Terasen Gas

[JLM]

I've always thought I was a customer of Terasen Gas, but now I'm confused. I get billed by Terasen gas and pay the bill to Terasen Gas, but apparently don't receive my gas from Terasen. Whoever supplies my gas charges me $9.49 a GJ, whereas Terasen's price is $7.53. Anyway after a lot of discussions it's looks like I'm going to be charged the lower rate but it is only guaranteed for 3 months and probably won't take effect for two. Quite frankly I'm baffled, does everyone put up with this nonsense. Like what the hell is going on here and why is everyone seemingly putting up with it?

 

[lone wolf]

Don't get an Ontario Hydro bill. On top of the juice and taxes, you also get donked for delivery and debt retirement fees ... but they sure get upset if you deduct the cost of your own mortgage as a debt retirement fee....

 

[Cannuck]

Quite frankly I'm baffled

Join the crowd. I don't even try to figure mine out....and electricity is worse.

 

[VanIsle]

I've always thought I was a customer of Terasen Gas, but now I'm confused. I get billed by Terasen gas and pay the bill to Terasen Gas, but apparently don't receive my gas from Terasen. Whoever supplies my gas charges me $9.49 a GJ, whereas Terasen's price is $7.53. Anyway after a lot of discussions it's looks like I'm going to be charged the lower rate but it is only guaranteed for 3 months and probably won't take effect for two. Quite frankly I'm baffled, does everyone put up with this nonsense. Like what the hell is going on here and why is everyone seemingly putting up with it?

So, if it's going to take a month to take effect and will only last about 3 months, then you aren't gaining much are you? In another month we shouldn't be using gas much and then for the next 3 months, basically no gas for the summer. I don't understand what could be happening with your bill. We got notice that our gas would not be as "cheap" as the mainlands because we live on the island and now you say you are having to pay more. I don't know what happened to my bill but at the point of reconcilliation (I am on the equal payment plan)I had over a $1,000.00 credit. I thought I must have doubled up on my payments somewhere along the way but I didn't. So, I have a few months payment free. First time ever.

 

[JLM]

The savings I.P. may not be much if anything at all. I was just ticked off when I found out I wasn't being billed at the lowest rate- it's nothing short of a legalized scam and it's sickening that I (a senior) should be paying more than other customers. Quite frankly I thought there'd be more responses, or have most peoiple just got beyond caring anymore?

 

[Francis2004]

The savings I.P. may not be much if anything at all. I was just ticked off when I found out I wasn't being billed at the lowest rate- it's nothing short of a legalized scam and it's sickening that I (a senior) should be paying more than other customers. Quite frankly I thought there'd be more responses, or have most peoiple just got beyond caring anymore?

I remember when they deregulated BC Gas that became Terasen Gas.

I had just moved from a house that was all Hydro to this new gas and was promised lower heating costs. At first that was true and my bills for a 1400 sq feet house in Winter were about $300.00 each two months including hot water. Stove not included.

Then deregulated hit and prices started to soar on the Gas front. My Hydro remained the same but all of a sudden my heating went from $300.00 bi-monthly to $750.00 with a note it could rise about $1200.00 and that I should buy now at "futures prices". I did not for good reasons that I did not believe the price would remain and also I was renting and looking to buy so why lock in.

When I was house hunting I made sure I did not lock myself into a Gas heated place. Yes they say Gas is much cheaper but it all depends on how you heat your place. You have no individual control and with the new place I got I can heat some room while others barely have heat at all but benefit from my downstairs heat that rises.

In all my bills have never been above $350.00 here at much higher electricity rates..

Also the belief that gas bills will be non-existent in the summer is false.. If you use Gas to hear hot water / stove you can have higher bills depending on how much hot water / stove you use and what the rates are.. The magic term is rates as Gas is traded on commodities market..

Enjoy

 

[lone wolf]

Wait until you get a utility who switches due date to the 23rd just so they can collect late fees from pensioners who get cheques at the end of the month....

 

[taxslave]

The gas line ends about 5 km from my house so we use propane. It is somewhat more expensive than natural gas but still better than electric simply because we have heat when the lights go out. However last winter I discovered that Canwest gas was charging 20 cents/L. more for home delivery than the retail price at the gas station. I invited them to get their tank out 0f my yard and bought 100 lb. tanks. Presto 25% savings. Takes about three months savings to pay for a tank. Actually less because the tank rental from Canwest is$88/yr. If we had a responsible government in this country the price of fuel would be regulated and not on the commodities market where products change hands just to make money not to use. I have now decided that commodities brokers are next to lawyers when it comes to being a blight on society.

 

[VanIsle]

Wait until you get a utility who switches due date to the 23rd just so they can collect late fees from pensioners who get cheques at the end of the month....

Don't most of the companies do that now? I don't think I receive any bill that is due mid month or end of the month. They are all due at a time that for most people is not a "pay day". My husband gets paid in the last two banking days before the end of each month. I set up all payments (hydro/gas/phones etc.) to come out at the time he is paid. I know lots of people wonder why I would pay early and "give those companies the right to use my money" but I don't see it that way. I see it in two ways. One is that everything is paid for in advance so I don't worry about forgetting and the other thing is that, because I handle all such things in our house, I don't want my husband to withdraw funds, notice there is extra money there and maybe spend money we don't really have. If I set it all up for "due" dates, it appears there is a large balance. People depend far too much on the balance they see on a debit receipt which is the least effective way of knowing your bank account balance. So for me, what works best is to take all payments out within a few days of his pay. Then, there is never a concern about what is spent. Ever since I started paying that way, we have had a lot more money in the account. I don't tell him how or when I pay so maybe he's just cautious and thinks there are bills to be paid. Whatever it is - it works.

