Electric Bill

[Jacklynn]

Matt and I are kinda starting to look into houses. We can't start any house payments until September 1st (our projected CC pay off day!!) unless anyone feels like blessing us with $10,000 in the near future haha - any takers?!?!

But we do want to start getting a feel for the other expenses, such as electric and other utilities. I found out what the cost is per kwh's or whatever they are. But have no clue how many of those people typically use.

Anyone care to share what they pay for electric a month? Or do you know how many kwh's you use in a typical month?

We've never owned a home before.... but we probably do use less electricity than the average, we are good about turning things off we aren't using and such.

[Docsgirl]

We're renting a house right now, but have to pay for all of our utilities. We're pretty good about turning things off when they're not being used and our bills usually are around the $70 range. But everything in our house seems to be electric. Heat, water heater, washer & dryer, etc. Our highest bill was right around $110, but we had 2 extra people in the house staying with us that month so we already assumed it would be higher that month. It's an average size 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom house.

Our water bill just came today as well. $58. It's usually right around that range every month for us too, with showers and laundry and everything.

[Jacklynn]

Thanks for replying!
The electric bill sounds good, but $58 for water?? I checked my county, and for single family homes, it is $8.00 for up to 10,000 gallons, and like $15 for up to 30,000.

I wonder why the huge difference?

[Whitewater]

Our water bill typically is about $30-$35/three months. Our trash bill is about $45/three months.

Our winter heating bill for natural gas and electric (around here, there's one company that provides both services) is currently averaging $500/month, mostly because of the exceptionally cold climate we've had and the fact that natural gas prices have skyrocketed recently. The other major reason is that because of my health issues, we've had to keep our house at 75', which really pumps up the bill.

In summertime, it's around $150 or thereabouts, not bad, really, when you consider that we have central air AND a window unit upstairs.

My advice to you is to learn to wear sweaters and wooly socks -- and make sure to install a energy-wise furnace ASAP! A modern furnace would save us a lot of money too, right now ours is about 20 years old. Still works good, but it's absolutely not efficient, and it wastes a ton of energy.

We have energy efficient doors, but our windows aren't even though they're newer. Our house is a total of 1900-2000 square feet, though only about 1600 of that is finished and livable. It's a post war (barely, built in 1948) 1.5 story cross between a Cape Cod and an 'American Bungalow' style. I call it my little Capealow.


Whitewater

[FutureKelley]

Everything in our house is electic except for the heat and water heater. With the heat being on in the winter, we have been paying around $40 the last few months. However, in the summer we averaged around $90-100. Of course, that was having it set at 70*F.

Then of course the gas bill depends on the time of the year too. Right now it's around $100, when in the summer we were only paying somewhere around $20.

Our water bill is around $20 per month. I can't imagine spending $50+! :bbeek:

[NurseLau84]

We pay around $60 to $70/month for electric, but our house is on the small side (1450 sq.ft)....less rooms to leave lights on, etc! :)
My in-laws pay high 200's per month, but their house is just shy of 3000 sq ft not including the basement. So, I guess it depends on if you have tons of things plugged in, and which appliances in your house run off of electricity.

[Jacklynn]

My advice to you is to learn to wear sweaters and wooly socks -- and make sure to install a energy-wise furnace ASAP! A modern furnace would save us a lot of money too, right now ours is about 20 years old. Still works good, but it's absolutely not efficient, and it wastes a ton of energy.

Whitewater

Thankfully we live in Florida, so there isn't much need for sweaters and wooly socks in side :) We have to deal more with watching the A/C :)

[Gertie]

There can be variations in utility bills for about a zillion reasons. For example, our water bill runs $75 a month, but it includes a lot more than water. I don't know why they don't call it something else...maybe city services? We pay $75 a month, and it includes water, sewer, trash and recycle pickup once a week, large item pickup once a quarter, hazard item (like paint or pesticide containers) pickup once a quarter, plus they supply our trash bags.

Other issues like how much it is insulated, whether the location is sheltered from winds, and how high the ceilings are can effect the utility costs. You should be able to get average figures from the previous home owners in a lot of cases, but even that can be misleading since different people use power in different ways.

[Danielle9608]

My house runs solely on electric, water heater, stove and heating. I also live in MA which has really cold winters. So keeping that in mind my average bill in winter time is about 300-400 in Spring when using no ac is about 75-100 and Summer is 100--150. I am religious about turning down the heat when I leave and shutting off lights when I am not using them.

[Docsgirl]

Thanks for replying!
The electric bill sounds good, but $58 for water?? I checked my county, and for single family homes, it is $8.00 for up to 10,000 gallons, and like $15 for up to 30,000.

I wonder why the huge difference?


