Apartment and electricity bill (Houston, Sugar Land: apartment complex, lease, appliances)

[encorele]

I will be moving to Sugar Land area in several days and will be looking for an apartment either inside the loop or Sugar Land. I have been reading here and there that electricity bill is over $100 and it's not even summer yet. Is this the norm for apartment? Before I commit to a lease, I would like to know the average monthly bill at various time of the month. How do you suggest I find that information? Thanks

[jasonamd]

It is hard to give an average monthly bill as there are way too many factors involved, especially in an apartment. It will depend on how well built the apartment is, what floor you are on, what direction your apartment faces, how warm you like it in the winter, how cold you like it in the summer, what other appliances there are, etc, etc.

The apartment I lived in was built in the early 90's and I was on the second floor of a two story building. It was about 750sqft. In the winter when I ran heat I kept it at 70. My highest bill was around $140 during the coldest time. In the summer I kept the A/C at around 74 and my bills averaged around $150. During periods with little or no heating or cooling, it was around $50.

You should be able to find out from the utility company what the monthly usage was for the unit you are looking at, but once again it won't mean a whole lot if you don't know how the people that were there before lived.

[cheryjohns]

One of the big differences between houses and apartments - apartments usually have electric heat and houses gas heating (which is a lot cheaper).

[timtemtym]

I lived in one bedroom apartments in different areas of Houston (Bellaire, Mid-City, West Oaks, Richmond). My average bill outside the months of February, March, November (open window season in Houston) were usually around 120-150. I found out I needed to call reliant or another energy provider every six months to a year to get their best rate. You need to keep up on this at least once a year (they are very good about negotiating with you). I let it go one year and ended up with two months of nearly $200 bills. Not good.

Be careful with them, some companies charge base fees if you don't use ENOUGH electricity. I was monitoring it online and ended up running my AC on 70 all day for the last three days of one month just to get it up. dumb! I dumped that plan

[piyf]

Originally Posted by encorele

I will be moving to Sugar Land area in several days and will be looking for an apartment either inside the loop or Sugar Land. I have been reading here and there that electricity bill is over $100 and it's not even summer yet. Is this the norm for apartment? Before I commit to a lease, I would like to know the average monthly bill at various time of the month. How do you suggest I find that information? Thanks

Find an apartment you might want to rent. Call the TDU who services the lines for that area and ask for the monthly kWh usage of the place.

[coconutbutter]

Seconding what jasonamd said. IMO, it makes a huge difference depending on the floor that your apartment is located and how the sun hits it. Avoid the ones that have a prime view of the afternoon sun and get a unit close to the ground.

When I lived on the the third floor of an apartment complex, I tried to save on bills by turning on the fan instead of running central air. While we managed to keep our electricity bill at $100, it was still hot, and it did require a bit of sacrifice.

In my last apt, I lived in a six unit apt complex where I was the one in the middle. I had awesome insulation from the surrounding units and kept my power bill capped at $50 during the summer (but I also tend to get very cold and can tolerate warmer temps; landlord also had individual window units).

I'd look for a unit closer to the ground floor. The only drawback is possibly getting neighbors who stomp like a herd of elephants above you.

[aaware]

What should be the avg wattage and cost per cent for electricity in a 1 BHK in sugarland .... can someone give the likely rates ?

[nicksw10]

The bills would range from 70 to 150 $ . It depends on how much you use the AC or Heater.


Do not get the top floor or the third floor then the bills will exponentially grow and it gets blazing hot in summer.

In Texas you can choose the electricity provider. Check the rates they offer.
Power to Choose

[blkgiraffe]

If you live by yourself; I'd get prepaid.

[crbcrbrgv]

When my friend lived in Creole Yorktown before she got engaged with my other friend, she always spoke about how she only paid about 70 in the winter and 110 in the summer. Her two bedroom place was around 1100 square feet I want to say. She lived on the first floor. Creole is old for Houston. I want to say it was built in the 60's.

And she just texted me she paid 7.9 kw/h, which I think is a great rate? My wife has been taking care of that kind of stuff for years.