What Everyone Should Know About Saving Money on Their Natural Gas Bill

Let’s dive deep into the natural gas bill to see what type of savings can be had.

As the figure shows, you can break the bill into two parts.

The first part is made up of utility taxes and transport costs and the second part is for the gas itself.

Thanks to deregulation, large natural gas distributors have to play nice with their competitors. They can charge for delivery services, but they must allow their competition to send gas through their lines.

As a result, we see an increasing number of retail energy companies sprouting up. They are taking market share by beating the big guys on price. And that should be good news to bargain shoppers.

As an example of the potential savings, in Sacramento, we can choose between the following natural gas suppliers:

1. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
2.  Vista Energy Marketing
3. Amdbit Energy (who’s just entered our market)

Currently, PG&E is my distributor but Vista is my supplier. 

Each month I get one bill from PG&E showing their product’s cost backed out and Vista’s charges added in.  By seeing both prices, I can quickly tell that I’m saving about $2 per month by using Vista. That's just for gas associated with the common water heater.

Now it time to shop Vista’s rates against Ambit’s to see if any further savings can be had. It won’t likely save a ton, since I'm a small user, but every dollar gets me closer to my goal of saving an additional $100 per month without my tenants feeling it.

What should you do if you want to save on your natural gas bill?

1. Google the natural gas service providers for your area.
2. Shop around and see if you can find a more favorable natural gas rate.
3. Enjoy the savings.

It’s not typical, but when it comes to natural gas, supporting the little guy can actually save you money.