Guides
Understanding Your Bills
Plain explanations of the things utilities do not explain well: what the charges on your bill actually are, why the total moved, and which of the levers available to you are worth pulling.
Every guide
How to Read Your Electric Bill
Most people look at one number on their electric bill: the amount due. The rest of the page explains where that number came from, and roughly half of it describes charges you can do nothing about. Here is how to tell the two apart.
Supply vs. Delivery Charges on Your Electric Bill
Your electric bill is two businesses billed on one page: the company that produced the power and the company that moved it to your meter. Only one of those halves is ever open to competition, and it is not the larger surprise.
What Is a Time-of-Use Rate?
A time-of-use rate charges you a different price for the same kilowatt-hour depending on when you use it. For some households that is a straightforward saving. For others it is a bad idea, and it is increasingly the default.
Why Is My Electric Bill So High?
Work through the causes in the order that actually finds them. Start with the number of days in the billing period and the meter read, not with the assumption that something in the house has gone wrong.
What Counts as a Utility Bill?
Usually the question behind this one is whether a document you already have will be accepted as proof of address. The answer depends less on the industry the company is in than on who is doing the asking.
How to Read Your Water Meter (and Find a Leak)
Your meter is the only instrument that tells you what you are actually using, and it will find a hidden leak in about two hours without any tools at all. Here is how to open it, read it and interpret it.
Deregulated vs. Regulated Electricity, Explained
Fourteen US jurisdictions let a household choose who supplies its electricity. Thirty-seven do not. The difference changes which advice is worth acting on and which is noise — here is the structure, the evidence, and the practical response.
Budget Billing: Is It Worth It?
Budget billing smooths what you pay each month without changing what you owe over a year. Whether that is worth having depends entirely on how much your usage swings and whether you will still watch it.
How to Split Bills With Roommates Fairly
Rent is rarely the argument. Utilities are, because they are variable, retrospective and easy to blame on someone. Here are the three methods that hold up, the arrangements that cause fights, and the arithmetic for the awkward cases.
What Uses the Most Electricity in a Home?
Heating, cooling, hot water, EV charging and pool pumps account for most of a household's electricity. Nearly all popular saving advice targets the loads that account for almost none of it. Here is the ranking, with the arithmetic.
Work out your own bill in about thirty seconds
No account, no email, no bank connection. Every calculation runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere.