Ah the utility companies...makes me mutter sometimes at the mere mention or thought. Most are very callous, and don’t inform you of half of what’s out there, let alone options they can do for you. I swear if I ever get rich, I going to buy a windmill to supply my homes electric.
First I want to explain about these companies; they all cry they are in the red from customer theft or customers not paying on time, etc. What a crock. ALL of the CEO’s of the companies (as well as others) are making at least 12 million dollars a year, not including perks such as company bonus’s, severance pays, company jet usage’s, etc.
If you would like to see their salaries (yup, its public records), then CLICK HERE on the blue.
 CLICK HERE FOR THE SALARIES; at www.thecorporatelibrary.com/
or
CLICK HERE FOR THE SALARIES; at wwww.aflcio.org/corporateamerica
ONLINE COMPLAINT FORM FOR BPU
CLICK HERE TO FILE A COMPLAINT; at www.bpu.state.nj.us/home/choosecomplaint
As far as I am concerned, there is NO reason to charge the customers such high rates for goods of any type. Don’t tell me your hurt’n when you make 46 million dollars a year, period.
Then they have the nerve to ask for rate increases....bunch of parasites.
Windmill here I come...
Until then, I’ve learned a few tricks:
GAS
Depending upon what you use your gas for as to what steps you can do to buy you some time to get a payment together.
If its heat, and its winter, you may have more rights then you think...where children are involved. Contact your gas company and see if they have some sort of program to help low income families.
To double check what ever they tell you, contact your local Board of Public Utilites for rules and regulations.
Also contact your County or State Consumer Affairs office. With ALL of the info from all of these places, it will arm you with facts and your families rights.
If the gas company turns you off, and was not supposed to (or are on the phone saying they will) CONTACT YOUR BOARD OF PUBLIC ULILITES. Also tell the gas rep "OK, I'll hold while you call the Board Of Public Utilies (or what ever its called there) and we'll talk three way..."
Works like a charm :)
CLICK HERE to find your Board of Utilities
ELECTRIC
ah my favorite utility of all...*snicker*
BROKEN PROMISES
I dont know about where you are, but here in NJ, the Electric Company has this policy; if you have a certain number of "broken promises" (where you dont pay when you say you can pay, or miss on payment arrangements)they will not help you. They just want the payment IN FULL, period. Problem is, as a single parent, we tend to have 'broken promises' on our accounts, thus we are constantly having our electric turned off.
First things first; go to your local social service building. In our area, they have whats called a 'shush fund'. They ALL have one, just different names for it. Its an emergency help fund, but not considered part of the 'emergency help department' of the social services. They dont tell you about it, so you will have to ask. If you dont know what its called, ask some friends or call your state...NOT the county office, for they usually dont tell you half of what is available to help.
Then, try local churches or womens centers. Some may be able to chip in a little, thus keeping your electric on.
HOT WATER HEATER TIMERS
As stupid as it is, this small item added to your place will cut your electric by nearly half (depending upon what kind of heat you have that is). If you have it on in the morning, and do all of your dishes, cleaning, showers, etc. then on for a few hours at night; for showers, bathes, etc (depending upon what your familys schedule/needs are).
This is NO JOKE. I SWEAR by it.
They come in different brands, bought in an area home supply store. Home Depot and Lowes carry them. I prefer one called "the little gray box". Its easy to program/set.
Trick is, having it installed. Your heat is a 220 line, so you will need someone with electrical experience to come and install it. If you have a nice landlord (not one of those slumlords), he will do it for you.
Once installed, simply set the time on/time off schedule (screws to set it).
It costs about$40-$50, but will save you that in the first month, so it pays for itself.
Once installed, you are not allowed to remove it to take with you when you eventually move out.
If you have a nice landlord, you can write it off of the rent, for the landlord probably can write it off on his taxes as home improvement or maintenence.
Heat (any form of)
Here is contact info for NJ Energy Assistance Programs
NJ HEATING and ENERGY ASSISTANCE:
1-800-510-3102
Programs in NJ for help with Heat or Energy Bills
or
Programs in NJ for help with Heat or Energy Bills (2005 LIHEAP)
PHONE
Like it or not, the phone is not considered a "necessity", by any agency. Even if you have health issues, have a stalker, have kids or whatever.
