Before my wife and I moved into our current home we rented an apartment that was loft-like and about 1,100 square feet. We participated in a program through our gas company that allowed us to pay the same amount each month of the year. So our bill was $44 a month and some months went by where we paid nothing because we had overpaid through this plan. There was a furnace in the apartment and this program worked very well for us. Our total bill was never over $500 for an entire year.
Since we have moved we have a new gas company that offers the same plan, but the payment would be 3-and-a-half times as much as we paid before. Our new home is not even twice as big as our apartment was. Our first bill was the same amount as the price to participate in the plan and this was during the warm part of our winter. I found this outrageous because we do not use a lot of gas because we attempt to conserve and because there are only two of us.
Since our home is over 40 years old it does have a lot of leaks and I think this is a major cause of the price jump. Therefore, we are planning on adding some more insulation soon and I hope this can cut down on the bill a little. As it warms up I plan on replacing windows and doors so we can get rid of some of these leaks.
Our most current bill was over $180 so things are getting worse, not better. We shall see how all this works out, but so far I am not too happy with our gas bill.