https://blog.hansbergerrefrig.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=962&action=editYou’ve probably noticed after reading the gas bill that the charges for delivery, along with the excise and revenue taxes, change based on your monthly usage, although the cost per therm may not vary.
Unlike electrical providers, gas companies buy their gas from larger natural gas providers. They tend not to mark up the cost of the therms you use, but make their profit by charging you delivery fees and surcharges on the volume you use, plus the monthly basic service charge. And just like gas stations experience, the cost of gas may change from month to month and you’ll have little or no warning if price spikes are in the offing.
Southwest Gas lists the number of therms you use on the gas bill each month and when you’re reading the gas bill, you may find that it includes a chart showing you the total therms you’ve used on a monthly basis for a one-year period. A therm is equivalent to 100,000 BTUs (British thermal units) of energy. Lowering your therm consumption lowers most of the other charges that Southwest applies to your bill.
You can cut back on the gas bill by:
- Having your natural gas (heating oil or propane) furnace serviced annually. A clean and properly adjusted furnace uses less gas than one that’s dirty and improperly adjusted, and it assures your safety.
- Keeping the air filters for the furnace clean. Dirty filters make the whole system run harder and longer, wasting energy and putting stress on the equipment.
- Replacing gas furnaces older than 10 to 15 year to take advantage of today’s higher efficiencies and superior technology.
- Having an electrician wrap your water heater with an insulating blanket, lowering the temperature to 120 degrees, and draining a few gallons several times a year to lower the dissolved solids at the bottom, decreasing heating costs.
If you’d like more advice about reading your gas bill and lowering consumption by servicing or replacing your cooling or heating equipment, please contact us at Hansberger Refrigeration & Electric Company. We’ve provided top-notch electrical and HVAC services for Yuma and southwest Arizona since 1952.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Yuma, Arizona about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about reading your gas bill and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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