 

[VanIsle]

I remember when they deregulated BC Gas that became Terasen Gas.

I had just moved from a house that was all Hydro to this new gas and was promised lower heating costs. At first that was true and my bills for a 1400 sq feet house in Winter were about $300.00 each two months including hot water. Stove not included.

Then deregulated hit and prices started to soar on the Gas front. My Hydro remained the same but all of a sudden my heating went from $300.00 bi-monthly to $750.00 with a note it could rise about $1200.00 and that I should buy now at "futures prices". I did not for good reasons that I did not believe the price would remain and also I was renting and looking to buy so why lock in.

When I was house hunting I made sure I did not lock myself into a Gas heated place. Yes they say Gas is much cheaper but it all depends on how you heat your place. You have no individual control and with the new place I got I can heat some room while others barely have heat at all but benefit from my downstairs heat that rises.

In all my bills have never been above $350.00 here at much higher electricity rates..

Also the belief that gas bills will be non-existent in the summer is false.. If you use Gas to hear hot water / stove you can have higher bills depending on how much hot water / stove you use and what the rates are.. The magic term is rates as Gas is traded on commodities market..

Enjoy

I don't have any belief that gas bills are non-existant in the summer. There can be a few things causing that. For one thing - if you have a gas fireplace and don't turn the pilot light off for the summer - you are paying for it. Less than $10.00 a month but you are still paying. We are daily showerers (if that can be a word) and sometimes I just feel like a long enough shower that I nearly run the tank cold, and I wash clothes often enough that the HW tank is heating up again for that and then there is the dishwasher so the tank gets another workover.
I know that it is popular to use a heat pump these days but you have to have a back up furnace with them. Either gas or electric. If we build again, and we think we might do that in the next few months, we will just go for electric forced air. We have had it before and it's nice heat and certainly no more expensive than natural gas. I would have natural gas put in for my kitchen stove though and a gas fireplace. We went without the fireplace in this house and I really miss it. I won't do that again.
Man, Taxslave: Is the wind blowing as hard at your house as it is at mine? Spooky out there. I don't like the wind. Sir Francis, if it's not on the mainland yet it must be on the way there tomorrow. Lights have flickered a couple of times so I have flashlights all around the room.
It's odd Taxslave that the gas line stops there. They brought it across to Comox because that was the shortest route across the water so after that you would think with it being in Nanaimo, it would certainly be in Errington. I would have thought it would be in Errington before Nanaimo. I wonder how they by-passed that.

 

[TenPenny]

We use propane for the stove, but electric heat pump (air-air) for heat.

Never had a power bill over $300/month, and that's in NB.

If the geography allowed it, I would have gone to a ground source heat pump.

 

[VanIsle]

We use propane for the stove, but electric heat pump (air-air) for heat.

Never had a power bill over $300/month, and that's in NB.

If the geography allowed it, I would have gone to a ground source heat pump.

I live on Vanc. Is. so I don't have bills like that either anyway. To build a new house and have to put in both a gas or electric forced air furnace and a heat pump is too high a cost for me to see any return in this lifetime. Maybe the next owner would benefit but for now, I have to look out for my household and if I do build a new house, paying for two furnaces won't be part of the cost.

 

[TenPenny]

I live on Vanc. Is. so I don't have bills like that either anyway. To build a new house and have to put in both a gas or electric forced air furnace and a heat pump is too high a cost for me to see any return in this lifetime. Maybe the next owner would benefit but for now, I have to look out for my household and if I do build a new house, paying for two furnaces won't be part of the cost.

It's only one system - the heat pump system simply has a backup, either gas or electric.

 

[JLM]

Don't most of the companies do that now? I don't think I receive any bill that is due mid month or end of the month. They are all due at a time that for most people is not a "pay day". My husband gets paid in the last two banking days before the end of each month. I set up all payments (hydro/gas/phones etc.) to come out at the time he is paid. I know lots of people wonder why I would pay early and "give those companies the right to use my money" but I don't see it that way. I see it in two ways. One is that everything is paid for in advance so I don't worry about forgetting and the other thing is that, because I handle all such things in our house, I don't want my husband to withdraw funds, notice there is extra money there and maybe spend money we don't really have. If I set it all up for "due" dates, it appears there is a large balance. People depend far too much on the balance they see on a debit receipt which is the least effective way of knowing your bank account balance. So for me, what works best is to take all payments out within a few days of his pay. Then, there is never a concern about what is spent. Ever since I started paying that way, we have had a lot more money in the account. I don't tell him how or when I pay so maybe he's just cautious and thinks there are bills to be paid. Whatever it is - it works.

To give the City of Grand Forks credit (our light bill is through them) the payment due date has recently been changed from about the 27th of the month to early the following month. Obviously someone with common sense got into the act.

 

[Ron in Regina]

This being Canada, not heating your home is not an option. The
deregulation of pricing is a bit spooky as heating your home isn't
a luxury that you can cut back on...too much...we're a very captive
clientele so enjoy the ride.

The only number I really concern myself with on my bill has a Dollar
Sign in front of it...and this has been an ugly winter out here on the
Prairies.