It is a LUXURY.
If there is an emergency, they tell you to find a payphone or run to the neighbor.
Obviously, the people whom make these laws or rules were never primary (let alone participating) parents. Maybe they grew up sheltered. Who knows. In any case, there are a few things I found that may help a bit.
To have a basic phone service (just as with most utilities), you will need to have good credit (ha!).
What the sheltered people dont know or understand is the fact that if your divorce was nasty (or from other reasons), your credit is shot. Period. But the good news is that your not completely screwed. It will take time and money to solve that problem, and its ok. You will need to put a deposit down, which will vary depending upon where you live.
Most single parents put the phone in someone elses name, for they simply do not have the deposit monies. (DUH sheltered folks). LOL!
**CHECKING ACCTS**
Single parents usually dont have checking accounts either (for there isnt enough income to be bothered, for it would always be empty). If you are indeed one of the lucky ones whom do have one, thats great. For years it simply was not an option for me. If you have a checking account, make sure you have one of those debit card (aka account visa/mc). Call and pay via the debit card. Most utility companies today accept these babys and its a beautiful thing.
- If your bank charges or has 'surcharges'/'fees' for each transaction you do, open that phone book and find a bank that doesnt. Its not worth paying your bills via the phone (and saving on stamps and envelopes) if the bank charges you. Find one that doesnt. If you cant, at least find one that charges the least. Or better yet, dont have a checking or savings account.
- If you have damaged credit: your creditors are NOT allowed to touch your child support. Problem is, if you open a checking account, and deposit the child support, they can and WILL lock down that account until they go through the court process of you PROVING its child support. This will take months; and will be months until control (as well as any monies) is returned back to your sole control. Thats right, you wont be able to pay your bills for months Lesson here, dont open a checking account if you have creditors with a hard-on.
- DO NOT ever put your payments on auto pay, for there is no room for dispute once its paid. Auto pay is when every month they automatically deduct (pay themselves) the amount of the bill. They will tap your account monthly for the amount they consider correct.
- If they over bill you:
Mistakes on phone bills are common...more common then most people realize. Make sure you check each and every month. Now is not the time to say "oh I dont have the time". Make the time...for the sake of your family, they depend upon you being on top of all expenses. If you dispute part of the bill, just call the phone company. Usually they remove the charge (you didnt make) and there is no problem. Sometimes, they dont. Ask to speak to a supervisor. If the super doesnt correct the error, simply hang up and report it to the board of utilites. I have plenty of those links here on my site. Yeah its a pain the the ____, but its people like us that actually keep them in check. Besides, if we dont squeel like a pig, they dont know there is even a problem with thier self governing billing system.
- If you have a teen babysitter, your phone bill WILL increase. Make sure you make a small note on your calendar the dates/times the babysitter is over. This will save a great deal of time trying to figure out who lives in tim-buck-two. LOL! Make sure you sit your babysitter down, explain you can not afford long distance calls (but have no problem with unlimited local calls). If any calls show up dispite this talk with them, dock 'em the amount. I had one sitter who used one of those 1800 99cents for any call up to 20min anywhere in the US. Its a great program, but useless if the person they called arnt home. It would have been cheaper if they had just called them regularly (10c -vs- 99c). This one sitter just couldnt grasp that, and ran my bill up an extra 20 dollars in the short period she was over. 20 bucks may not seem like a lot, but its 20 loaves of bread/ five gallons of milk/ three packs of diapers/ five multi packs of toilet paper/ ten days of lunch money/ etc etc etc
Yeah I know, teens (kids) are young and stupid and dont quite understand.
- No matter what, try and make some sort of payment, even if its five dollars. This will buy you time to get the full amount together (which will be added to the next bill). When the amount reaches an enormous total, they will shut you off, even if you have been making small payments.
