This item, which appeared on the Prospect Heights Forum on Brooklynian, is interesting to us because it’s from someone who got an inexplicably large gas bill from National Grid. Subsequent posters complained of similar problems. We know someone who also got a monster gas bill from National Grid that made no sense for an apartment that only has a gas stove and a hot water heater. Here’s the post:
wtf!?!? so, i’ve been hearing from different friends for a few weeks now about ridiculously high National Grid bills (the first ones after the merger/buyout with Keyspan became in full effect). we just got ours. for $300+ dollars. is anyone else on the boards having this problem? and if so, what is National Grid saying to you about it? one friend of mine was told that her bill had been ‘estimated’ for the past year and that they were just ‘adjusting/catching up’ and that the next bill should be closer to normal. i don’t buy it, though….
We’re curious if others have gotten unusually large bills since the Keyspan takeover. One or two complaints is a fluke. Dozens would seem to indicate a major problem. Our friend’s gas, by the way, was turned off until the monstrous bill was paid.
25 responses so far ↓
1 Meghan // Aug 26, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Yes! This was a problem for me as well. When I first moved to my new apartment in June, the bill for 12 days was $58. When I spoke with them, they suggested that people had been using gas while the apartment was vacant. It’s been okay since then, but interesting to know that others have experienced problems, too.
2 Skip Skipson // Aug 26, 2008 at 1:36 pm
For some reason, National Grid now sends us a monthly bill instead of bi-monthly. As long as I can remember; we used to get a quarterly or bi-monthly bill from Brooklyn Union/Keyspan.
Anyway, our usage is low as we only use cooking gas. Since our usage is low we are subject to the minimum gas usage charge (which is a large portion of our bill).
Our last bi-monthly bill was $40, and our most recent (monthly) bill was $22. The minimun charge is a slightly larger part of my bill now. So instead of paying $4/therm, I now pay $4.4/therm (We use the same amount of gas [therms] each month)….
Classic Nickel and Dimeing in my book, oh well…there are worse things to worry about….
Anyway, to the articles original point, I don’t know if this ‘possible price increase’ is a trend or fluke, but I’m really happy to contribute the extra money to help National Grid re-coup their purchase of Keyspan and since I use their e-billing system, I save National Grid money on postage! 😛
P.S. Keep up the good work with the Gowanus Lounge.
3 SBK // Aug 26, 2008 at 3:18 pm
If Keyspan cannot read your meter on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, then they estimate your usage based on similar apartment buildings/past usage. They always, always, always underestimate and they continue to use the estimated amount to determine your bill until they get physical access to your meter. Once they get an actual reading, they go back for every single month that they’ve estimated [this can be months or even a year!] and calculate your “real” usage, which is always more than what they estimated. They then adjust your bill accordingly by applying all your past payments to this new balance and sending you a new bill with an insane amount listed on it. I had this happen to me for years, it’s a huge pain in the ass.
However, the one saving grace is that if YOU have access to your meter, you can take the reading yourself and submit it online. Your bill will be much more accurate this way.
Hope that helps.
4 Brenda from Flatbush // Aug 27, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Our bills are always astronomical because we have a huge poorly insulated wooden house; if the bill from BUG/Keyspan/”National Grid” arrived saying “One gazillion dollars,” we would just sit glassy-eyed and pay it. HOWEVER, on a related topic, a neighbor reports that her husband was almost menaced by a nasty Grid representative IN PERSON bitching about their paying their bill late (which they hadn’t) and threatening to turn off their gas. Anyone else heard of thuggish collection tactics from the Gridsters? Under Keyspan, all that happened if you paid your bill late was that you got a second notice with a little pink reply envelope instead of the usual blue one…
5 ajg // Aug 27, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Yes, I noticed it also.
My bill is 20 + dollars more.
6 margot // Sep 9, 2008 at 7:43 am
In july I had national grid change my meter to one that can be read remotely (they drive by and take the reading from the sensor installed in the basement). I did this to eliminate being charged when they cant get access, which is all the time, since i work during the day. I got my latest bill with an estimated charge. when i called ng, they said that they are billing monthly, but only reading the meter bi-monthly. I said “That means youre guessing??” The guy on the phone said its like any other monthly bill. I disagreed saying that ConEd reads my meter every month and why should I pay what they are guessing?? I may send a check for the amount of my best guess, since thats the new rationale. How can this be legal? Why should we front National Grid the money every other month? Plus, the guy who installed the remote sensor said its a way to cut entry level meter reading union jobs. What do our elected representatives have to say?
7 daniel lockwood // Sep 16, 2008 at 8:02 pm
since national grid took over in syracuse, ny they made 10 times the profit of the previous company and still get rate approval everyu year from the rubber stamp psc . excuse my grammer i feel like typing with one finger. yes that one.
8 John // Nov 11, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I had the same issue. Can anyone provide me with any suggestions or gas companies that will provide actual monthly readings.
Thank you
9 Harry // Jan 5, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I pay gas bills for 2 houses and one of them always say “actual” and the other one is always “estimated.” Bills for the “estimated” house are usually about 20% more pricey although we turn the heat up way more in the other house. Fucking faggots are raping us for our hard earned cash!
10 pam // Jan 30, 2009 at 5:30 pm
I have the same issue. More troubling than the cost of the gas usage is the cost of the surcharges! The surcharges exceed the cost of my gas use! WTF!
11 Chris // Feb 5, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Just got my bill for January 09.
$308.00. for 1 month. It use to be every two months. I was on the budget plan with Keyspan paying $118.00 a month. What is going on?We need other company’s to service New York residents there is no competition so they do what ever they want. Something needs to be done……
12 Greg C // Feb 7, 2009 at 10:49 am
I heat my house with gas and a large wood stove. I use this wood stove every day. My gas heat has become my back up. My Delivery fee has gone up $4 a month to $68. My actual gas from Gateway which is not on a budget was $380 for December and January. So even though I hardly use the gas. I wash with cold water, we do cook with gas.. Im still at $450 for 2 months. I used 250 LESS therms than last year and this year is 3 degrees colder than last. I cannot imagine how high my gas bill would be if not for the wood stove. Can anyone tell me what kind of gas bills they are facing for the homes?? I just think Im spending to much considering how much I heat the house with wood and how little my gas boiler actually runs.
13 caroline // Feb 10, 2009 at 8:30 pm
I just got a $1,100 gas bill for 17 days of use after moving into a new apartment. i am currently about to have a panic attack about such a sum. can someone please help?
14 MVP // Feb 11, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I feel you guys! My bill is $381.00 this month.
What can we do about this?
15 Al Akin // Feb 11, 2009 at 5:48 pm
My gas bill is also high. This months bill was 540, when I called them they told me they estimated. WHen I called them with the actual meter reading which was less, they said they will adjust my bill. This was 4 months ago and I am still trying to get my credit for their “guessing” on my usage. Isn’t this against the law. And why is the delivery charge so high its about as high as the actual bill. WHat can we do as consumers??
16 Chris // Feb 16, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Are there any other companies besides NationalGrid that services New York City Areas? If any one konws please post. We need a change. Can’t let them get away with the way we are being treated.
17 Tiffany // Feb 20, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I’m having the same problem. An unexpected $241 last month for an 800 sq ft apartment…this month back down to $109. They have access to the meter so why the estimating? And is this a normal price for this size apartment in Brooklyn? (new construction…only two years old)
18 andy // Feb 23, 2009 at 9:00 am
just got my most recent bill: $360 for one month. this wouldnt be out of the ordinary if i lived in a six bedroom house, but i live in a one bedroom apartment. my heat NEVER goes above 65– it usually hovers around 60-62, and i don’t even use hot water every day. the “delivery charges” cost me more than the gas i used.
i’m quite tempted to call about this, as i really think it’s a huge mistake on their part– my last TWO BILLS combined totaled $127.
19 Lavan // Mar 20, 2009 at 8:09 am
I received a bill in Feb for an amount of $1726.00 for 30 days. I stay near Boston and the maximum I had paid in the last one year was $172 dollars. This is just for a single bed room apartment. After calling multiple times they brought it down to $980 dollars for 50 days…not sure how. I still asked them to review it and suspend my bill temporarily. Now again in March I am being charged $1200 dollars for just 12 days and my total bill has gone up to $2500.00 dollars and it is not even an estimated bill. They say its an actual bill. What exactly can I do in this kind of situation. No way can I afford to pay that much ..especially keeping in mind that I never use so much energy. They say its a crazy winter..but it has been a “crazy winter” for everyone. Why only my bill is so ridiculously high. Can anyone here share any advice?
20 Chris // Apr 1, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Should file a class action lawsuit against
National Grid. It has been done before.
Search online – National Grid class action lawsuit due to high increase.
21 john decenna // Aug 30, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Keyspan has outsourced their bill department to a mailshop that is unsecured so your information is at risk. Also it costs them another 6 million to process the same bills because they want to reduce the amount of employees. Your bills are going out past their due date and everyone late is charged a fine. The additional cost of the bills are to be absorbed by us the customer. Any bills destroyed by processing about 300 a day arent being sent out and you will be double billed with a late fine for the next month. Keyspan is cooking their books by outsourcing 40 percent of their work force. They dont care about their client base. And there is no one left to fix any problems that will be brought on by a storm.
22 judy spere // Oct 25, 2009 at 10:43 am
I am horrified by all of the overcharging, rude customer service and unanswered questions about my bill. I may be dumb but I know when someone comes to your door and demands $4800. cash or they will shut you off there is something wrong. I have been shut off since July 7 because they will only take a minimum of 2000 from me which i can’t seem to afford. However I get charged every month over $60.00 for delivery. What delivery? I cant get any help because I am ahard working person making an ok salary. Noone has any sympathy for me but i don’t think my bill is right and i am not paying what i don’t owe. whew! I f anyone knows someone to help figure it out I’d appreciate it.!
23 Vanessa // Nov 12, 2009 at 11:53 am
I just got off the phone with national grid after receiving my last bill of 138. I am on their level billing plan so I pay 286 each month. According to last months statement I was10 months into the cyle now they tell me the annual cycle is over and I must pay them the usual billing amount of $286 + my current bill of $138 + the remaining balance of the billing cycle $60. If I was able to pay $484 in one month I would never have joined the balance billing program. The rep I spoke with said I am reading the bill wrong and I don’t understand the program. I told her 12 month is considered annual not 10 month, therefore by them cutting off 2 month from my cycle I am behind. She then told that because I missed a payment in July, which I actually paid 2 days before the due date, that I am 1 month behind so it’s my fault that i have this problem. I am not sure about anyone else but when I make my payments online it takes them 7 days to deduct the payment from my account, so if they post payments late how is that my fault. I am so sick with of them now that I want to switch to, however I don’t know waht I can switch to since they are the only providers of gas in Brooklyn, ny.
24 Joseph S. // Dec 26, 2009 at 8:54 pm
I just received a $730 gas bill for the month of December. I’m considering filing a lawsuit for fraudulent or deceptive business practices. Anyone want to join? Email me at jasatto87@hotmail.com
25 Erica // Dec 28, 2009 at 12:12 pm
PLEASE contact The NYS Department of Public Service and file a complaint. If enough of us do this, hopefully something will be done.
I too have been a victim of National Grid and their unfair billing practices!! $3000 worth!!
http://www.dps.state.ny.us/New_complaintdept.html