Utility Costs question

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Reading a blog, made me wonder how big is your home, what do you spend on utlities like electric and natural gas, and how much do you consume?

Our house is 1900 sq ft townhouse. We consume approximately an average of 850 kWh over the course of one year. The maximum being consumed during the winter when we have to use electric heat pumps and space heaters to heat our house. Last month our usage was 654 kWh, and our highest month december with 1232 kwh. The balanced bill is about $200/month with most of the charges of course during the winter.

We heat our house to 55 in the winter and we cool it to 80 during the summer. We aren't extravagently heating our home either. This is with 3 adults living in the house. We also have an electric water heater, washer, and dryer. Because it's a tonwhouse we can't install a gas dryer or water heater. But when we moved in I bought a front loading washer and a very energy efficient regular dryer. I think that's why we use very little electricity when not heating.

As for heating with natural gas we 916 therms from 7/11/07 to 7/12/08. This cost us a $2044/year or $170/month. About $2/therm and it's set to increase by 40%/per therm this year.

What did you use and spend this year?

I think we use very little for 3 adults in a pretty large home. The biggest savings was the energy efficient washer, dryer, and water heater. If I were staying here long term I would install a tankless water heater.

[noppenbd]

To heat and cool our 1920s 1700 sq ft townhouse in Maryland (hot humid summers and cold but not frigid winters), we use about 800 kWh per month and about 68 therms per month (gas heat and hot water, electric W/D and window A/C units). We keep the house at about 68 in the winter and 76 in the summer. I also work from home and my daughter is here all day so we can't really use a setback thermostat.

EDIT: Our bills are a bit high because we are signed up for 100% Wind power, which costs about $20 a month more. Our monthly gas & electric combination bills are running about $215-230. Without the wind power we would probably be at $200.

[MonkeyMama]

We have 2600 square foot home. NEw construction (2001 anyway) and all new/energy efficient appliances. REALLY pays off.

Relatively mild winters, but summers are atrocious (where most of our energy bills go to - the A/C).

We keep the heat on 68 in the winter and cool the house to 80 in the summer. There is someone home 24/7 though the house is insulated enough we rarely turn on the heat or air at night. But we keep the house at these temps pretty 24/7.

For the past year we paid $437 for 303 therms, gas. (In the summer we use 5 therms a month). Averages 25 therms/month. (We obviously use a lot of gas in the winter - for heat - to bring the overall average up). We have gas stove, gas water heater and all that - but VERY efficient.

For the past year we paid $605 fore electricity - for 5473 Kwh. Averages 456 Kwh per month.

We don't use the air or heat about 6 months of the year. I wouldn't say most people in the region can say this, but the newer construction is much better insulated.

People regularly ask me if we get $500 utility bills because our house is larger. ???? The biggest utility bill I've had was maybe $150, in the summer. The average is $87/month.

We used to pay more for a condo with half the square footage, when we both worked out of the home full time (in a much milder climate). So I have no complaints about our current utilities.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

noppendbd, I think we use similar amounts of electric, and we use about 10 therm/month more gas for heating and our bills are double your! I'd love those prices!

[cheap]

Georgia

4200 sq. ft. ten year old house. We need new windows as they are not insulated well and have no screens. In the winter I put plastic on them. Duh, I never thought about leaving the plastic on in the summer until my mom mentioned it this year. I will try that next year. We have ceiling fans in every room, so that helps with air flow. I am home 24/7 so thermostat stays constant. The heat stays on 67 (up) 69 (down) air 77 (up) 78(down). All appliances are energy saving and electric. Highest gas bill $315(78 therms) and highest electric bill $325 (2900 therms).

[noppenbd]

We have a 2-yr-old front loading clothes washer which spins the clothes much drier than a traditional washer so that saves on using the dryer. Our gas hot water heater is 2-yrs-old also and very efficient. We also have brand new replacement windows throughout the house.

Our steam furnace on the other hand is a beast. It is probably 50-60 years old. We have not replaced it because quotes to dismantle and replace it run in the $8-10K range. The breakeven point is probably 5-6 years out and we're not sure we'll stay that long.

Installing central air would really cut our electric bill but would require extensive work to install ducts in this old house.

[Caoineag]

Live in a place that is pretty mild except for really hot dry summers.

Normal bill (8+ months) ~550 kwh, Summer bill ~780 kwh. Cost is $64-70 for first one and $90 for the second. Course we do 100% wind power.

Don't ever use the dryer, we rent so can't control insulation or appliances.

On an interesting side note, when our 125g marine fish tank was up, the bill for summer was year round and the summer bill was almost 1000kwh. This is really interesting because we are currently still running a 55g one...

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I too have a front loader, energy efficient dryer and water heater. Our furnance is inefficient as well!. Funny it's so similar.

[noppenbd]

I was motivated by this thread to look into replacing our furnace. I will let you know what happens.

[lemmyk]

We heat our house to 55 in the winter and we cool it to 80 during the summer.

I would agree that keeping your house cool in the winter certainly helps keep the energy usage lower, but 55? I remember one time our furnace was having probs, and the house was barely maintaining 55-56, we were ABSOLUTELY FREEZING....

We were wrapped in blankets drinking hot cocoa...

How can you comfortably live in those conditions?

[Snave]

LivingAlmostLarge, do you have kids? We have little ones and keeping a house at 55 would not be an option.