Winter budget

Your heating bill, month by month

Enter one to three of your own bills from July 2024 on. Base 65 sets each against the weather of its exact dates, works out how your home uses fuel, and lays the season ahead out month by month. Nothing you type is stored.

Your home

County

Fuel on the bill

Price per unit all-in, from your bill

Monthly customer charge optional

Non-heating use per month optional: e.g. a July bill's amount, if the same fuel heats water or cooks

Bills the meter-read dates and the amount used, as printed on the bill

Bill 1

From

Amount used

Bill 2 optional

From

Amount used

Bill 3 optional

From

Amount used

Best: one winter bill (December to February) plus one summer bill. A single winter bill works too; all of it is then counted as heating.

Free. To keep these bills and add more as they come, use a Bill Book: free for one home; the Pass ($1.95 a month or $19.50 a year, free during preview) adds 5 homes, the tank clock and season comparisons.

What to have ready

The read dates. Bills show "service from ... to ..." or two meter-read dates. Propane and oil: use the dates of two deliveries that each filled the tank to the same level, and the gallons of the later one (up to 120 days apart).
The amount used. Ccf, Mcf or therms for gas; kWh for electric heat; gallons for propane or oil.
Your price. Divide the bill's fuel charges (supply plus delivery, without the fixed customer charge) by the amount used. The customer charge goes in its own box.

Fill in an example (made-up numbers, not a real home or a quoted price)

Base 65 estimates. Your utility or fuel dealer sets the bill; ask them about budget billing plans. Smell gas? Leave the house and, from a safe distance, call your gas utility (or propane retailer) and 911 (PUCO, PERC).