Utility Bills (Houston, San Antonio, Austin: apartment, car insurance, daycare)

[Carrion4]

Hello to all....

My family and I will be relocating from Illinois to the Houston area, we have been searching homes in the area.

Cypress, Tomball, Spring, Katy are all with in 20-30 min. commute to work.. What is the best area that is kid frendly/schools?

What are the average Utilities for a 3,000 sf. home?..

Electric.....Gas....<~~~ is one better than the other?
water/sewer....

We have a large family and need a big house. I was told that utilites are the biggest expence of owning a house down in TX. But they also stated that it is cheeper (get a break from utlity companies) if I do laundry, and other large household tasks at night. Is that true???....


If anyone can answer my questions I would greatly appreciate it!!!!!!

[SkyeAnjel]

Those are all good areas for families. I live in Spring (Klein ISD) and my house is 2700 sq. ft and my electric last month was 400.00 amd gas about 40.00. I also have a home daycare and am here all day long and I have 3 kids that leave t.v.s on all the time and I do laundry constantly (theres 5 of us). I was with stream and have just switched to texas power because it is cheaper. Go to Texas Electric Choice | Home to find the best rate for the area you will be living in. Older homes may cost more because they may not be up to date on energy efficiency. As for nighttime laundry etc., I never heard that before. I don't know what difference it would make or why but
I would be interested if anyone else knew.
The weather has also been milder then usual, as it is usually hotter this time of year so your electric fluctuates. I keep my thermostat on 78 during the day and 74 at night.

[jfre81]

If you want cheaper electricity, go to Austin or San Antonio - the only major cities in Texas that still have a public electric utility. Note that as far as I know this only applies to the cities proper and not any suburbs - no Round Rock, no Alamo Heights etc. You will pay less than elsewhere (including Houston) where it is deregulated. You get to "choose" your provider but they are all out of price. A lot of laws got changed around the time of Enron's rise, and by no surprise the changes turned out to be in the energy companies' favor.

That said....here in the peak of summer our electric bills have been ~$125/mo for our 700 square foot one-bedroom apartment. Lately we have been using oscillating fans in the bedroom and living room and keeping the thermostat at 78 during the day and 72 at night (we sleep better when it stays cool). At night it is not as much of a struggle for your AC unit(s) to keep the room at 72 as it does in daylight, so we are still keeping our light bills manageable in Houston. I'm hearing some horror stories from other people elsewhere in the state.

Overall the cost of living in San Antonio is a notch below Houston's - the energy rates can make a big difference, especially if you are going to be in a larger home. You will probably still spend less than you do annually considering Illinois gets the harsh winter weather. Unless you've got to keep your house 80 degrees in the winter, it's not very expensive to stay warm here. The winter months can help cancel out the sometimes exorbitant costs of keeping cool in the summertime.

No matter where you are, simple common-sense power conservation steps (e.g. turning the thermostat up to 78-80 if you are going to leave your house for an extended period) can save a lot of money.

[Kandy]

Our home is about 5000 sq ft and my last bill was $440. We have three A/C units. We keep our house at 75 degrees pretty much 24/7. ~K~

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Kandy

Our home is about 5000 sq ft and my last bill was $440. We have three A/C units. We keep our house at 75 degrees pretty much 24/7. ~K~

*cringe*

I am glad I do not need much space to live in - yet.

I know energy is going to have an expense, but if my starving-musician buddy in Austin can keep it under $100 in the summer in his ~500 square foot pad then I could expect to keep it maybe just a shade above that here. The utility system in the state's seriously broken.

[SkyeAnjel]

I dont know what I posted before but I meant Texas Electric Choice | Home , my brain is fuzzy today!! I agree about the big house, I wanted a 3000 sq. ft house and was "settling" when I got my 2700 sq ft house(because I have 3 kids, wanted lots of room!!) and now I would never go any bigger....its tough to keep all this stuff clean and cool! Of course alot of people who have 5000 sq ft houses can afford maids etc... Good going Kandy on the 3 air conditioners, I only have 1! You have excellent bills for your size house!

[Dakota Fleming]

amigo energy is the cheapest Ive found

[jfre81]

Here's the deal - some of the energy companies will assess a "maximum usage rate" that will bill you based on the highest amount of kw/H you have used in a certain timeframe (six months, 12 months, whatever). You will get billed for the energy you potentially might use rather than what you do use. There is an American Legion hall somewhere here in Texas (can't remember where) that was given a nearly $500 electric bill despite hardly using the building that month. Turns out a couple months earlier they were doing painting and other work inside the Legion building and they ran the AC while they were doing it. So basically they got billed for the month they hardly used any electricity as if they were using as much as they were while doing the work all the time.

Their excuse?

"Well, we need to be able to have enough capacity to be able to give people as much electricity they might possibly need so we need to do this..."

It doesn't look like every company does this. Mine is Direct Energy.

Don't know if this is true across the board, but the ones who advertise the most seem to be the most expensive. I guess they get to pass along the cost of their ad campaigns to their customers.

[Bike4Life]

Well, I guess y'all are not working in downtown or in Texas Medical Center because living out in those lame bedroom communities takes at least 45 minutes to get to work but bet on an hour or more.

I hate it when people buy McMansion. Why don't you stay in IL? Why are you are already concerned about the cost of electricity, anyway. In Texas, we DON'T care, we want the a/c on at full blast!

[mjewell]

I have a 3,000 sf home and electric runs me about $220 right now since it hasn't been as hot with all the rain. I have First Choice Power and both my A/Cs are only 2 years old. I prefer to use gas for the water heaters and kitchen stove since it's always cheaper than electric.

Telephone is normally about $40, gas is around $40 (with 2 water heaters and the kitchen range), water is around $35 (lots of rain so no lawn to water), internet is around $40 and cable is about $120. Groceries for a family of 5 including beer, wine and nappies run around $125-150 a week too. Homeowner's insurance is about $2500 a year including flood insurance and my car insurance for 2 cars is $100.

Hope that covers it all, and welcome to Texas.