What is meant by a Utility Bill?

Utility bills may not take first place on your expenses list, but they are important as other expenses because they might increase your monthly expenses by hundreds of dollars. In this article, we have described the answer to your question “What is meant by a Utility Bill?. “Read below to find the categories of utility bills, how to reduce your bill payments and to find the solutions if you can’t pay the bills.

What is meant by a Utility Bill?

The utility bill is a monthly statement regarding the expenses for services or utilities of your household or your business. We can categorise utilities like electricity, water, and gas. In addition to this, you can add garbage and recycling, internet, TV, phones, and other broadcasting services to the list of utilities.

A utility bill consists of the Customer’s name, address, and account number. In addition to that, it also includes guidelines in how to do your payments, the amount owed and the due date.

The utility is a method of providing you with details about the usage of the services that they provide you. For example, an electricity bill gives you the details about the amount of electricity you have been used during the billing period and it might also present to you how the billing method changed within the last few months.

Note: utility bills can be taken as a piece of evidence for the residence like your license and passport. If you don’t have a utility bill, contact your issuing institution to find any other method to prove your residence instead of the utility bill such as a taxor financial document.

Thus, your utility bill charges may vary according to your service, provider, location, and usage. Here we have listed few examples of utility bills and their charges.

Electric Bill

According to the information of U.S  Energy Information Administration, the average electric bill of U.S households was $115 in 2019. And the least average bill was reported from Utah ($76)and the highest one from Hawaii ($168).

If you want to reduce the electric bill, you must be careful when using electric appliances and devices for your day-to-day activities. Don’t waste electricity unnecessarily as it may give a huge impact on your electricity bill. For example, don’t use the washing machine frequently, make sure to do it once for two days. Else try to use a smart power strip which automatically turns off the electricity when you don’t use it.

Water bill

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an average American family tend to spend more than $1000 per annum for water chargers only. That’s too much usage. According to that, they nearly spend $83 per month on water bills.

To avoid spending too much on your water bills check-in your household for any leaks in faucets, showerheads, sinks, pipes and toilet valves. And change your bad habits of wasting water too much such as taking long showers and make sure to close the tap while you are brushing your teeth or washing dishes or any other activity, so it will automatically save your money.

Gas bill

American Gas Association says that the annual average household gas bill was about $712per year, or $59 a month. But the cost of the gas bill depends on the area you are living in as the retail price changes from state to state. According to EIA, the retail price of gas in Hawaii and Florida is higher than the price in Arkansas and Alaska. The gas usage in larger households and frequent usage of gas-powered appliances such as furnaces, water heaters and stoves will double the cost of the gas bill .

In addition to that, your gas bill is most likely to go up for too much heating and cooling the house, try to save money on avoiding those unnecessary actions and by observing your power supply. Like in winter make sure to put the lower temperature when you are not at home or asleep. In summer be aware to use warmer temperatures.

How to manage the expenses on utility bills?

Be alert on how much you are spending on utility bills as they add up more to your monthly household expenses. Identify the amount you are spending for utility bills and other expenses from your budget app.

And use a budget calculator  ( 50/30/20) to check your spending. This will divide your monthly income like this:

• 50% will spend for utility bills, for rent, contracted payments and for groceries.
• 30% can spend for foods and for your entertainment
• 20% go for future needs, savings for emergency funds, retirement accounts and paying down debt.

Try finding any other budget types if this doesn’t work for you.

Solutions to your difficulties in paying bills.

 If you refrain from paying your bills, the provider will definitely cut off your service. This may also happen due to the delay in payments and damaged credits. Don’t worry we have some options for you.

 Contact the customer service of your service provider: you can find the contact numbers in your bills or even browse from the internet. Discuss your problem with them, they might lower your charges or defer your bill or postpone your payment to next time.

Contact 211 or go to 211.org.This network service may contact your local resources and assistance.

Apply for LIHEAP (Low-income home energy assistance program.

 This federal program helps eligible residences who have problems with energy costs. Get the details about the program and learn how to apply for it.

Thank you for visiting our page. I hope this article helped you to find the answer to your question. If so don’t forget to leave a comment below.