Anyone else get a crazy last PSE&G bill because of "Direct Energy Services"?

Over $350 and it's unclear why. I called to try and understand why is was so much more, but the person I spoke to was of no help explaining other than saying it is a "final bill".

I'll call back Monday and try and talk to someone else, but either way I'm opting out of the town's  collective energy buying when they start it up again.


There are a lot of posts and threads, but in a nutshell you were on a balanced billing plan with direct energy, and paying for less energy than you were using.  That program has ended and the outstanding balance is due.


My PSEG bill was crazy; but because I overpaid over the course of the last 6 months of my balanced billing (unlike some, I signed up for it) it was WAY lower than normal.


My December bill was way lower too, probably because my electricity usage did not go up significantly as a result of the pandemic.  Those who received way higher December 2020 bills tend to have children doing remote learning, be working from home, relying more on home delivery, doing more on-line-based recreation, etc.  Their monthly rate for Direct Energy was based on their electricity usage history with PSE&G.  Then came pandemic and electric usage went way up. 


I got a $781 bill this month. We live in a modest ranch. What in hell is going on? Is this a one time thing?


bigorangesplotmpwd said:

I got a $781 bill this month. We live in a modest ranch. What in hell is going on? Is this a one time thing?

Most likely it's to true up your balance at the end of the year.  You probably paid less than what was charged over the course of the year due to balanced billing. 

It is worthwhile to study how the billing is done.  It will save a lot of anxiety in the future.


Another hint. Read your own meter every month or so and check your bill to see if you have an estimated or actual reading.


To prevent balanced billing surprises, you should read your complete PSE&G bill each month.  It will show you what you are being billed under balanced billing for that month, what you would have been billed if you were not under a balanced billing plan, and what you would have paid if you were receiving electricity supply directly from PSE&G.  This way, you can set money aside each month for any undercharge so you will have it when the true up bill comes.  You can also try to adjust your energy consumption in future months if  true cost is higher than what you can afford at this time.  One way of looking at this is that Direct Energy was giving you an interest free loan if you have a large true up bill now.  Those of us who had a substantially lower bill in December (yes, some of us fit into this category) because Direct Energy estimated a significantly higher electric energy use than occurred are the ones who lost out since we were providing Direct Energy with that interest free over payment.


Wish I had the time, inclination and energy to go this in depth into my gas and electric  billing. It’s a bit much!


bigorangesplotmpwd said:

Wish I had the time, inclination and energy to go this in depth into my gas and electric  billing. It’s a bit much!

 It is a four page bill with bold headings.  Takes just a minute each month to do this.


I just got my first PSE&G bill with the Energy Harbor electric generation charges included.  The "budget" payment they calculated is more than $100 higher than the budget payment Direct Energy was charging last year.  and I had a very minor adjustment at the end of last year - I was about $30 per month low.  My new "budget" payment ought to be about $ 168 instead of the $ 254 energy harbor calculated.  I called them and explained in great detail, they lowered their "budget" payment to $ 221 - still way too high!  How can they do this?  Do we have any recourse at all ???


You can pay monthly, right?  Just skip the balanced billing.  It's a program they offer, that's all.


rmbaseman said:

I just got my first PSE&G bill with the Energy Harbor electric generation charges included.  The "budget" payment they calculated is more than $100 higher than the budget payment Direct Energy was charging last year.  and I had a very minor adjustment at the end of last year - I was about $30 per month low.  My new "budget" payment ought to be about $ 168 instead of the $ 254 energy harbor calculated.  I called them and explained in great detail, they lowered their "budget" payment to $ 221 - still way too high!  How can they do this?  Do we have any recourse at all ???

You can switch back to PSE&G for electricity supply.


FilmCarp said:

You can pay monthly, right?  Just skip the balanced billing.  It's a program they offer, that's all.

 If you have budget billing from PSE&G for gas and electrical energy delivery, I don't think you can get month to month billing from a third party supplier.  Still, it is worth asking.  What needs to be remembered is that budget billing estimates your entire energy needs for the life of the contract and divides that figure by the number of months the contract covers.  


I monitor the over/under billing and usage part of my bill and adjust accordingly. The big end of the year bill sucks but a big credit at the end makes a nice NY surprise..



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