Know What You Owe

I don't remember if I mentioned it here, but awhile back I learned that I should never have owed about $375 to Dominion gas due to a bill that wildly overestimated the amount of gas I actually used during the months of November and December. I told a lot of people about it and realized a lot of people aren't aware that the gas companies usually estimate the amount you use, and you can only prevent that by reading your own meter and submitting the number.

$375 is a shitton of money, and frankly, I think it should be illegal to estimate my gas usage based on what some asshole used in the same apartment a year or more ago. Companies like Dominion need to get with the program and either get their personnel to read the meter every month, or do what electric companies have been doing for some time, and install digital meters that can be read from a distance, or even from an office location--the technology certainly exists. And if they're not going to do this, they need to be a little more transparent about the way they bill you. It's true that most likely, an actual reading would've be taken from my meter eventually and my account would've been credited as such. But that's no reason to lend a month's rent at 0% interest to the gas company in the middle of winter.

Feel free to distribute this to anyone you know who pays for gas heat, hot water, cooking, etc., and especially ask them to send their stories to the email address provided. If it's the economy is making us broke, the last thing we need is to be overcharged for having a warm home. I have this flyer in Word format and PDF also if you need it.