Another LIPA question

Do you pay your LIPA bill monthly or bi-montly?

I was told that they do an actual reading every other month. But I wanted to get a monthly bill so they said they would still read it every OTHER month but estimate my MONTHLY bills. Does this make sense?

Does anyone else have their bills estimated? I would think this would work out in their favor not mine, considering they could overestimate.

I'm confused. Any help would be appreciated!!

Message edited 6/15/2007 11:36:21 AM.

Re: Another LIPA question

monthly - i dont think you can pay bi-monthly - but they do only read the meter bi-monthly and they give you an estimate for that month. You can enter your own meter readings on the website, but I find they dont really look at them. Thats why I love balanced billing.

I would get a ridiculous estimated bill, so the time they came to read the meter, my bill would be $0 bc i paid too much the month before.

Re: Another LIPA question

Balanced billing eliminates the guessing. I have been doing this for years and it works quite well. They still read the meter every other month.

Re: Another LIPA question

i've tried entering in the meter but it hasn't really done anything for me. I actually don't think Balanced Billing is in my best interest yet. We are in the house 11 mths and my balanced bill would be 121. I think I have only had 1 bill that amount in the 11 mths I have been here.

Last month it was 75.

Re: Another LIPA question

We pay every month.

Re: Another LIPA question

We pay each month.

Re: Another LIPA question

monthly but I called them once with a billing questions and they ASKED if I'd like to pay the bill in full. Apparently, some people do not pay in full.

Re: Another LIPA question

So for those of you that pay each month, are you on an estimate one month, actual reading the next? LIPA told me they think paying bi-monthly is a better option for me but in the summer months I feel like I can get a $500-700 bill for July and August because of the pool and AC. This is such a tedious thing but I am so anal with my bills.

ETA: They estimate based on the prior month.

Message edited 6/15/2007 1:23:38 PM.

Re: Another LIPA question

we pay every month and set up the budget option, where we pay the same each month. LIPA came up with this number based on our previous usage. before we were on the budgeted plan, our bills every month were so different. they read the meter every other month and on the off months, they estimated our usage. so we would pay $90 one month and $180 the next. it drove me nuts. now, they still read the meter every other month and they track our actual usage on the back of the statements so we know if we are ahead or behind.

my ILs pay every other month but their usage is very low so their bills are only $150 for 2 months.

Re: Another LIPA question

Every month.

Re: Another LIPA question

you can get billed every other month if you want because the previous owners had it that way, I just changed it back to monthly though i didnt want to get any huge bills.

Re: Another LIPA question

They just offered budget billing for $145 a month but I feel like that's double from what I would be paying with the exception of July & August. The last two bills I've had from LIPA were under $70. I'd rather suck it up those summer months, and pay monthly then be on budget billing because that number is based on the previous owners' usage. Naturally they had children and were home more. I'm going to wait 6 months before going on the budget plan. They also said I can read my own meter so that they don't estimate it for me for the months that they don't do the reading themselves. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks so much girls!

Message edited 6/15/2007 4:36:50 PM.

Re: Another LIPA question

We pay every other month. We are not on a budget plan either.

Re: Another LIPA question

we're on the budget plan and pay monthly. it is true that they only read the meters every other month.

or you can opt to do it yourself every month and either call it in or i think you can do it online now. but they still come to read the meters every other month.

Re: Another LIPA question

We used to pay monthly but since we moved it bi-monthly. I don't know why. We were never asked if we wanted that. Maybe that's the way the previous owner had it. It's fine by me. I can hold onto my $$$ for 30 more day's.

Re: Another LIPA question

Mine get estimated so I end up paying a small bill then a large bill.

Re: Another LIPA question

You can make payments via their website whenever you want.

I submit my own meter readings, as their "estimates" were totally off & I ended up getting refunds on more than one occasion. After the third time of having to argue with them, I decided to submit my meter readings myself.

Re: Another LIPA question