Price gouging without explanation.

WHAT REALLY BURNS ME!

Author: Thomas Domich

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a column speaking about Columbia gas of Ohio.

In that piece I was all over the place and I want very clear about what was going on.
So I’m writing again to clarify what I believe to be a money grab, and I believe that Columbia gas is ripping us all off.

I’m going to give you the facts as I know them and you decide.

note: I’ve asked Columbia gas directly for answers or comments about what I’m going to tell you, to no avail.

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I’m sure you’ve all noticed that every winter your gas bill goes up, and it’s to be expected, due to the colder season. but how many of you have noticed that your gas bill goes up by almost 100% in one month?

But did you know that not only do your prices go up just because it’s colder, (regardless whether it’s colder or not) but it also goes up because they add five extra days in the billing cycle of November to December, and since we pay a month behind you pay for that in January.

Not only do they add an extra 5 days to that billing cycle but that’s the time of the year that they raise prices for regular consumption as well.

When they had the extra 5 days they estimate what 5 days of usage at your normal usage rate would cost and add that to your bill.

But they don’t only add days throughout the year to every month they subtract on some of them as well. So you’ll look at your bill and see how many days each month that you pay for gas usage if you told of the days throughout the year how many days you pay it comes to 367 and 1/4 days.

But wait a minute you say, there’s only 365 1/4 days in a year. And you would be correct in the end of the year you’re paying two extra days for the year, two extra days that do not exist.

But the hardest part is the extra five days that are added at the end of the year in the middle of winter along with the price increase.

I tried to reach out to Columbia Gas and speak with them about it but to no avail. The only answer I received from them is to contact customer service if I had any questions.

But let’s not forget the point that there are many many riders that we pay for that we shouldn’t and you will find attached in this column that shows what you pay for on riders.

But I’m going to give you a very short breakdown. First and foremost, the donations that Columbia Gas makes they received their money in return from those who pay their bills in full.

For the PIPP program, the difference between what the customer owes and what is actually paid the customers who pay their full Bill cover that as well.

We pay a rider which covers their automobiles the gas for said automobiles we also pay for construction and reconstruction of streets city taxes that they have to pay for tearing up the streets excise taxes that they pay to the government etc etc etc.

Remind you I understand that we have to pay utility bills but what I don’t understand is why are we paying such highly outrageous prices and I found out by simply going through my bill item by item online looking at each individual Rider that we pay.

You also can do the same thing if you go into your bill online and go into the detail Bill section and then click on any section that you would like on front or back of the bill it will open up fully and show you each individual thing you pay for.

Basically they’re not hiding it from anyone and it turns out that they can legally do this.

It is up to us what we pay for it is also up to us whether or not we get what we pay for.

But I will leave this up to you did you decide whether or not Columbia Gas is robbing us abusing the market or if it’s just okay by you that they take your money and use it for things that you may not want.

This is what burns me

Thomas Domich