Jack Miller expects heating bills during the winter, but won’t pay a $500 gas bill for a vacant home.
Miller, a Charlotte resident, said he set the thermostat in the house he has moved out of to around 60 degrees just to prevent pipes from freezing. No one lived there and there was no hot water, he said. Still, his January Piedmont gas bill was higher than ever.
“I thought it was crazy,” Miller said. “I think there must be a gas leak.”
Miller is among a number of Charlotte-area Piedmont Natural Gas customers who say their bills have been unusually high this winter, with some reporting charges hundreds of dollars higher than what they typically pay. While colder temperatures and increased heating demand may be driving seasonal increases, some customers told The Charlotte Observer that the peak feels steeper than in past winters, sparking confusion, frustration and, in some cases, complaints to utility companies.
Piedmont Natural Gas said those bills are up an average of 20% from last winter due to higher gas prices and colder weather.
A few hundred dollars more
Miller said his concerns were heightened after comparing the bills from the vacant home to the costs of his current home, which is larger and has more gas appliances. The bill for that house was much lower, $330, he said. He contacted Piedmont Gas to ask if there was a problem. When the answers were unsatisfactory, Miller reported the company to the Better Business Bureau.
“They said maybe the new gas meter reads more accurately, but I don’t believe that at all,” Miller said. “I reported these situations to the Better Business Bureau because I’m not going to slack off, pay the bills, and move out. I want an explanation as to why the gas bill is higher for a small house that is unoccupied than for a larger house that is occupied.”
Other Charlotte-area residents described similar price shocks.
Madison Wolf, who lives in the Hembstead neighborhood in southeast Charlotte, said her recent gas bill was about $600, up from $400 the month before and about $350 last winter. Wolfe said she has not increased natural gas use in any meaningful way and is trying to conserve energy during recent winter storms.
“Thankfully, we can afford it. But my reaction is, some people can’t afford it because it’s a huge bill that you don’t expect. Your budget is based on past budgets, so when it doubles, it’s absolutely shocking.”
For Elizabeth Dancy, this spike is impossible to ignore. The Piedmont Natural Gas customer said her bill climbed to about $700 in January, compared with about $400 in the same month last year. Like Wolfe, Dancy said the increase caught her off guard because her home’s heating habits have remained largely the same. She has a smart thermostat that controls the temperature in her home to 68 degrees during the day and 61 degrees at night.
“In my house in the morning, before it even clicked, you could almost see your breath… It was totally unexpected to have something that high. I mean, in the winter, I knew it could definitely go into three, four, maybe even $500, but $700?” Dancy said. “There’s always an extreme cold spell every winter. But to me, there’s nothing special that warrants such a long hike.”
David Whitley Jr. said the January bill for his 3,400-square-foot home was $910, up from $768 last January, and the January 2024 bill will be about $410. He called Piedmont technicians to check for leaks but found nothing.
“My first thought is, we definitely feel like we’re screwed,” Whitley said.
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Why are Piedmont natural gas bills more expensive?
Piedmont Natural Gas, owned by Duke Energy, said increased usage due to the weather and natural gas prices were the biggest factors in rising electric bills.
Jason Wheatley, Piedmont’s chief communications manager, said in an emailed statement that natural gas costs have increased since last January. These costs are “passed directly on to customers across the board.”
Whitley said the company is committed to buying natural gas at the best possible price during the summer when demand and prices are lower.
This winter brought a few paragraphs dangerous cold Weather in Charlotte and the wider area. A snowstorm last month brought the heaviest snowfall to the region in about 20 years, tying the fourth-heaviest snowfall in 1880 single snow day in the history of the city.
“Weather has been the primary driver behind the growth that Piedmont natural gas customers may see,” Whitley said. “Higher energy consumption associated with colder temperatures is the largest factor in the increase in average home heating bills during the winter.”
Citing the December cold snap and freezing conditions associated with recent winter storms, Whitley said the record low temperatures and duration of freezes made heating systems work harder and longer.
Even so, the company stressed that some costs have declined recently. Piedmont implemented rate reductions for residential and small business customers in North Carolina effective Jan. 1, Wheatley said. The benchmark commodity cost of natural gas also dropped from February 1, from $4.50 per ten calories to $4.00 per ten calories.
this Company recommendations Customers looking to save money on their gas bills should reduce energy use, seal air ducts, seal their homes, consider insulation and use smart thermostats.
However, for some residents like Miller, that explanation still isn’t satisfactory.
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