Just moved into a house in Union COunty (how much, living)

[bugginvw2]

I was wondering if I can get some help with my bills for water/electric etc. I am a first time home owner, and I am trying to be very cautious on my electric and water bills. Can someone shed some light on me on how much an average monthly bill is? It is only 2 of us in the home, and it is about 2600 sq feet.
Thanks in advance!

[car421]

Our house is 3000 sq ft and my last electric bill was 150. We keep the house at 76 and use ceiling fans. I installed programable thermostats and that makes it a lot easier. We actually have it go to 80 at night and when we are not home.

Water is a whole different animal if you do not have a well, and I assume not since you are asking for cost. If you water your lawn on a regular basis depending on the size of your lot you can get a bill in the hundreds for a month. I remember sticker shock over my first bill when it was about $275 for 1 month. My last bill was $90. Since you just moved in I assume that you probably have no grass unless you had sod put in. Now is not the time to start one so if you are using water for just the basics I would say you could assume around 30/month.

[coastalgirl]

our house is around 2600 sqft also, and it's just my husband and me. Typical electric bill in the fall/winter is around $35-$50, and in the summer between $100-$160. We have gas heat. We only have lights on in the rooms we are occupying, and we leave a porch light overnight. AC is set on 76 during the day while we are gone, 74 while home, and 68 upstairs only at night (we like it cold for sleeping).

Your water bill will depend on the size of your lawn and how often you water. When we don't water at all the bill is usually around $25. This spring and summer have been kind to us, and the largest bill yet was around $56, but we try to conserve as much as possible too.

Do you have gas heat? We were shocked by our gas bills when we moved here from the beach and experienced gas vs. electric heating bills. We keep our heat set on 65 in the winter and our gas bill is still astronomical. One month it was over $200, and our heat doesn't even run during the day b/c the entire back of our house faces south, with two-story windows in the main living area getting sun all day. Yikes! I figure though with the lower electric bill in the winter it kind of makes up for it, but be prepared. Hope this helps

[shanrx]

We just recently moved to Union Co too. Our house is 2800 sq ft and it's just my husband and me. Our electric is similar to everyone else's, but our water has been much higher. Last month is was $130 and the month before it was around $120. What are we doing wrong? My husband was watering just the front yard (2 zones) for 15 minutes each 3 days a week but has now stopped b/c it's been raining so much. We usually wash a couple of loads of laundry a week (and our washer is supposed to be the water conserving kind) and run the dishwasher a couple of times a week. I know the lawn watering probably had a lot to do with it, but we were only watering the front and I didn't feel like we were being excessive. Any suggestions why ours is so much higher?

[jlat]

UC has a tiered use rate to discourage watering. As you use more, you pay a much higher rate. When this first kicked in my bill was $700+. Sprinkers use a whole lot more water than you think.

You also could have a leak in the system, so it might be worthwhile to have the your system pressure checked. We had an underground leak in our system that we got fixed and it dropped our bill by $30 a month.

[bugginvw2]

Thank you all so much for your help! All the information you all have provided helped me alot! I am def going to invest in ceiling fans! My husband loves it cols also at night for sleeping, maybe a fan would help as well!
thanks again!