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hazeleyes33
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 13060 total posts
Name:
Ginger
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Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
I have always loved the balanced billing and this is the first year we have had a large bill at the end.
Wondered what everyone else does and good and bad experiences.
Thanks :)
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Posted 8/27/10 2:10 PM  |
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ndblovah
Be happy always
Member since 1/07 1880 total posts
Name:
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Every two months I get a bill and I prefer this better. I like to pay for what I use.
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| Posted 8/27/10 2:40 PM |
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Cheeks24
Living a dream
Member since 1/08 8589 total posts
Name:
Cheeks
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
We're on a budget and we had the same thing happen to you. We learned our lesson the first year. Apparently your usage is shown on the bill somewhere. We still do the budget and pay a little extra each month so we don't get hit with a huge bill at the end of the year.
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| Posted 8/27/10 4:13 PM |
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hazeleyes33
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 13060 total posts
Name:
Ginger
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Did your bill go up from balanced billing to regular billing? How much?
Thanks :)
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| Posted 8/27/10 4:27 PM |
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VickiC
Rocking the party
Member since 5/05 4937 total posts
Name:
Vicki
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Posted by kokopelia
Every two months I get a bill and I prefer this better. I like to pay for what I use.
Ditto this exactly.
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| Posted 8/27/10 6:54 PM |
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hazeleyes33
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 13060 total posts
Name:
Ginger
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Posted by VickiC
Posted by kokopelia
Every two months I get a bill and I prefer this better. I like to pay for what I use.
Ditto this exactly.
Can I ask how much it costs every 2 months as this was my year:
$130 from Sept-June
$185 for July & August
$154 extra for overage for Sept bill
$131 from Sept-
Is it worth it for me to do it?
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| Posted 8/27/10 7:48 PM |
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HeatherRose
Life is Good :)
Member since 11/07 6605 total posts
Name:
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Posted by VickiC
Posted by kokopelia
Every two months I get a bill and I prefer this better. I like to pay for what I use.
Ditto this exactly.
how do you get a bill every 2 months? I get one every month for my usuage
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| Posted 8/27/10 8:42 PM |
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JandJ1224
Member since 6/06 5911 total posts
Name:
Jannette
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Posted by kokopelia
Every two months I get a bill and I prefer this better. I like to pay for what I use.
Us too. This is how it was since we started service in Dec.
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| Posted 8/27/10 8:54 PM |
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Blazesyth
*yawn*
Member since 5/05 8129 total posts
Name:
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Posted by hazeleyes33
Can I ask how much it costs every 2 months as this was my year:
$130 from Sept-June
$185 for July & August
$154 extra for overage for Sept bill
$131 from Sept-
Is it worth it for me to do it?
Are you talking about switching to balanced billing every 2 months instead of 1 month - or switching to non-balanced billing?
If you're talking about NON-balanced billing, there is no way to tell. If you use zero in January, then you'll get a bill for nothing in February. If you use a million in February, then you'll get a bill for lots in March.
There is no 'is it worth it'. You pay for what you use, and you pay for it 'close' to when you use it. (Within 2 months time.) Period. You don't get a discount for being on or off balanced billing. Everyone pays the same rate for electric - it's just the fact of do you like the 'predictability' of having the same payment for 11 months and then getting the big bill at month 12.... or having a different bill every month but that variable probably being much smaller as the variable is spread out over 12 months and not 1.
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| Posted 8/27/10 9:11 PM |
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ndblovah
Be happy always
Member since 1/07 1880 total posts
Name:
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Posted by HeatherRose
Posted by VickiC
Posted by kokopelia
Every two months I get a bill and I prefer this better. I like to pay for what I use.
Ditto this exactly.
how do you get a bill every 2 months? I get one every month for my usuage
According to LIPA there are three ways to be bill. Every two months for actual usuage. They come out every two months to read your meter and bill you for it. Balanced billing, which takes the months and balances them to one payment per month. Sometimes there is a shortage that you make up or an overage that you get as a credit. And billed every month, with a bill but they estimate one month and read the next. I know this because I had the same convo w a friend of mine about our LIPA bills. She called LIPA to find out. I do the every two months, she was getting every month, which I assumed was balanced. It wasn't and was the exact one, estimate the other. But then she got a huge whopper of a bill and went to balanced. It's really your preference.
For me I budget an amount for the bill every month any way. This way when the bill comes, I already have one months money stocked away for it.
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| Posted 8/27/10 9:47 PM |
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CouponKT
Our family is complete
Member since 6/06 16494 total posts
Name:
K
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
I got balanced billing and I like it a WHOLE lot better!! I would get $150 bills in the summer and then $400 bills in the winter. I couldn't handle not knowing how much my bill was going to be.
