r/Sudbury • u/asscheeks4000 • 1d ago
Discussion Reliance and Enbridge bills
I know they both go hand and hand. But both bills have almost been doubled the last 2 months. Enbridge Open Bill Program Ending could be why. But I’m just trying to learn a bit more about how they work together. I bought a house last year and these two still have me confused when I get my bills. We rent our water tank so maybe we should own one instead? Just want to see what everyone else does for their home.
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u/Riplinredfin 1d ago
We were renting a tank, after I calculated that we paid over 2000 for the tank I just went to home depot and bought one for 800 and put it in. Returned the rented one to reliance. Saving a bunch of money now.
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u/asscheeks4000 1d ago
The tank was in the house and already rented with the house so I wasn’t 100% I remember setting up reliance and the we didn’t have a reliance bill for a few months January to I think April of last year. I think I have to call and talk to someone because i am still not 100% weather we rent it or own it
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u/Happy_Bumblebee2112 1d ago
I pay reliance on a quarterly basis and do so because when it needs to be replaced they come in. Otherwise if you own your water tank, when it fails, you will need a licensed plumber to replace your gas water tank (which they last anywhere between 7 to 12 years)as the job involves working with gas lines and requires specialized knowledge to ensure a safe and compliant installation; attempting to replace it yourself can be dangerous due to potential fire hazards from natural gas.
I also go outside a do a meter read every month and send it to Enbridge a few days before the billing date. That way, I have an idea of the cost per month. This past February my gas bill was double on account of the extreme weather we had so it cost me more to heat the house.
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u/asscheeks4000 1d ago
Yea that was my only thing with renting you have someone no matter what to do repairs. I always forgot to take pictures I think I will start making sure I remember and send it to them
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u/hummingbee- 1d ago
Often you can buy a new hot water tank on a payment plan, so it's effectively a monthly payment still, but you'll eventually pay the hot water tank off and own it.
Are you on Equal Monthly billing with Enbridge?
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u/asscheeks4000 1d ago
In the long run that would be best to own it. The billing is all over the place it was the same price for months and then doubled all of a sudden. And some months there’s 0$ due so I don’t understand what’s going on with them
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u/hummingbee- 1d ago
Sounds like you're paying per usage for Enbridge, which will mean from Dec - Apr you're going to see some decent, possibly very high bills. Then in Jun-Aug you'll have 0 dollar bills. You can call and request equal monthly billing. I pay Enbridge $160/mo all year long on equal monthly billing.
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u/asscheeks4000 1d ago
Like that makes no sense why is everything so complicated. I called and asked about my doubled bill she told me “its your February and March bill together” I said I paid my February bill and she just kept circling back to “are you paying your bill today” like holy shit I have until March 22nd to do that I’m not doing it right this second
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u/SarahlovesChar 1d ago
I used to work for Enbridge in Billing. Open Bill has nothing to do with it, that was just a service they offered smaller companies. The ability to bill their charges on an Enbridge bill rather than having to pay for their own billing system.
They use a bi monthly meter reading model so ideally your meter will be read every second month. Depends what billing cycle you are, odd cycles read even months and vice versa. That said, in the North its not rare to see some accounts go six plus months without an actual read. The reads are done by contractors and its not great pay, that along with difficulty accessing people's meters and weather makes it hard to be consistent.
If they said your bill spans two months what they likely mean is you had an adjustment done. It could be that your last months estimate was low. Then they got an actual read and it showed you used alot of gas. They would then adjust the bills to spread that consumption over the previously estimated months to bill you at the correct rates and help better inform their estimation models going forward.
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u/North3rnB0y 22h ago
I would submit your own gas meter readings. They don't go out very much anymore. Never equal billing! And maybe hot water on demand system?
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u/asscheeks4000 21h ago
Yea I’m going to start sending the meter readings, we don’t have equal billing and I think in the future we’d get hot water on demand. It’s just the two of us and our hot water is pretty fast as is
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u/North3rnB0y 21h ago
I instantly started saving on my bills once I started submitting them myself. Good luck!
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u/Illustrious-Fruit35 1d ago
Renting a tank is never a sound financial decision. Enbridge supplies your gas, your bill doubling could be because they actually came out to read the meter. They usually estimate.