Paying an account you receive every month without knowing what you are paying for sounds a little ridiculous doesn’t it? However, with all the bills that we need to cover at the end of the month, it’s not surprising that this can sometimes happen.
Trusting estimates and companies to charge you correctly can be an easy thing until you start noticing that your expenses are a lot higher without you knowing why.
Understanding what you are paying for and which services are the ones that you actually use is important to not waste any money, not knowing if what you are paying for is really what you are getting.
To be sure of what your utility bills consist of and any additional services you might be paying for you can visit http://utilitybidder.co.uk to get more information.
What is a Utility Bill?
Utilities include water, electricity, and gas and a utility bill is the invoice you receive from your utility supplier for the service that you have used.
Your utilities can also consist of sewage and trash collection as well as recycling. You can add internet services, streaming services, and cell phone services as a utility as these are essential services that we need every day.
The utility bill will list the customer’s address, number, and account name as well as the amount and by when it is due to be paid. You will also find payment methods listed on the utility bill to make sure you have all these options available to you.
You will receive a different bill for the utility that is being charged, this will be a water bill, an electricity bill, and a gas bill.
Understanding Your Electricity Bill
Knowing the rates you’re paying and the amount of electricity you’re consuming isn’t enough to understand your electricity bill.
On your electricity bill there will either be a kW or a kWh and you need to know the difference between the two to fully understand how the calculations are made.
These are two distinct units of measurement. A kW means a kilowatt, this is a unit of measure that is equal to 1000 watts. While a kWh means a kilowatt-hour and is used to measure how many kilowatts an electrical device uses in an hour.
On your bill, you will notice how much kilowatts you are using but it won’t highlight how much electricity each device is using.
Here is the calculation method for finding out how much energy your appliances are using.
Think about the wattage, how often you use it every day, and the price per kilowatt hour.
If you want to calculate your power consumption estimates to find the general number of kWh you use per month for each appliance use the following method:
- Find the silver label on the appliance as the wattage will be on there.
- Divide the appliance wattage by 1 000 to convert the wattage into kilowatts.
- Then multiply the kilowatts by the average hour the appliance is being used.
- Multiply that answer by 30 days.
- Multiply that answer by your kWh rate to estimate your electric bill for the month.
- Do this for all appliances to estimate how much energy your appliances use throughout the month.
Other fees that are charged on your electrical bill are as follows:
Capacity Costs
This is the fee charged to ensure that the supplier has enough electricity to meet its customer’s demands.
Electricity Costs
This is the amount of electricity you used for the month charged by kw or kWh. This you can either control by reducing your electrical usage or switching your tariff to a fixed-term tariff to ensure that you are paying the lowest rates for your area.
Utility Delivery Fee
This is the fee for the maintenance of the supplier lines that feeds your home/business with electricity.
Understanding Your Gas Bill
Your gas bill is also part of your energy bill and depending on where you live there might be a few different terms that you need to learn to understand what is happening with your gas bill.
Here are some of the terms you might find on your natural gas bill:
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BTU
This is a British Thermal Unit and is a measurement of energy used to calculate the amount needed to raise the energy temperature of a pound of water to 1 degree Fahrenheit.
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CCF
This is the amount of gas that you have used throughout the month that has been measured per hundreds of cubic feet.
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Therm
This is the unit that is used to calculate the amount of energy that was used to determine how much gas was used throughout the month.
A therm is equal to 100 000 BTUs.
You can also find extra costs on your bill such as customer service charges, capacity fees, and transmission fees.
Understanding Your Water Bill
Your water bill will consist of your water supply and your sewage charges. There may also be extra fees such as water replacement fees and stormwater management fees.
On the bill itself, you will find all your personal information such as your account number, the amount owed, the payment due date, and the billing date.
It will also include your water meter information such as the water meter number and the water usage that is based on the reading taken for the month. It should also include at least two readings, the current and the previous one.
It should also show the number of gallons of water or cubic feet that have been used. If you want to work out how much water was used in the current month, you can deduct it from the previous water reading.
The water rates can change annually and are dependent on the water tariff that you are on.
There are monthly minimum charges such as fees for maintenance of the supply line and infrastructure, meter reading service as well as a water delivery charge.
Conclusion
Knowing what you are paying for and the tariff rates that you are on for your utilities is important to avoid spending money that could have been saved.
If you are not sure what your actual utility costs are you can reach out to your utility company and receive a breakdown of the services that you are currently paying for or use this article to serve as a guide to check your current bills to understand how your utilities work.
You can always switch to a cheaper utility company or you can find another utility supplier if you are not happy with your current one or if you want to start saving money to be used for additional services.