Scared of the gas company!!

[EconDiva]

After 2 years of living in a 500 sq ft studio I moved into a newer apartment that will cut my commute down from 4 hours a day to 3 hours a day.  I like this new place because it's bigger and newer, and because of the extra bedroom I can get a roommate and split costs if I choose (and will probably do towards the end of the year).

However, I made an appointment to have the gas turned on tomorrow and just happened to Google the company a few minutes ago:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/peoples-gas-chicago-3

This company appears to be just horrible.  People with small 2-bedroom apartments being billed $600/month?  I have gas for my stove and dryer (not my water), so I wasn't worried about it until I read these reviews.  Is it possible I've set myself up for $2K, $3K, $5K worth of gas bills annually?? I'll break my lease before I fork out that much money for 1 utility a month.  When I signed my lease they said I could go with People's Gas or Nicor, but I called Nicor today and they actually do not serve my area. 

Maybe I'm worrying about nothing but this many bad reviews is extremely alarming.  I can't afford to have a monthly gas bill send me to the poor house.....

[gimp]

The only time someone leaves a review for their utility on yelp is when they're really pissed. It's not a restaurant, you don't have a lot of choice, so why bother with reviews?

Chances are it will be fine. Occasional human error on their side might be an issue. Occasional issues with, say, people having a gas leak and not knowing will also hike prices way up.

Relax, there's no way a legitimate utility is charging $600 a month for normal amounts of gas use.

[Frankies Girl]

Talk to a few neighbors in your building or even the building management and see if the billing has ever seemed outrageous. Most likely, the reviews you read were from a very small section of customers that either had a leak or something completely haywire happen. Doubt this is a common issue, tho.

[Paul der Krake]

Wait until you see online reviews for insurance companies- there are lots of stupid people out there who sign contracts without reading them and then spew all their hate on the internet. Sometimes they mistakenly click their way out of the comments section of Yahoo Finance where they usually reside and spill over to other websites.

Utility companies are highly regulated, you will be fine.

[EconDiva]

So they came out today and upon arrival said they needed access to the lines in a locked door of the basement of the building and asked if *I* had a key to it  Then said to contact the building personnel to see who could let them in to that room and when, and that they'd have to reschedule my appointment in the meantime.

 So an entire day taken off from work waiting on them to come to tell me that. And I have to stay home again the next time for when it's rescheduled. In the meantime, no cooking gas or heat for my dryer. This place is definitely already living up to its expectations.

[frugalnacho]

Wait did you guys gloss over the point when she said she is downgrading from a 4 hour/day commute to 3 hour/day commute?

I have a couple questions:

1.  How the hell do you get a 4 hour/day commute in the first place?
2.  Why did you only reduce it to 3 hour/day?  That's still fucking insane!

[EconDiva]

I live in Chicago.  My job is at a big pharma company that's an hour and 10 minute drive one way.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity or raise to work with them even though they're so far away.  Plus they told me when I started I'd be able to work remotely 1 day a week...hasn't happened yet.

So my current one-way commute is:
-walk to/wait on Metra (15 minutes)
-ride on Metra (1 hour)
-ride on work shuttle to get from Metra train to office (15 minutes)

I don't own a car and don't care to purchase one or drive in that traffic to work (I have driven it before; it's horribly insane).

I don't want to move from Chicago to the 'city' my job is located in; the only thing there is my job.

[Paul der Krake]

I live in Chicago.  My job is at a big pharma company that's an hour and 10 minute drive one way.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity or raise to work with them even though they're so far away.  Plus they told me when I started I'd be able to work remotely 1 day a week...hasn't happened yet.

So my current one-way commute is:
-walk to/wait on Metra (15 minutes)
-ride on Metra (1 hour)
-ride on work shuttle to get from Metra train to office (15 minutes)

I don't own a car and don't care to purchase one or drive in that traffic to work (I have driven it before; it's horribly insane).

I don't want to move from Chicago to the 'city' my job is located in; the only thing there is my job.

That's not too bad. I wouldn't mind a long-ish commute either if that meant I could read and do what I do at home anyway on the train.

[Must_Stash]

In my city the energy utility has increased its prices 55% vs. the 20% inflation in the same period of time!  So there's probably some of that, but also probably late fees and disconnection/reconnection and one unpaid month rolling over to the next.  I wouldn't panic.