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My family is looking at relocating to NYC and I've been looking at apartments and noticed that some rents include heat and water. I'm trying to figure out roughly what that's worth to me. I'm looking for a 3 bedroom apartment for me and my 2 teen/tween kids. During the day everyone will be at school/work, so the bulk of the energy usage is evening and weekend. Some ballpark figures would be appreciated!
My family is looking at relocating to NYC and I've been looking at apartments and noticed that some rents include heat and water. I'm trying to figure out roughly what that's worth to me. I'm looking for a 3 bedroom apartment for me and my 2 teen/tween kids. During the day everyone will be at school/work, so the bulk of the energy usage is evening and weekend. Some ballpark figures would be appreciated!
In both apartments I have lived in heat and hot water are included. As for heat, it is either on or off and I have no control over it. So it's either REALLY cold or REALLY hot in the winter. I know that's not really your questions, but thats just my input.
Almost all apartments in the City include heat and hot water. Don't consider anything new that uncommonly has you pay for individual electric heat...it will drive you broke.
Don't consider anything new that uncommonly has you pay for individual electric heat...it will drive you broke.
I had the same question before moving into my current place and nobody had an answer; now I know it definitely makes a difference. I live in a relatively new 1,100 sqft 2BR/2BA duplex 4th/5th-floor, high-ceiling apartment with electric heat and individual thermostats for downstairs and upstairs. I keep temperatures at 68 degrees and as such it's never too hot or too cold (by my standards anyway), but last winter I paid close to $300 a month on average for utilities (with a high of $341); this winter it's been around $230 (these numbers include gas for hot water).
That being said, I'm probably losing some heat because it's the top of a free-standing building (i.e., windows to all four sides and the roof right above my head; on the other hand, I'm getting plenty of sun through big windows, so maybe it helps being on top? Who knows.).
Either way, since my three September-November bills (i.e., no heat, no a/c) were around $100, the difference is most likely due to electric heat. There are no seasonal fluctuations in my hot-water (gas) usage, so I don't really know what the difference would be. Water itself is less than $20 a month, but then again I live by myself.
My guess is that the "heat and hot water value" tops $150 a month (for about four months a year for heat), more during colder winters. Hope this helps.
Jeez!! That electric bill seems so high. I live in one bed with heat and hot water included. In the summer I run my AC in my bedroom 24 hours a day for my dog and in my living room for a few hours per day, and my summer electric bills are ~ $85/mo.
In the summer I run my AC in my bedroom 24 hours a day for my dog and in my living room for a few hours per day, and my summer electric bills are ~ $85/mo.
Wow, that's great! Even with a small 5,000 BTU unit running for 720 hours a month, that means you would only pay an aggregate total of 17 cents per kWh, including supply, delivery, service charge, and tax, and not even taking into consideration the living room unit and any other electricity consumption... that's pretty amazing. I'm not that lucky: my delivery charges alone are already close to that amount, and then you still need to add supply etc., and of course also gas...
Electricity is about .29/Kwhr.
To get through a hot Summer, keeping one room cool 24/7 for $85 one needs neighbors who keep their apartments VERY cool and thus most of the cooling of the $85 apartment is paid by the neighbors on the other sides of the walls.
Dividing $85 by $.29 yields a monthly total of 293 Kwhr, and I don't know ANYONE who uses that small an amount of electricity with air conditioning. I have records going back to 1988 for a North facing one bedroom apartment and my Summer usage was always at least TWICE that amount unless I went away on vacation ...and I watched my usage like a hawk. My HIGH usage was 878 Kwhr in July, 1999 when the average daily temperature was a blistering 82F (like I said I keep records.)
I got a low of 293 ONCE in October 2006 when I was using neither heat nor air conditioniing nor fans, just fridge, freezer, computer, TV lights and electric razor...maybe blender for a couple drinks, and I probably went away for a week as well.
So I am extremely dubious of that ~$85 with an A/C running 24/7.
We are family of 4 living in a 800sqft 2br apertment. My electricity usage for Feb and Jan are 79kwh and 78 kwh. Every thing from light bulbs to AC to fridge have "EnergyStar" on them. We have Bluray, DVD, HDTV, laptop, printer, 2 ipads and smartphones. We use what we need and we never waste. The highest bill was from last summer, about $120. Obviously, we don't keep our AC on 24/7.
Almost all apartments in the City include heat and hot water. Don't consider anything new that uncommonly has you pay for individual electric heat...it will drive you broke.
What about cooking gas, is that included?
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Even with a small 5,000 BTU unit running for 720 hours a month, that means you would only pay an aggregate total of 17 cents per kWh, including supply, delivery, service charge, and tax, and not even taking into consideration the living room unit and any other electricity consumption... that's pretty amazing. I'm not that lucky: my delivery charges alone are already close to that amount, and then you still need to add supply etc., and of course also gas... 