- To buy more time with a shut off notice:
It usually works like this; you get your phone shut off notice (in the blue, yellow, green envelope). It usually says you have ten days to pay _________ amount. Right? Well, that's what they do here anyway. If you have NO money, and don't expect any soon you may be able to buy yourself a wee bit more time. Call them on 'fifth' day (or whatever) and tell them you put it in the mail... this will buy you yet another 10 (TEN) days from the day you call.
I always pushed it to the edge... So, on the 'nineth' day (from the notice), I would CALL them and tell them I just put it in the mail. Then I got another 10 days from my phone call... then on the 'nineth' day of my phone call I ran to a payment center nearby to pay it.
Its not much, but it buys a little more time to get the money together... and that's exactly what I needed; TIME.
- Here is a link for NJ Telephone Programs
Programs in NJ for help with telephone
CABLE
Hardly any single parent has cable. If they do, they are one of the lucky one's who can actually keep it on for their kids. If you have the option of having just basic cable, there is still a deposit required (unless you had an exhisting acct with them). I know its cheaper to have just the basic package of channels 1-12, but its the higher numbers that have all of the great channels for the kids; discovery channel, animal planet, nick jr, etc.
For many of us, its not even an option to have it.
So, what do the low income families do? Well, they are lucky enough to have a VCR given to them, or they find one at a garage sale for five dollars. Then they borrow great movies from a local library.
WATER
Here in NJ, we sit on the nations largest underground aquifer. Yup. An obsene amount of it (water) is pumped to NYC yearly... I guess to help offset the water they have rushing out from all of their broken pipes (underground)... and yet, we still have some of the nations highest water rates.
Also, here in NJ, some of us have wells, while others do not. A well is cheaper then city water, but you still have to pay for the electric to pump it out, repairs on the pump, water softening system (add salt), filtering system (filters), repairs to all, and God forbid, have to have a new well drilled if runs dry.
The pro's and con's are obvious. Well water is cheaper, but it still costs money. Well water also stains the hell out of your clothing (so if you buy very expensive clothing, I sure hope you dont have a well). Sometimes smell (if the water is cedar water, it smells like rotten eggs). Where we are, the water is very acidic. This means it does damage to your house's pipes (puts holes in copper pipes), and the connections, ice machine, faucets, etc.
Here's a link for water conditons:
Basic's on water conditions
Anyway, here are just a few things that may help save you some water, thus cutting down on your bill (water or electric).
If you grew up in a large family, you already know what I am about to say *GRIN*
- When bathing. Fill the tub (to what ever height you perfer), put the 'baby' in first. Thats right. The baby has first dibs on the clean water because 1-they are not as dirty as the older kids and 2- their imune system isnt as strong as the older kids. From that point on, put the cleanest kid in next. LOL!
- When you take a bubble bath. Dont drain the water yet. Get a bucket and scoop out a bucket full of that bubble bath water... then use it to mop the floors. Just add what ever floor cleaner to the bucket prior to mopping. :) Then, when done mopping, use that dirty floor water to flush the toilet. Thats right. It gets the job done, effectively, and will leave your toilet smelling better.
- If you can, call your local water company (or ALL your utility companies for that matter), and ask if there are any programs for you to make your home more energy efficient. Some offer free shower heads (that flow using less water), offer window wraps (plastic sheeting for windows) and hot water heater blankets (wraps). All of which helps a little bit.
OIL
HOLY CRAP...is all I can say about the cost of home heating oil these days.
The only thing that will help you (besides turning down the thermostat a little) is to apply for the Heating or Energy Assistance.
ONE is bound to help in some way.
Here is the info:
NJ HEATING and ENERGY ASSISTANCE:
1-800-510-3102
Programs in NJ for help with Heat or Energy Bills
or
Programs in NJ for help with Heat or Energy Bills (2005 LIHEAP)
GAS
Gas prices are killer these days, but its still the most affordable way to cook, heat water, and heat a home. Yeah yeah yeah, I hear great things about propane also, but I have not personally experienced it, so I can not comment on it.
Just as above, here is the contact info for some sort of help.
NJ HEATING and ENERGY ASSISTANCE:
1-800-510-3102
Programs in NJ for help with Heat or Energy Bills
or
Programs in NJ for help with Heat or Energy Bills (2005 LIHEAP)
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