Budget billing makes budgeting easier, since you’ll know exactly how much you need to pay each month. If you’re someone who has limited income or who doesn’t like guessing how much you’ll need to pay on your utilities each month, you might enjoy budget billing. Consider your own attitude towards billing and convenience before deciding if budget billing is right for you., If you have high heat bills in the winter or high electrical bills for air conditioning in the summer, you might benefit from budget billing. Look over your prior electric and gas bills from years past to determine if you paid an excessive amount each month. Take these costs into consideration before choosing to use budget billing.Try examining your bills over the course of the previous year to get an idea of how budget billing might help or hurt you. For instance, if your utility bills over the course of the past three months totaled $600, you might have received a bill for $100, another bill for $200, and a third bill for $300. Then imagine a budget billing scenario in which you paid just $200 every month over those same three months. Which billing style do you prefer?
You could also imagine how the end-of-cycle “settle-up” process works. Suppose you only used $190 worth of energy during the budget billing period where you were expected to pay $200 monthly. The extra $10 worth of utilities you didn’t spend over the course of one year could yield a $120 rebate (the total of $10 in monthly savings over the course of 12 months).
 Budget billing often lulls poor planners into a false sense of security, since their utility bills are artificially low until it comes time to readjust the utility bills during the next billing cycle. If you are a poor planner, you might not want to use budget billing because you may have trouble realistically seeing the ramifications of your actions in the future.This, in turn, could cause you to reason that since your bills are relatively low, you may as well keep the air conditioning or heat higher than you otherwise would.On the other hand, budget billing might be great for you because you’ll know exactly how much you’ll be paying each month (at least during the budget cycle).
 There are two alternatives to budget billing. One is to save money on your utilities. Careful use and management – by using up-to-date appliances, closing the window when the heat or air is on, and settling for a temperature that is comfortable but slightly outside your ideal – is one way. The other way is to more carefully manage your money.During months when you spend relatively little on energy, save an amount equal to what you might under a budget billing system. Use this surplus to pay your utility bills off in more expensive months.
For instance, if your utility bill in July is $30, pay the bill and put $70 in your utility fund. When you have higher utility bills – for instance, in December – you can use the money you’ve saved to pay them.
Decide if convenience is important to you.
Consider the costs of your bills.
Determine if you are a poor planner.
Identify alternatives to budget billing.
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