Today we got our electric bill, and you can imagine my surprise when I opened it and realized it was almost $200 more than our regular bill. It didn’t take long to figure out why–they decided to collect the money we were behind on the budget billing now, rather than wait for it to balance out this winter. What I couldn’t understand was why there wasn’t some warning that this was coming–not that a month would have made a big difference as far as securing an extra $200, but it would have prepared me for the shock of seeing a bill so large.

Well, as it turns out, at the bottom of our last bill, there was a note on the bottom. In very small print. And the note was to let us know that our next bill would reflect our regular payment due, plus the settlement of the budget billing. My mistake. Had I read the fine print, I would have been ready for the shock. I still wouldn’t have had an extra $200, but at least I would have had a month to ponder where I was going to get it from.

It just goes to show that nothing good comes from hot St. Louis summers. I do have to wonder, though…if by some chance we had been ahead in our budget right now, would they have cut us a check? For some reason, I’m thinking not so much.