A consumer that is trying to conserve energy and save money will find that monitoring their power bill is a great place to start. Most of the statements from the various electric or gas companies will offer the same types of information, although the format may be a little different from one to the other.

The first thing listed is a record of consumption. There will be both what has been used in the past and what the current usage is on this statement.

This information was read from the meter by a technician. In some cases, some companies will estimate the consumption once in a while in an effort to save time and money. A consumer can call and challenge an estimate if they wish.

A power bill will also include other information such as the consumer’s address, name, account number and the date that the statement comes due. Once the customer has gone past the due date and the service is scheduled to be disconnected the information concerning this will be on the statement as well.

There is often other information such as the utility’s address and contact phone numbers for customer service and sometimes a separate number will be listed for emergencies such as outages, leaks, downed lines or broken pipelines. There will also be the mailing address, email address and website of the utility listed somewhere on the statement in most cases.

A power bill will also include which category the customer’s service falls in, whether it’s business, commercial or residential. It is possible to find other information on the rates that are being charged as well.

There will also be a notation of the last payment that was made reflected on some utility statements as a credit. If a consumer isn’t sure when or how much of their balance they paid, this is a good way to check those statistics out.

A power bill will also reflect the taxes and the maintenance charges on it somewhere in the body. If the customer has further questions about this portion of the statement, they can feel free to contact customer service for a detailed explanation.

Typically, it is this portion of the statement that reflects miscellaneous charges that are necessary to maintain the facility or utility and all of the overhead costs that are needed to keep a plant operational. These are the things that the consumer is actually paying for since the power is brought to the customer at the same price that the utility pays to generate it.

In some instances, the customer will also see a service address in numerical form. This is for the utility’s records and actually means nothing to the customer. There may also be other information such as the statement numbers for easy access should they need to contact the utility concerning their statement or charges on it.

A power bill sometimes will have important updates and messages to the consumer on them as well. This saves the cost of additional mailings and postage so it is important that the consumer makes sure to take the time to look over their statement each month.

MXenergy is a leader in power bill as well as a retail power company which offers commercial and retail electricity.

Please visit us at http://www.mxenergy.com/ for all your energy needs.

Author Bio: MXenergy is a leader in power bill as well as a retail power company which offers commercial and retail electricity.

Category: Home Management
Keywords: power bill, natural gas rates, energy companies, saving energy