Someone explain the utility Budget plans please.

I see occassionally people discuss "being on a budget plan" when it comes to their utilities. How does this work? Is it just for LIPA, or do all utilities have some version of this? TIA!

Re: Someone explain the utility Budget plans please.

I believe that you pay prettty much the same amount each month. I am not sure how it's figured out. It's supposed to benefit you by making your bills similar each month. For example, when I lived in Queens, my bills were huge in the summer because of the AC. Then they were low the rest of the year. With a budget plan I would have paid less in the summer but more during the fall/winter. Does that make sense?

ConEd has that plan, and now I have NYSEG, which also uses that plan.

I don't think the phone has an equivalent.

Re: Someone explain the utility Budget plans please.

They estimate how much you will spend annually and then break it out over 12 months. You might be over or under at the end. Sometimes if they estimate too low they will raise you payment.

I like it - helps out in the winter when you use more oil and your bill might be higher than the summer. On a budget you are paying a fixed amount each month.

Re: Someone explain the utility Budget plans please.

We do balancing billing with both LIPA and Keyspan for our gas.