Avg Price youpay for utilities

[mdeleon]

Hey guys, just calculating my future expenses. What's the average price you guys pay for the basic utilities, for sewer, electricity, & heat (am i missing anything else?). i don't neeed prices on phone lines, cable, internet, and such because those will all come at different times.

Now I know it all depends on how much you use each of the utilites, which is why im asking for the avg price or at least i could find out what the avg price is by what everyone else pays.

[sputnik]

I have a 1400 sq ft house to myself and this is what I pay...

Power - $50/month
Water/Sewer - $25/month
Natural Gas - $80/month
Phone - $55/month (shaw flat rate)
Cable TV/Internet - $100/month
Property Tax - $130/month

I dont think you can exclude stuff like cable and telephone service... because you will eventually want them and should budget ahead of time.

Also, my natural gas bill in the winter can be as high as $160/month and as low as $20/month in the summer.

[Aleks]

Originally posted by sputnik
I have a 1400 sq ft house to myself and this is what I pay...

Power - $50/month
Water/Sewer - $25/month
Natural Gas - $80/month
Phone - $55/month (shaw flat rate)
Cable TV/Internet - $100/month
Property Tax - $130/month

I dont think you can exclude stuff like cable and telephone service... because you will eventually want them and should budget ahead of time.

Also, my natural gas bill in the winter can be as high as $160/month and as low as $20/month in the summer.

What about house insurance? Or do you pay that within your mortgage? I am looking for a house and I'm budgeting 500/month for utilities/insurance etc...

[Xtrema]

I have a 2300 sq ft house for 6 people and this is what I pay...

Power - $70/month
Water - $70/month
Sewer - $25/month
Natural Gas - $60/month (summer at best) - $280/month (winter at worst)
Phone - $35/month (Sprint residential)
Cable TV/Internet - $110/month (Shaw Extreme Full Entertainment pack)
Property Tax - $210/month for 2005
Insurance - $50/month covering $350K of property and valuables (FYI Insurance doesn't cover the value of the lot because it's there even your house burnt down to the ground)

[Ariakas]

I have a 1500 sq ft house, 3 people total.

Electrical - $40/month, complete compact fluorescent bulbs in the house so that saves a bit per year.

Water/Sewer - $40/month.

So Enmax bill average $80/yr.

Gas - $80/month average through year, I installed a digital thermostat. Much more accurate and I can set different temps during the day so that saves money. Lowest is $35 during summer and $150 during winter.

Phone - $45 Telus plan w/ some options. Long distance through a different carrier ~ $10/month

Shaw - $43 Basic cable w/ Lightspeed internet. Don't watch much TV and don't download big files :)

Property tax - I pay lump sum each year but works out to about $150/month for 2005.

House insurance - about $400/yr, this is separate from your mortgage. You can have mortgage insurance as well which is billed monthly.

Hope this helps :)

[TrevorK]

I live in Edmonton - but just as an example:

1600 sq ft Bungalow - 28 years old - 4 Young adults living within

Epcor (Power/Water/garbage/sewer/etc...) - $110/month
Gas - $50 - $175
Cable TV/Internet - $80
Property Tax - $160/month
Insurance - $40/month (Covers the house/valuables up to 1 million, and does NOT cover accidental breakage)

Remember to budget for maintenance - like on the weekend, out of the blue, I found out an underground sprinkler valve had cracked over the winter. Only ~$25 to fix, but all these little things add up.

[ZorroAMG]

900 sq ft condo for Enzo and I

Enmax - $40
Condo fees - $250 ( This includes heat, water, sewer, contribution to the reserve fund, lawn care, parkade cleaning, carpet cleaning, paint touchupswindow cleaning etc)

Property tax - 101/month
Condo contents insurance - 18.33/month
Mortgage & life & disability insurance - $95/month

[sputnik]

Originally posted by Aleks


What about house insurance? Or do you pay that within your mortgage? I am looking for a house and I'm budgeting 500/month for utilities/insurance etc...

My house insurance is $360/year

[mdeleon]

wow excellent responces, thanks a bunch guys. would you still have to pay property taxes if you're just renting, or is it the actual owner of the place that is to pay those taxes?


Originally posted by Xtrema
[B]Power - $70/month
Water - $70/month
Sewer - $25/month
Natural Gas - $60/month (summer at best) - $280/month (winter at worst)/B]
i was wondering why you pay water and sewer seperatley? i thought they were under the same category?

so basically, without actually calculating the avg utility costs are about $200/month. hard to say since yes, depends on how many people actually using the utilities and the size of the place, but from what i gather it's around there.

[Weapon_R]

It depends a lot during the winter months. That $200 figure doesn't even cover heating in the winter months for us, but we have a large home (~3000sq ft.)

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by mdeleon
i was wondering why you pay water and sewer seperatley? i thought they were under the same category?


Even power/water/sewer are all billed by Enmax, my water rate is on a meter so it isn't flat and based on usage.

New neighborhoods are all on the meter and they are slowly coverting the old ones too. Older neighborhoods are on flat rate which usually mean, use as much as you want but pay slightly higher price in general.

4 of 6 of my household member are 16-30 range, so each got a PC humming 24/7 and I myself have 2. So my electricity bills may be slightly higher than usual.

Electricity bills are higher in winter too partly due to higher energy rate and partyly due to furnace runs more often (electric fan and pushes the air thru).

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Weapon_R
It depends a lot during the winter months. That $200 figure doesn't even cover heating in the winter months for us, but we have a large home (~3000sq ft.)