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| Posted 8/28/10 11:58 AM |
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Nifheim
allo
Member since 1/09 5476 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
i get a bill every month, read once a month, then estimate on the second *unless i enter my own meter reading. I refuse to get a balanced bill because then i will not care on my usage - when i saw a $350 bill last month we simply stopped air conditioning the entire house and started to conserve more.
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| Posted 8/28/10 1:31 PM |
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Goldi0218
My miracles!
Member since 12/05 23902 total posts
Name:
Leslie
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Balanced billing has ALWAYS worked for us and I am married to one of the most fiscally conservative people on the planet whom I have affectionately dubbed KING KOUPON.
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| Posted 8/28/10 5:40 PM |
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Im2oc4u
LIF Infant
Member since 7/10 175 total posts
Name:
J
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Lipa is a disaster. I am on balanced billing now which I have just been notified is going up, again, 2nd straight year. an addt'l $63 per month. but when I first moved to my current residence and switched the electric into our names, I am not sure if you take over the account or they start a new one, but apparently they failed to read our meter for 6 months after we moved in and when they finally did we owed over $1,000 on top of what they were billing us. They had been assuming the usage was the same as it had been from the previous owners (who must have never turned on the lights based on the difference in bills- lol)
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| Posted 8/28/10 7:04 PM |
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hazeleyes33
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 13060 total posts
Name:
Ginger
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Posted by Blazesyth
Posted by hazeleyes33
Can I ask how much it costs every 2 months as this was my year:
$130 from Sept-June
$185 for July & August
$154 extra for overage for Sept bill
$131 from Sept-
Is it worth it for me to do it?
Are you talking about switching to balanced billing every 2 months instead of 1 month - or switching to non-balanced billing?
If you're talking about NON-balanced billing, there is no way to tell. If you use zero in January, then you'll get a bill for nothing in February. If you use a million in February, then you'll get a bill for lots in March.
There is no 'is it worth it'. You pay for what you use, and you pay for it 'close' to when you use it. (Within 2 months time.) Period. You don't get a discount for being on or off balanced billing. Everyone pays the same rate for electric - it's just the fact of do you like the 'predictability' of having the same payment for 11 months and then getting the big bill at month 12.... or having a different bill every month but that variable probably being much smaller as the variable is spread out over 12 months and not 1.
Just wondered HOW different it would be by using the numbers I am paying now.
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| Posted 8/28/10 8:00 PM |
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hazeleyes33
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 13060 total posts
Name:
Ginger
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Posted by kokopelia
Posted by HeatherRose
Posted by VickiC
Posted by kokopelia
Every two months I get a bill and I prefer this better. I like to pay for what I use.
Ditto this exactly.
how do you get a bill every 2 months? I get one every month for my usuage
According to LIPA there are three ways to be bill. Every two months for actual usuage. They come out every two months to read your meter and bill you for it. Balanced billing, which takes the months and balances them to one payment per month. Sometimes there is a shortage that you make up or an overage that you get as a credit. And billed every month, with a bill but they estimate one month and read the next. I know this because I had the same convo w a friend of mine about our LIPA bills. She called LIPA to find out. I do the every two months, she was getting every month, which I assumed was balanced. It wasn't and was the exact one, estimate the other. But then she got a huge whopper of a bill and went to balanced. It's really your preference.
For me I budget an amount for the bill every month any way. This way when the bill comes, I already have one months money stocked away for it.
I want to make sure I have enough each month and don't want to save $130/month like I usually pay and it is alot more.
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| Posted 8/28/10 8:05 PM |
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VickiC
Rocking the party
Member since 5/05 4937 total posts
Name:
Vicki
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Posted by hazeleyes33
Posted by VickiC
Posted by kokopelia
Every two months I get a bill and I prefer this better. I like to pay for what I use.
Ditto this exactly.
Can I ask how much it costs every 2 months as this was my year:
$130 from Sept-June
$185 for July & August
$154 extra for overage for Sept bill
$131 from Sept-
Is it worth it for me to do it?
For us it is. We have a Cape and we are not using the top floor for anything but storage right now. We've been in the house about 3 years.
Our bill is slightly higher in the winter right after Christmas, because of all the lights and stuff we have on for the month. The most it has been for Nov/Dec. is about $250, so $125 for each month because of all the lights.
This summer, being PG and the heat, we have used the AC more than we ever have. For July & August, our bill was only $317, much better than I really expected.
Most bills are only around $150 for the 2 months, so we really don't use a lot of electricity apparently.
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| Posted 8/28/10 11:05 PM |
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ttcing
LIF Adolescent
Member since 8/09 851 total posts
Name:
Mel
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Re: Lipa-Monthly Bill or Balanced Billing
Posted by kokopelia
Every two months I get a bill and I prefer this better. I like to pay for what I use.
same here
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| Posted 8/29/10 9:58 AM |
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