Today I am going go on and on about gas. Not the type of gas you put in your car or the type that emanates from Sam's butt. The kind from Sam is so stinky that really, I am not up for posting about that. But I am going to talk about the kind that powers my furnace, my hot water heater and my dryer.
My brother is a meter reader, so I know a thing or two about having your meter read by the gas company. Sure he read meters in Santa Barbara, and I live here, in the arctic tundra, but seriously meter reading is the same worldwide.
My meter has not been read in two months. While, I generally do not care about that, there was a situation with the electric company where they didn't read my meter for about 3 months and I got hit with a bill that looked like my portion of the national debt. I was not so keen on that happening with the gas company.
What had me REALLY concerned is that my usage for December, according to their estimate was less than half what I used last December. It has been about the same coldness and we have indulged ourselves and cranked the heat up a degree this year. I have decided that my old body needs it to be at least 65 in this dang house for me to be happy. Bob is thrilled.
Small digression, I left for the weekend when we lived in Connecticut and came home to find the thermostat at 70 degrees, up from the usual 62. Oil cost about $2.50 a gallon, so I was a bit pissy about that. Seriously, does my skinny, thin skinned husband think oil grows on trees? Did we find a heating oil vein in the backyard? I do not think so.
Ok, so Bob is happy, the house is a little warmer. He goes on and on about how that 1 degree really makes a difference. I might kick it down just so he stops going on and on about it.
So, during my little chat with the gas company, I learned that they read my meter in December, just not in time to have it hit my bill, and lo and behold, it was almost exactly what they had estimated. I was stunned at that news. My house is warmer and my bill is half what it was last year. The big change that drives this is that we put new windows in this house. While the change in our heating and cooling bills will not really pay for the windows, it does off set that cost modestly. The cost of windows, the time spent with the house open in January and all the scrimping, saving and begging that went along to pay for them was worth it. I love my new windows. I am not to unhappy about the gas bill either!
very cool. our electric bills are much better here than they were in nj. we have energy efficient windows here, which is nice.
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