Utility estimates, please (Dallas, Plano, Richardson: apartment, rental, appliances)

[rach924]

We are renting a house in Plano (75023) and I'm curious what I could expect some of our utilities being.

Estimated guess on about a 2K sq ft house (3 bed and has ceiling fans) for the summer and winter electricity bill? I was thinking it might be $300 at it's worst (summer).

Estimated guess on water bill? We pay about $60 right now in Seattle, WA.

Estimated guess on sewer? We pay around $48 right now every 2 months.

Estimated guess on garbage? We pay around $90 every 3 months.

Thank you!

ETA: I was just looking at the City of Plano page and it looks like water/sewer/garbage are billed together, monthly? It seems to be only about $30 though for an estimate. Seems very cheap for all 3 services...

[nsumner]

Here, your water/sewer/trash are all combined in one bill. Your rate are very high. I wouldn't expect them to be more than $110 monthly here combined. $30 is way too cheap, can't be right.

Depending on the age of the home, size, construction, energy efficiency, insulation, it's very difficult to guess what you might expect. How about asking the landlord if this was not a rental before.

Naima

[xS☺B☺s]

Our water/sewer/trash is like 45-50. We're in Richardson but in Collin County so I don't know who actually gets the money.

We have a 1300 sq ft apt, pay $0.15 /kw 100% renewable and have seen a few $450 bills. This place has crappy insulation. In BOS we paid $.019 per kw and never had a bill > $200. Double pane windows make the difference imo.

[lh_newbie]

We have 2576 sq ft single family home and pay $0.13/kw 100% renewable, but we have a 16 SEER HVAC system and have upgraded attic insulation to 12-14" as well as 2/3 of our windows are now dual-pane, low-e. We also have all energy star appliances + TV. Bills are as follows:

- Average elec bill = $145 (peak = $340 when the HVAC had a bad expansion valve, causing the unit to run non-stop for a week, june/jul/aug usually average about $250/mo).
- Average gas bill = $51. Peak = $155 in Jan this year (very cold month).
- Average water = $77. $55-60 in winter, peaks at $100 in summer.

We just recently replaced our garage fridge with an energy star unit (old one was an energy hog). I measured the old unit compared to the new one - we should see a monthly savings of $6/month elec. We also converted our elec cooktop to gas - not sure what that'll do. Though now that we love cooking (hated the elec cooktop), we're cooking more, so we'll prolly see an increase in energy usage overall... but a drop in our "dining bill".

[Pete53FR]

We live in East Dallas 24oo sf well insulated attic with power fan to take heat out of attic. Our electric rate is 9.25 cents per kilowatt. We have natural gas for heat and hot water. 1 dollar to 1.50 a square foor it good ball park for energy gas and electric.

Our water and sewer and trash is combined and runs about 100 to 125 a month. If you have electric heat it is more.

I also keep a window unit in our bedroom and don't run our big a/c between 9 PM and 11 AM. Over the years this has saved me a lot of money and we like it cold when we sleep.

If we did not get deregulated our bills would be 30 to 50% less but you know how the politicians like to save us money.

[DaveG99]

my 850 sf 1 bed apartment was $46 for electricity last month.

[JoycMarr]

I live in 75023 and I think you are underestimating on your water and electricity for a 2000 sq foot house, unless it is newer and super energy efficient.