Gas/Electric/Water : Avg. Monthly Costs

[Sean_CLT]

Short answer: I'd say expect something above $400 for your January and February bills (which cover December and January when it is coldest) for a 2500 square foot house.

Yes there are other variables - do you heat every room, use a programmable thermostat, what is the quality of insulation and windows, the SEER rating of the furnace.

But this is the south after all, so the bills don't stay high for long.

[Riley09swb]

We have a 2900-3000 Sq ft house we haven't lived in this house through a winter yet so the below is summer bills:


$156.00 -Duke electricity
$50.62 - Water for a family of 4 (no pool and no grass watering)
$17.76 - Gas

That's with a programmable thermostat though I work from home. The downstairs is set at 75 all day and then around 8:30 goes down to 73. The upstairs is set at 77 and goes down to 74 at night.

I don't expect the gas bill to go much higher in the winter than the electricity bill in the summer.

The house is about 5-6 years old.

[Cornbread99]

I seem to see people talking about the costs of electric baseboard heating and how high it is. However, when all electricity use is listed on one bill, how do people separate or differentiate the costs of electric baseboard heating from the costs of their use of electricity for other things, such as running appliances, lights, power tools etc.....most of the blogs seem to indicate an average costs of $300. a month but what is the true costs of only the electric baseboard heating component????

[Sean_CLT]

Electric resistance (baseboards, strip heat) makes sense for "spot heating" but not to heat a whole house. I consider a heat pump distinct from baseboard heat....

I can't speak to a large house but a small home under 1500 sq ft can be heated efficiently in most conditions here by a heat pump, and come out cheaper than gas or electric resistance. It was several years ago when I lived there, but I don't remember the bills going above what I've seen gas heat do in subsequent local homes.

I have gas heat in my current residence but keep it around 65 in the winter, augmented with two plug-in space heaters. I turn on whichever of them I'm closest to. Works fine for me, but I live alone so nobody complains about the chilly corners or hallway. Even with the heat totally turned off, the house doesn't get much colder than 56-58 on a typical winter day, but I can't bring myself to be that barbaric.

[NCbound01]

We currently have a 2400 square foot house. We have two a/c units, which greatly help on energy costs.

In the summer we average around 175 for electric and 20 for gas
In the winter we average around 120 for electric and 180 for gas

[DavidsonRavingFan]

We have a 4 year old house about 2900 sq ft. ~ 3 people - 2 home most of the time
Yearly averages:
electric 100
gas 70
water 40

TOTAL 210

The year the house was built makes a big difference as codes have gotten better over the years. Many newer homes (2009 and later) are built to Energy Star standards and have amazingly low energy costs. Saussy Burbank and Ryan are two builders in Summers Walk who build to these standards.