Post your Utilities.. (Chicago, Irving, Bridgeport: apartment, rent, insurance)

[MarketingGuy]

Trying to put together a budget, so I'm prepared for EVERYTHING should I find the right job in the Chicago area. I searched, but this info wasn't as easy to find as a lot of other data.

So - Curious if everyone would be interested in posting some of their utilities data?

Neighborhood:
Apartment or Home:
Electric:
Gas:
Water/Sewer:
Cable/TV:
Internet:

Hopefully I can mine some good data here..

Thanks for playing!

[emathias]

Neighborhood: River North
Apartment or Home: Apartment (2-bedroom, approx 1150 square feet, brick building, vintage but with modern, energy-efficient windows)
Electric: $45 without a/c, $150-$200 with a/c (mainly June, July, Aug)
Gas: $30-$40 without heat (but my water is gas-heated), $100-$150 with heat (mainly Dec, Jan, Feb)
Water/Sewer: included in my condo assessments, but my portion would be about $5-$10/month I think
Cable/TV: Digital including hd, plus Showtime, HBO, 2 foreign language specialty channels is $95/month (RCN is the provider)
Internet: $105/month for 60 mbps

[chirack]

Gas could really vary. Some places are better insulated or smaller and therefore less costly to heat than others. Not counting do you use a gas stove,dryer, water heater or not.

Water\Sewer will depend on the town. You can contact the town’s water department directly. If you live in Chicago contact the Chicago water department.

ATT and Comcast(which I think is now owned by xfinty) are the cable companies around here. City of Chicago has a small tax on cable. Contact one of those for pricing. In the burbs some people are forced to used Dish network. I hear cable is better in terms of being less effected by strong winds.

[MarketingGuy]

Is Verizon available in any of the 'burbs?

Dish is a nightmare. I would never use them ever, personally.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by MarketingGuy

Trying to put together a budget, so I'm prepared for EVERYTHING should I find the right job in the Chicago area. I searched, but this info wasn't as easy to find as a lot of other data.

So - Curious if everyone would be interested in posting some of their utilities data?

Neighborhood:
Apartment or Home:
Electric:
Gas:
Water/Sewer:
Cable/TV:
Internet:

Hopefully I can mine some good data here..

Thanks for playing!

Chicago, 2500SF Duplex condo
Electric: $100 average
Gas: $120 average
Water/Sewer: part of condo assessments
Cable: $75
Internet: $40/ though part of phone line

[MarketingGuy]

Thank you.. keep it coming!

[DaPerpKazoo]

Neighborhood: Bridgeport
Apartment or Home: 3 Bedroom Apartment, ~800 sqft, 4 people. Brick building built in 1896.
Electric: ~$80 without AC, ~$140 with. (keep in mind we have three high-end gaming desktops plus two servers)
Gas: ~$30 in summer, have yet to get a winter gas bill.
Water/Sewer: Included with rent.
Cable/TV: Does anyone really get TV service anymore? N/A
Internet: $60. We pay for 12 mbit down, 2 mbit up, but we get closer to 15/4. We're with Comcast business class because we need higher bandwidth limits.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by MarketingGuy

Trying to put together a budget, so I'm prepared for EVERYTHING should I find the right job in the Chicago area. I searched, but this info wasn't as easy to find as a lot of other data.

So - Curious if everyone would be interested in posting some of their utilities data?

Neighborhood:
Apartment or Home:
Electric:
Gas:
Water/Sewer:
Cable/TV:
Internet:

Hopefully I can mine some good data here..

Thanks for playing!

Neighborhood: Buena Park/Uptown
Apartment or Home: 1,000 sf condo
Electric: $35 spring fall, $45 winter, $60 summer
Gas: $20 summer/fall, $80 winter, $50 spring
Water/Sewer: This is included in either your rent or assessments. It really wasn't until just a few years ago that the city started paying attention to billing for water/sewer. We have the largest water filtration plant in the world, so basically it's "water water everywhere".
Cable/TV: I pay way too much. It's like $150 a month for cable/DVR/internet. My friends normally drunk dial Comcast once ever 6 months or so, and if you say you're going to get rid of their sevice unless they reduce your bill, they basically will do so without even asking. I've just been lazy.
Internet: see above

Having a car is what makes or breaks your spending $$$ in the city. I have a monthly $86 unlimited ride transit pass that refills itself each month out of my paycheck at work. They take it out pre-tax, so basically you're saving the $30 you would have spent in taxes on that income. I take maybe 3 cabs a week, normally from $7 to $10. Parking you have to watch out for tickets, parking at a metered spot (pay boxes - they don't actually have physical meters anymore), city sticker, gas, insurance, car payments, maint, etc.

[jdiddy]

Neighborhood: Irving Park
Apartment or Home: 3rd floor of 2bd/2ba 3 flat
Electric: $30 Sep-May / 70-100 Jun - Aug
Gas: 50-70 Nov - Mar / 30-40 non-winter months
Water/Sewer: included in rent
Cable/TV: Direct TV $40/mo
Internet: Clear $40/mo

Having used Comcast and RCN, I'm much happier with the Clear/DirectTV combo. The occasional inconvenience of losing the signal during a storm is worth the savings and not dealing with Comcast's arrogant customer service.