A few weeks back, I put up a post about living paycheck to paycheck . I said I’d start a series on how to start making a change in your financial lifestyle. Here are the first 2 posts in the series:
Today I’m going to talk about options with your utility bills. Living in Canada, we get some pretty extreme weather – any where from 30 C to minus 30 C (It doesn’t get this cold where I live, thank goodness). So, that means we can rack up some pretty high heating bills in the winter and air conditioning bills in the summer. This post isn’t going to cover how to cut those costs – but what to do if you can’t pay your bills.
So,what do you do?
1. Have your most recent bill or bills in front of you. You can’t get started if you don’t have your account number and billing information.
2. Call the company. They all should have contact information on their bills – you’ll likely want to call either a billing number if they have one, or a customer service number.
3. Explain the situation. You don’t have to get into tons details about how you got into your present situation – you simply have to explain that right now, you can’t cover your bills as they are, and ask what your options are.
4. As with credit card companies, if the person on the phone can’t help you, ask for someone else. Utility companies are less likely than credit card companies to shave money off your payments, but some of them do offer hardship programs, or options that allow to spread costs out evenly over the year.
Have you ever had to negotiate with a utility company? What have you done to make your utility bills more manageable?
I’ve never tried negotiating so I’m not sure what they would do around here. Good to know though!
Michelle recently posted..Extra Income During the Holidays
Hopefully you never will either!
I’ve never negotiated with a company, but our local utility is really understanding about payment dates. For lots of reasons we weren’t able to pay our bill by its due date this month, and I just called up and got a grace period.
If you live in a high-density area, there is often a small credit for being willing to be browned-out during the summer. (Browning is when the company turns off your power for a really short period (15 minutes ish) to help ease the pressure on the grid.)
SWR recently posted..Made For You and Me
Thanks very much for the information on the brown out – I’ve never heard of that before!
I’ve never negotiated with utility companies. We’re on level payment plans for both of our providers so we know what we’ll be charged each month. We’ve lived in our house for about five years, so we can pretty well estimate what we’ll be running each month.
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..How to Save Money and Not Spend $300K Raising a Child
The level paying plan is a good idea – it can really help even out gas or electricity costs.
Hey, I say if you can negotiate, go for it. There’s nothing to be ashamed of and what’s the worst they can say, no? We always try to get the best bang for our buck especially when there is competition. Good tips. Mr.CBB
Canadianbudgetbinder recently posted..September 2012 Canadian Budget Binder Family Budget Update
Glad you enjoyed them!
I’ve never had to negotiate with a utility company but I do know that the local gas company offers a hardship program. To be honest, I wish the federal government would stop oil speculators here in U.S. so that my bf wouldn’t have such hardship paying for gasoline every week. Home gas, meh – $19 max.. now compare that with gasoline costs – wowzers
Veronica @ Pelican on Money recently posted..How To Get Out of Unemployment Depression
I know. It’s absolutely insane how bad the price of (car) gas is..
I’ve never tried but I know they have a program for low income persons that helps pay if you can’t. I think the companies would prefer you trying to work with them rather than just not paying at all.
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted..Rental Property Series: How Much Did It Cost?
Agreed. Most folks would prefer some money or delayed money over no payment at all!
I’ve never tried to negotiate with any utility other than cable and the one time I did I ended up saving 40.00/month for a 12month promotional period, not to shabby! We’re on electric heat so our February power bill is ridiculously high (3x what it is in summer) next month I’m starting a monthly budget with the power company, so although I won’t be saving any money (they take an annual average/12), I wont be slammed with a $600-700 power bill come February!
Catherine recently posted..Bear With Me
Like most of the other commentators said above, I also have never tried negotiating with the utility companies either. That being said, having condo fees, all my utilities are included, so I didn’t have to do any negotiation.
Eddie recently posted..Should You Have Separate Finances?
Great post but this is not an option where I live. We have one source for power and water. It is government owned. I have to admit the prices are pretty low so I don’t have much to complain about.
Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter recently posted..6 Ways to Improve Your Marketability
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