"s" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am working out a way to make sure they tally up, i.e. that i am not
paying the same consumption twice.

i have went over my last few bills and found various complications. i
have received bill s for estimated consumption, & acutal consumption,
for periods of variying numbers of days with dates which overlap.

does anyone here bother to check their bills? do you use some kind of
software or excel sheet to do it?

thx

Don't understand the problem unless you get hit with an unexpected whopper
of a bill one month because of a bad estimate. If you have an estimated
bill you'll be billed for more or less than your actual usage for that month
but the next time the meter is read you'll be billed for an amount that's
off by a corresponding amount in the opposite direction so that it all
balances out. At least on my bill they provide an estimated
meter reading. If I start with a meter reading of 1000 and next month it's
estimated at 1600 when it was actually 1500, I pay for 100 too much (600
instead of 500). Next month when they read the meter at 2000, I'll pay for
100 less than I actually used (400 instead of 500), but the total is still
going to be correct, 1000 for the 2 months. Even if the bill is estimated
several months in a row, everything will balance out once it does get read.
How can the dates overlap? I would only expect to see one meter reading per
month. If you think you're getting ripped off, take your own meter
readings. They may not match the utilities' each month, but the total usage
after several months should be close.