The past two weeks in New Zealand have seen Winter announce its arrival. It’s wet, thundery, cold, dark bleak arrival.
Sigh.
There are however, approximately three things I like about winter: coats, layering and a cozy lounge with an open fire.
Oh wait. We have a gas fire grrrrrrr.
I agonise over using our aesthetically pleasing, slightly less effective, non-wood burning fire because I can’t budget for it. I have no idea how much it costs to run our fire through the 6pm news, Shortland Street, The Block and My Kitchen Rules. Does anyone know? I’m not sure, all I know is that those massive silver gas bottles need replacing a whole lot more frequently the more TV we watch in winter! Or maybe it’s because it’s cold.
Either way. Eeeekkkk – winter gas bills!
Dave is the family breadwinner, the man with the money and his money arrives only once each month. I hate monthly budgeting with a passion, you have to be super thorough, careful and resilient in the face of impulse purchases but flexible enough to accommodate unexpected expenses.
FYI, the Mystery of the Gas Bottle constitutes an unexpected expense in my opinion. We use gas to heat our water, and run the fire and our cooktop, and I have no idea month-to-month how much gas each of those elements uses or when one of our two bottles will run out. In saying that, I absolutely can’t abide a cold house for my kids, so that fire will be on if we need to get the house warm.
Because of this, our LPG bill can range from nothing one month to the cost of two bottles the following month, a variation of well over $200! This wreaks havoc on my budget and also prohibits me from indulging in my favourite winter hobbies – buying coats and layers to wear under said coats! Damn you monthly paycheck!
I’m not one to switch energy providers on a whim, based on short term incentives, but Genesis Energy have taken up the challenge the mystery of the gas bottle poses and have come up with four LPG plans that smooth the winter spike and give me some fixed numbers to pop into my monthly budget.
We have three adults and two kids in our household so the LPG Plus Plan is the right option for us. A fixed rate of $99 per month throughout the year will provide us with 12 gas bottles whenever we need them over the 12 month plan.
I LOVE it! Power bills are notorious for their winter heart-attack-inducing values but at least now our gas costs will remain the same year round – plus I can order my refills from their handy app!
For more general information on LPG, click here. Or find out how Genesis Energy can help your budget this winter here.
A big thanks to Genesis Energy for sponsoring this post and providing me with an LPG Value Plan.
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