NGPR: how much do you pay for utilities?

[chicago]

I know mileage will vary here, but I'd love to get an idea.  We are moving from a 1200 sq ft 1br, 1.5ba condo to a 1700 sq ft 3br, 3ba townhome.  The condo association paid for water, gas/heat, but we will now be responsible for that.  We have grown accustomed to paying about $50 on average for electric and that's it. 

Moving is the suck.  We are bleeding money these days with all the deposits, move/
-in/move-out fees, movers, higher rent costs, higher cleaner costs.  Let's not forget this is all to accommodate our growing family and the growing costs that will come with that! Watching our bank accounts on constant drip is freaking me out!  

Just curious if my budget is realistic.  How much do you pay monthly for electric/gas/water?  Bonus points if you come from climate similar to Chicago.  

[pinotgrig]

I love in the southeast, so my temps are probably more mild than yours although it's been a cold winter so far. Our heating bill - which is a gas water heater and electric heat/AC - ranges from $80 in mild months to $225 when it runs more often.

We have a yard irrigation system, and our water bill runs anywhere from $40 to $140 a month. Less in the winter when the irrigation system is off.

We live in a 2700 SF, 2 story house.

[narockshard]

We live in a climate similar to Chicago and pay about $70 a month average for electric, and about $80 a month for gas. We have a well so we don't pay for water but we do have a public sewer which is $41 a month. Our house is about 2000 sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. We try to do lots of different things to keep costs down, like turning down the heat when we are away at work and at night (and keeping it fairly low, like 66-67 degrees), hand washing dishes more often than running the dishwasher, doing laundry about once or twice a week, etc.

[Yankees21]

I live in Omaha, so pretty similar to Chicago. Our house is 1850 square feet (plus unfinished basement), 3 bed 3 bath and we pay an average I'd say of $100 for electric and $100 for gas/water a month. However, for the gas/water that includes $45/month in fees, which I think is insane. I cried when we got our first bill after moving from our third floor apartment where we didn't turn the heat on once in the winter, lol.

[shelbyann]

Moving is the suck, I am with you on that!

Also in the SE. We have an open floor plan house with central A/C and our electric bill can get pretty ridiculous in the summer...upwards of $300/month, even with careful monitoring of the thermostat. The flip side is that winter is relatively cheap for us...we have big windows that have kind of a greenhouse effect and a lot of times we can get away with not running the heat at all, unless it's very cold. Gas bill in the winter is like $60-70/month (versus $20 month in the summer...it also powers the hot water tank and stove). We have 3500 SF.

[chicago]

Jan 20, 2014 12:00:42 GMT -5 @kirkette said:

I'm bummed because we used to live in a complete Green/ LEED Certified building, and our utilities were $13/month.

[statlerwaldorf]

I live in Ohio in a 2 bedroom 1 bath SFH.  We pay about $125 for electric, $140 for gas during the winter, $35 for water, and $20 for trash.  Our water bill is lower than most because we have a well and city water.  Our trash is lower than our old house because there is competition here.

[sunshine608]

Another southeastern girl here. Our house is 3500 sq. ft. Twice the size of our old house yet our utilities are much cheaper. Electric Is about ~ $150 in the summer ~ $60 in the winter. Gas is ~ $20 until the winter when its 3x that. Water is $30 in the winter and about $100 in the summer with the irrigation system. Our old house was 1900 sq ft and built in the 60's and our power bill could be $300-400 in the summer and winter. Our new house has much better windows and insulation which makes a huge difference.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using proboards

[jewel]

We have 2600 sq ft in Northern California. We average about $200/month for all utilities - water, sewage, trash, gas, and electric.

There can be huge differences though, based on the age/condition of the home, whether or not you'll have public utilities, what runs on gas vs. electric, etc. My ILs live one town over, have private utilities, and pay at least 3-4 times what we do for a smaller house.

[Stingyshark]

Florida

1680sqft built in 2010

highest electric in the summer was $180
highest so far this winter is $144, but we've both been home the entire months of dec/jan. in Nov our power bill was $94.

water usually $35 (last month it was $46, but i was taking 2-3 showers a day before i had DD)
trash is $18 every qtr

no gas

[greencrayon]

North Carolina here. 1600 sq ft newish house.

Gas = $15 (summer) $100 winter
Water = $35 every other month
Electric = $60-100 depending on how often I yell at DH to turn stuff off. Lol.