This data may be close enough for you....
We live in Colorado Springs. Here are our costs. Denver should be near this.
We've a 3800 sq ft home, ranch style, fully finished basement, 4BR, 3BA, Office/Study, Great Room, etc, a new home. Both levels have 9-foot ceilings and two rooms are even higher. We have two heating systems, two gas fireplaces, gas water heater, gas cooktop, electric oven and microwave, one A/C system (upstairs is all that needs it, and not all often actually). We run 4 outside lights each night. We heat & cool at 75 degrees. There are 2 occupants, no pets, we shower daily and sometimes fill the jetted tub. The downstairs heat hardly came on last winter, it was set at 68 degrees and we only turned it up when we were busy down there. The lawn has a sprinkler system and it runs for two hours a day since May, but has been off a lot this year as we've had more rain than usual. During December, we had a few days of -15 degrees.
Our bills so far have been: Dec $241; Jan $274; Feb $262; Mar $237; Apr $177; May $224; Jun $199, Jul $226, Aug $162.
These bills are on a par with what we paid back in Fairfax County, VA, but that old house was only a 2000 sq ft home built in 1974 - all electric. The home we're in was built by one of the better local builders. They do a "green" treatment of each home built. I believe the industry name for this is "Build Green Colorado," and is characterized by superior insulation, tight fitting seals, permanent epoxy on air ducts (instead of duct tape that peels off after several years), water heaters that draw combustion air from outside via a closed system, low-e twin-pane windows, and more.
For any home in Multiple Listing Service, the listing realtor should have a full year's worth of utility costs to show you, at least that's what we've always seen when we bought or sold homes. There is no charge or obligation if you ask them such questions, they are there to help. (I'm not a realtor, in any way, shape or form.)
For a 2000 sq ft home, with proper insulation, you can expect bills to be 1/3 less than ours, maybe 1/2 of ours. If you build new, get a Build Green home and get a light-colored roof to reflect summer heat back up.
In this region, much of our natural gas comes from fairly local sources in this Inter-Mountain West, mostly CO and WY. Coal for our electric power plants here is local WY coal, the costs for it aren't subject to the fluctuations seen in the gas marketplace. Many water supplies here are Rocky Mountain snow-melt, best in the nation AFAIC, always cold right out of the tap, even in summer - and it tastes great (none of that sulphurous rotten egg smell like coastal areas back east).
s/Mike from back east - and I ain't going back
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