We're also in this boat:
There can be variations in utility bills for about a zillion reasons. For example, our water bill runs $75 a month, but it includes a lot more than water. I don't know why they don't call it something else...maybe city services? We pay $75 a month, and it includes water, sewer, trash and recycle pickup once a week, large item pickup once a quarter, hazard item (like paint or pesticide containers) pickup once a quarter, plus they supply our trash bags.

Other issues like how much it is insulated, whether the location is sheltered from winds, and how high the ceilings are can effect the utility costs. You should be able to get average figures from the previous home owners in a lot of cases, but even that can be misleading since different people use power in different ways.

I think that's why our water bill is in the $58 range. It's through the city and it includes the sewer, garbage and the like. I too, don't understand why they call it your water bill when it's basically your "everything but electric" bill. We've never really been too bothered by it though. Those are the only two bills we get for the house a month, so we're pretty content. :)

[KristinGriffin]

I can tell you what it costs in MA, but if you have any friends/coworkers in your area that would be willing to share, that may help you more...

We have a 1600 sq. foot home in MA, with all gas appliances.
We spend about:
$50-70 in electric/month (can get up to $100 in winter, if we're not careful)
$200-300 in gas/month (in winter for heat, only about $30-50 in summer)
$50-60 in water (we have sewer charges as well as water - this is a quarterly bill for us)

You will also want to look into the taxes in your area on your home (goes by value).

All of our utilities charge an incremental rate - meaning that if you use more, it costs more for each unit. If you can keep your A/C lower and turn lights off as much as possible, not only will you use less, they will charge you less per unit - which definitely helps.

Incidentally, all of our utilities have been going up this year - it's been a little colder, but everyone is charging more!

[Jacklynn]

Thanks everyone! It helps to know what type of prices people are paying. It gives me a general idea.

[Kfancii]

I always subscribe to the "Budget Billing" plan that they electric company offers. What budget billing does is keeps your bill at a constant level year round. For example, my bill for my 1100 sq. foot home was $124.00 a month. I paid this amount every month regardless of what I used that month. In the winter, since I had natural gas heat, I was overpaying, but in the summer I was paying less than the actual bill, so it all evened out. This just made it easier for me to handle since I only had one income and got paid once a month. A $300 electric bill in the summer would have completely drained me! Sometimes the company wants you to be on their regular service for a year so they can figure out your usage, but I have found that if you buy an existing home, they can look at the previous owners bills and estimate based on those.

[Bridetobe2009]

WOW!!!! I can't believe that y'alls electric bills are less than $100. Our rates keep going up and have double in the last year. I remember paying less than $100 growing up. We got our electric bill 3 days ago and it was $637!!! Everyone in our area are complaining about there bills and them being so high.

[SerendipityCrafts]

Thankfully we live in Florida, so there isn't much need for sweaters and wooly socks in side :) We have to deal more with watching the A/C :)

I know it sounds odd but make sure your home is well insulated (roof and walls). The better the insulation, the cooler it will be during the hottest months.

If you are inclined to think this way, look for homes where the largest windows are pointing towards the north or south. While east/west brings in wonderful light, it also cooks :)

Look for homes with great cross ventilation (don't be afraid to open the windows) and mature trees on the property. The trees will shade the house and you can open the windows to let the breeze flow through. If it comes with a pool, that is a bonus too!

The addition on the back of our house is heated with electric baseboards. Between heating that, the lights and heating the hotwater tank, we pay $140 (we are on equalized billing).

You won't have to contend with this but ..... our oil tank has been filled three times this winter at approx. $400 each time. *argh*!

[WebLady]

DH handles the utilities so I can't be 100% sure, but I think our power bill is about $150 a month. Water is about $20 a month I think.

[Jacobs_Girl]

Dont forget to research PMI (unless your putting more than 20% down paymennt) , Home owners insurance, taxes, Home owners association fees, moving fees. Items for first home as lawn mower, washer & dryer, appliances, trash pickup fees. Those are all I could think of for now.

Some unitilies require deposit if you have never establish an account with them prior.

[Jacklynn]

Dont forget to research PMI (unless your putting more than 20% down paymennt) , Home owners insurance, taxes, Home owners association fees, moving fees. Items for first home as lawn mower, washer & dryer, appliances, trash pickup fees. Those are all I could think of for now.

Some unitilies require deposit if you have never establish an account with them prior.

Thanks :) We got those things covered (well as far as looking at what the average cost is for around here). Those things were pretty easy to find. It was the average cost of electric that I just couldn't find. I found how much they charge per kwh though lol.

Though I'm sure there are more things to think about :) haha

[MrsDM]

We have a 1000 sq. ft upper unit condo. Our gas/electric bill really varies. Last two months they were around $180 each, this month was $120. I know we had a warmer few days, so less heat was used.

Our water bill is $135 every three months.

I know when we get a house, we will definitely have a private well/septic so we don't have to worry about that, however the gas/electric bills will probably be around $300 during peak summertime and winter.