Do you find that many of your utility bills have a lot of added fees and taxes and other service charges? I don't even know what all that stuff is, but there is a laundry list of fees on most of these. Even on stuff where there is a basic fee that should be the same each month, it can vary due to the additional fees and charges. I get that there taxes and such, but the long list of additional fees seems a bit ridiculous, doesn't it?
That is a good question. I don't really spend too much time scrutinizing my electric bill because I pay it online. I only look at it when it seems like there is some kind of a problem. I usually freak out and call customer service though if the bill seems wrong. If I pay the bill late some months it often doesn't get credited when the next bill comes out.
Yes, I have noticed that the fees seem to creep up each year. I just had this conversation with my internet and television provider. I do not get my telephone through them, so this is in addition to fees and taxes on telephone services, but the representative stated that taxes and fees typically range somewhere between 10 and 15% of the total bill. That is outrageous, in my opinion. If you sit down and tabulate all of the taxes and fees we pay, people dumped tea in Boston Harbor for a lot less.
I too have a long list of additional charges on my utility bills that I don't really understand at all. I usually don't take notice of them too as long as my bills are not weirdly priced or full of inconsistencies in them. There was just this one time when my water bill suddenly tripled in amount so I had to confirm with the provider first before I paid my bill.
Yes that the case with utility bills almost everywhere, the plethora of charges seems to have me all worked up sometimes. In my country, it's prudent that one should closely follow the charges because sometimes by querying some of the unusual charges you might find that you are granted a rebate
I see a lot of those fees and since most people hardly know what they are being charged for even when the companies increase the fees slightly, you wouldn't note a huge difference and you may actually believe that your consumption might be the cause when it's those fees that actually do add up. What's most annoying though is there's nothing we can do about it.
Electricity companies are the most notorious for inflating electricity bills. I have encountered numerous disaffected users complaining that their power monitors have been readjusted to reflect higher watts per minute. There is a possibility that this is done with complicity of rogue landlords. Thats why I recommend switching to postpaid electricity.
I have heard alot of complaints about inflated electricity bills. The problem is superfluous taxes charged and its not clear whether they are proper in the first place. I think the best strategy is to go prepaid so that you chart the cost of your expenses and save on burdensome taxes.
Oh man you probably do not want to get me started on utility and cable bills at this current moment. My current issues is not so much the added fees, although yes those are on there, but the general rate increases that they can just throw in on a whim. I hate not having a consistent bill and always having to call and question them because I just cannot trust them. Of course I really have no power though...and the worst part is that they know it.
One of my absolute pet peeves is not only that we're charged too many fees, but that they have the nerve to claim some of them are used to help those in financial need. Guess what? I'm in financial need, yet don't meet the narrow criteria set for those they choose to help. I'd prefer to keep more of my money, and use it to pay my own bill, rather than struggling every month to come up with what's needed to satisfy the demand. If there's something left over, I'll choose where I want it to go, or whom I want to help.
Our electricity provider has the reputation of charging fees and refunding later when consumer groups or government auditors file complaints against them in the Supreme Court. Many subscribers aren't even aware what those charges are. I myself have questions why the government allows power companies to charge forex differentials in debt servicing to consumers. Those who are consuming 100 or more kilowatt hours per month are subsidizing households who are consuming less than 100 kw hours. Not all households with that consumption are living below poverty level. Why would I subsidize their bills? And then there's VAT which is roughly 12% of the VATable charges. If you have a business and you can charge the VAT and the expenditure to your business, well and good. But if you are an ordinary house owner, you are paying flat out for the VAT and the expenditure.
These additional fees by many of these utilities company I consider as a way to rip off money from the consumers. Sometimes they just come an arbitrary added money which does not have any logical reason to my understanding. In my location people have been compelled to come out to protest some of these hike in fees, which then catches the attention of the governor before a redress is done.
