynn49]

I didn't respond because I have no idea what we pay! How pathetic is that?!!

[oddduck]

We have a large home (3700sq feet). Set up with a complete apartment in the basement. 3 adults, 2 kids. 2 complete sets of appliances. 3 computers always running + loads of electronics. There is always some one home during the day. We have the AC at 22.5C, and dry in the dryer 100% of the time. We don't really adjust our use (other then laundry) for time of day billing.

Our hydro is around $150/mo. Our natural gas is $80/mo on balanced billing (with a large credit).

[croman7]

I only have electric appliances and water heater, no gas at all. We have 2 adults and 2 dogs (no, they don’t turn on electrical appliances, but they do create laundry and take baths – both use hydro). We have a laptop that is almost always on (downloading movies and stuff). We use the dishwasher approx every 2-3 days. We do about 15 loads of laundry per week (washer and dryer, gotta get a clothesline!) and our house is about 1900 sq feet. We pay about $125-$150/month for our electrical bill.

[bgheuchert]

We are out in the country (in sk) so we have our own water system, the water is free, but we do have to keep up the system with regular maintnance. Right now the energy is coming in at around 100 a month, we are in a 2 story and there is about 1100 sq ft on each floor. We dont have an air conditioner. I am looking to get a laundry line and see how much we could reduce that monthly bill as well. Hmmm power I believes comes out to around the same too. In the winter though it definately jumps up, quit a bit. There are no other providers here though, just sask energy and sask power, so besides doing the solar thing or going geothermal its really our only option right now.

[walkonby]

Tudor, I see great responses in your thread now, it just took some time for members to see it and respond. I did not know that lurkers and people surfing here got included in the number of views either! That explains the high number.
Anyway, just to post what I pay monthly is pointless since I am in Ontario, and my specifics would differ from yours.
( eg: square footage of home, number of occupants, old or updated appliances, and on and on)

I know that sometimes there is a grace period where even if you signed a contract you can get out of it, but it sounds like that grace period may have passed for you already.
Rule of thumb from here on in and it is the best advice I can offer you.

Never, ever under any circumstances buy anything from anyone coming to your door. Or from a telephone offer either, it is just never a deal. In fact, I personally never answer or open the door. I peek, i see their damn clipboard and their silly I.D badge and walk away from the curtain, letting my 2 dogs bark " doggie " obscenities through the wall at them.
I sure hope you can find a way out of the contract.

[gameprogirl]

Most of the views on these threads are from lurkers who don't have accounts. I seen that many times as well, 100 views, no comments. It's nothing to do with you TudorChick, I personally like your posts. I can't help on this one because I don't pay for my utilities.

[gourmetsue]

we were on equal billing for gas and it was $151 a month (aug 11- march 12). We overpaid by about $400 and so we're working off our credit at the moment and we're now at about $67 a month (april - present). We're conscious of our usage of the furnace but we use the gas fire willy nilly

For our elecky we are with PowerStream and we're on TOU. The rate range from $0.065 kwh to $0.117 kwh. I am here during the day and have my computer on and potter about using power. I don't wash / dry during the day or use the dishwasher but other than that I don't monitor my use to the last penny. Our bill works out to be about $61 a month.

So we're anywhere between $120 - $210 a month for gas / power.

ETA: Ironically enough, it cost most for my Rogers bill than these two essential services!

[momof5boys]

For those contemplating getting a clothesline, I'd say go for it! We've had our clothesline now for 20 years and it has saved us a ton of money. When my boys were babies, I also used cloth diapers so this clothesline has been well worth it. We have saved ourselves over $1000 easily on electricity just by using a clothesline. We also have two large drying racks in our basement. The only stuff I throw in the dryer are towels in the winter time. Otherwise, our 25 year old dryer sits pretty much idle.....

[matrix82]

I used to live in a four bedroom house with den and office. I would estimate it at about 3000 sq feet, oil per month averaged about $400, electricity $200.

Now I am in a two bedroom apartment (big downsize). I just pay for electricity which is around $70 per month. I have to pay for laundry which is $4 per load, about $60 a month .

I have just set up a drying rack on my patio which I hope will help me save some money, not sure if it is allowed by building rules.

An air conditioner is not allowed. I wish we could have one, it just gets so hot, it was 32 degree's today. I can understand not allowing the window style air conditioner as it could potentially damage the windowsill, but to not allow the portable kind either is beyond me, as it's barely noticeably and wouldn't cause damage.

[sunny3]

Take my response and just do your homework. Here in ontario we have people who come door to door wanting to look at people's bills and then try to trap them into a program where they think they'll end up paying less but in fact they end up paying way more for their energy. I was in it for gas several years ago right before gas prices went super high and it was worth it then but it was a total scam for people who got it for hydro and now i don't know what it's like but I'm very happy with just being with no one- just your usual hydro and gas company, and paying actual, not paying a company to scam me. They were on Marketplace some time ago. Beware that they changed names but it's the same scam. I believe they were direct energy at one point but i don't know if it was a scam only in ontario or not. Now it's under a new name here in ontario and i don't remember what it is but they sell it as green energy i think- i don't know, i shut the door in their face when they come to me every month and ask to see my bill. I believe when you sign the contract thing, you're locked in for 5yrs and there's not much you can do about it. If you refuse to pay their part of the fee on your bills, they send you to collectors eventually. I think it's usually a couple hundred dollars to pay them off and be done with them but I'm sure that it probably depends how long you were locked in for, how long is left... Again, I have no idea if you're with the same scam I'm talking about. I have provided some links for you but I'm unable to locate the full Marketplace episode aired possibly in 2009. Basically, if you feel you're being scammed and you're locked in, do your homework in what you can do to help yourself (a non-profit uh, can't think of the name of it right now- financial adviser that helps with creditors and budgeting kind of stuff might be able to advise you), and just chalk it up to lesson learned. MANY people have fallen pray to them if we're talking about the same thing. I know we're in different provinces but I think this problem is occuring in any province where you can now choose who you deal with- companies trying to pursuade innocent people that their company with locked in contract will save you money and a lot of times it ends up costing you more.

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/p...sion/main.html (the full episode)
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/p...on/prices.html (how 100% of people who signed for electricity had no savings, and 44% of gas but remember this is 2009)
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/p...retailers.html

*there are different rules per province. Link to info for you in Alberta: http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/p...documents.html


The sad part I find is that they are allowed in poor geared to income areas and scam off those who are most vulnerable. I think they should be banned from going door to door entirely because people feel more pressured to deal with matters quickly rather than reading into it from something stuck in mailboxes and only going by what is written, not by some salesperson probably on commission who could do more than they are allowed to get you to sign but unlike marketplace, we wouldn't have the on camera proof of what the salesperson said if they were in deed in violation.

I'm really sorry you're having to deal with this. I pay 180$ monthly for water and electricity (electric heat) combined for a 2 bedroom town house and I do a lot to try to save energy but i have old windows and doors. I'm with my city's water and hydro company, no outside company. I have no gas here.

[sunny3]

Duh, i found the episode. Anyway, here's the last update on that story: http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2011/b...ersuasion.html

The Ontario Energy Board fined Direct Energy, Universal energy and Summit Energy for not following provincial codes of conduct.

Again, I don't know if we're talking the same Direct Energy company and hopefully they changed their tune if it is but the price paid may still not work out to be cheaper in the end- it's kind of a game of chance if paying more now leads to savings later but have you really saved if you paid more now unless like when it worked out for my gas it ended up going higher than my rate a month after i started and i was locked in for 5yrs but that's a rarity.

[newb]

And the worst is yet to come ..... mom got sucked into a deal and I didn`t know till the gas company wanted a security deposit !!!! I asked what for ?? found out she was with a reseller for 5 yrs. ....... At 90 she signs nothing at the door ,, but she did show them her bill ,, I wished I had known sooner !!!!!