That's right. Also, if you're moving into a house that's over 20 years old, even for a 1000sqft place, you may be paying $300/month just on natural gas alone in winter like the rest of us with newer, bigger places.

That's why one of my tenants moved out of a 30ish years Varsity home. Old insulation + old leaky windows = HUGE heating bills.

[kaput]

.

[Wildcat]

well considering i just got jew'd out of my bills this thread comes at a convient time (for you, haha).

enmax: $100-140
atco: $30-60
condo fee: $50
property tax: $110
insurance: $25

monthly of course.

[FiveFreshFish]

Two people in a 2200 sq ft two-storey house with central air con and undeveloped walkout basement:

$270 per month property tax
$100 - $160 per month power, water, sewer
$80 - $240 per month natural gas
$172 per month Shaw internet, digital cable & 2 phone lines
$41 per month home insurance (discounted for burglar/fire alarm monitoring)
$32 per month alarm monitoring

[max_boost]

Originally posted by FiveFreshFish
Two people in a 2200 sq ft two-storey house with central air con and undeveloped walkout basement:

:eek: That's a big house for the two of you. I just moved into my 1000 sq.ft two storey home in Tuxedo and it's just the perfect size for me. LOL

[FiveFreshFish]

Originally posted by max_boost
:eek: That's a big house for the two of you. I just moved into my 1000 sq.ft two storey home in Tuxedo and it's just the perfect size for me. LOL

Yeah, it's pretty big and I do notice it especially on cleaning day! Probably could live more efficiently if I had built a 1600 - 1700 sq ft bungalow instead. Oh well, live and learn.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by kaput

I thought that condo fees were typically a lot higher then that. And I didnt think they included stuff like heat and water. Is that typical?

Heat and waster are usually included for dense multi units like downtown apartments or some big condo complex. Because spliting bill is probably too much hassle and everyone share the same heating system.

But unit like townhouse, condo fee would be cheaper but only exterior maintance is included.

Also, if you're buying non-single dwelling (i.e. anything but a single house), there'll be condo fee. Make sure to check the finanicals of the complex. Some have a big reserve to deal with maintenance and repairs, some don't. That'll be a good guage if how far the condo fee may increase down the road.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by max_boost
:eek: That's a big house for the two of you. I just moved into my 1000 sq.ft two storey home in Tuxedo and it's just the perfect size for me. LOL

Just more room for toys!

[sansp]

I know this is an old thread, but need some advice from existing homeowners....

How do I save heating bills:
Is it cheaper to just use the fireplace (natural gas baased) for heating the main room during evening, and shutdown the furnace....

or forget the fireplace and keep the furace at a constant temperature...

My house is 1450 sq ft, 9 yrs old.....Although its cold all the time, but, I still recvd a $140 bill for the month of Dec...any suggestions how to cut it down.

Thanks,

SanSp

[Ariakas]

Originally posted by sansp
I know this is an old thread, but need some advice from existing homeowners....

How do I save heating bills:
Is it cheaper to just use the fireplace (natural gas baased) for heating the main room during evening, and shutdown the furnace....

or forget the fireplace and keep the furace at a constant temperature...

My house is 1450 sq ft, 9 yrs old.....Although its cold all the time, but, I still recvd a $140 bill for the month of Dec...any suggestions how to cut it down.

Thanks,

SanSp

When you say cold, what temp are you at? Do you have a digital thermostat, more accurate plus you can set different temp at different time of day. You check for any air leaks in your windows? Yes, the fireplace can save you money but it's best you have fan setup on your fireplace to push our the warm air. However your bill doesn't sound that much as gas went up quite a bit last month, my bill was $157 and sq ft is almost the same as yours and house is 11 yrs old.

[kaput]

.

[JordanLotoski]

2600 sq foot home
mortage 1270.00
Cable 171.00
elec 180.00
Gas 220.00
propety tax 450.00
insurance dunno...blended in with auto
alarm 32.00

[statick]

Thanks a lot to all the people that posted their living expenses in this thread...It was really helpful!:thumbsup:

[TrevorK]

Originally posted by sansp
I know this is an old thread, but need some advice from existing homeowners....

How do I save heating bills:
Is it cheaper to just use the fireplace (natural gas baased) for heating the main room during evening, and shutdown the furnace....

or forget the fireplace and keep the furace at a constant temperature...

My house is 1450 sq ft, 9 yrs old.....Although its cold all the time, but, I still recvd a $140 bill for the month of Dec...any suggestions how to cut it down.

Thanks,

SanSp

First - use a programmable thermostat. I drop the temp down to 16deg when no one is home, and at night.

Next, if you find you only use 1 or 2 rooms, use electric space heaters. Set the furnace to say, 15-16 deg and then set your space heater to 18. The space heater will only kick in when it needs, as well as the furnace.


Remember though - the probe for your furnace (at the thermostat I assume) determines when it kicks in. So if the thermostat is in the coldest room, then the furnace will always be kicking in.

But I think 140 is pretty good for you - my 30 year old 1600sq ft bungalow cost me ~130-150 in december, and I keep it pretty cool (Never above 18).

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by sansp
My house is 1450 sq ft, 9 yrs old.....Although its cold all the time, but, I still recvd a $140 bill for the month of Dec...any suggestions how to cut it down.

Thanks,

SanSp

Is the $140 strictly NG? How many people living in your house?

[FatboyTheHungry]

Just me and my GF in my house.

1707 sq ft 2 storey w/attached garage built 2003, and central A/C
$120 for electricity/water/sewage
$50-$150 for gas depending on time of year
$85 cable TV/Internet

Don't remember what I pay property tax or insurance but I'll find that later and update.