Ethanol Blended Gas = Lower Mileage? (July 18, 2006)
According to a recent article, drivers in Honolulu (and perhaps elsewhere) are complaining of reduced gas mileage in the two months since Hawaii switch to gasoline blended with 10% ethanol. According to the Ethanol Promotion and Information council, most drivers using a 10% ethanol-blended gas ... Read

Strategic Gasoline Reserve? (October 04, 2005)
According to a story from CNN/Money, Senators Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin are pushing for the creation of a gas reserve to protect the country against spikes in price spikes in the event of future natural or manmade disasters. Read

Gas Prices on the Rise (Again) (September 22, 2005)
And you thought gas prices were bad after Katrina... Depending on where Rita goes ashore, CNN is predicting that gas prices could gas as high as $5/gallon next week, making you long for the good old days (two weeks ago) when gas was going for ... Read

Read all 9 articles in the same category.

The problem is with the price of Natural gas going from $5 per BTU to $15 and back to $7, its pretty much impossible to come up with an equal pay plan that would be likely to represent that actual average cost over the season. Equal pay really only works with fairly steady prices and even then the uneven nature of use dictated by weather can have a dislocating influence. But when you add weather with huge price fluctuations, it is really not a concept that works.

I think these plans were designed to make people's lives more predictable who couldn't budget for the large fluctuations in the bills and give the utility companies some protection because the customers would be less likely to be delinquent if the bill was always the same. Since My reserve cash is always plenty able to cover any fluctuations in bill, I have never seen any reason to use these plans. Seems like an extra hassle to end up with the same amount paid over a 12 month period anyway.

Just curious for the people who use these plans what their reasons are?

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