In my city, you can get on a budget plan with the utilities company and it's really easy and quick. There isn't any type of qualification program so anybody can do it. They take the average of your past year, and apply something like 5% to it and that's what you pay every month.

The advantage to this is that during the summer, your bills are really low, so they help bring down the average. The disadvantage is that during the summer, you pay more than you normally would. As long as you don't miss a payment there are no penalties.

And the particular area where I live, gas (heating) bills always spike during the January and Feb months. Last year I paid over $200 more than any other month in Feb. When I called to complain (or route out a potential gas leak) they told me that because the weather had dropped suddenly for this one particular night everyone's gas bills spiked. Crazy.

Anyways, it's always an option you can check into.