What do your utility bills look like? (condos, appliances)

[Dross99_si]

Just trying to get a rough estimate on cost of living for a homeowner.
Size home, occupants, how much are your bills monthly? (water, electric, gas, trash, all that good stuff)

[aridon]

Electric rates here are reasonable. Rates run 11.8 cents per kwh including taxes and fees which is quite good.

Air conditioning makes up the majority of your useage so your home's insulation and the age of your air conditioner can make a big difference in how much you pay. So can the temp settings. You'd be shocked at how many people keep their air on 79 or 80+ to keep the bills down. If you like it cold it will obviously cost you more.

We tend to run around $200 in the hottest months, anywhere around $175 to $235. Cool months tend to be around $75 to $115.

We've been told we can hang meat in our home.

Water tends to run $95 as month for a family of 3 but can vary a lot. Some HOAs include it, some do not.

Trash is included on your taxes. They break out the cost but I don't recall exactly and don't feel like digging through the appraisers website. You can view everyone's tax bills via the st lucie county appraisers site though so take some time and do some research on there.

Gas, IMO here is a screw job. You don't use enough gas here to justify the base charges. Otherwise it is cheap, assuming you use enough of it although I don't see how that is possible since hot water heaters here don't draw all that much in the hot garages and stove tops / ovens don't use much. Many pool companies push you towards electric heat as well so gas has dubious value cost savings wise because of the minimum billing.

[QuilterChick]

^^^ How many sq. ft. of living area ? One level, two level etc. ?

[newred5]

We have a 1600 SQ ft townhouse , two levels , CBS
Electric is 104 on balanced billing
Water (2 people ) 73.00

[Robino1]

2600sf with pool
$150 electric monthly

When running the pool heater it jumps up to $270 - $300 for the month

No gas here so all electric appliances. I do about three or four small loads twice a week or three larger loads once a week. Washer senses how much is in the machine and adjusts water efficiently. Our biggest electric hog is the water heater (other than the pool heater) and we are looking at timers for the water heater.

We had solar come out and do a look at the benefits of getting solar. The only hog was the water heater. We've decided to wait until we've gone a year in this new build since we don't have a full year and don't know how efficient it handles air conditioning. As of now, the cost per month to install solar would exceed our monthly electric when we don't run the pool heater. We need to see what it will be when we have to run the air more often. So far, we've only turned it on in the evening to gradually get it down to sleeping temp.

House stays quite comfortable when we have it shut off at 8 am. We have Nest thermostat which is a great programmable thermostat.

Water bill per month is about $150. But again, new house, new landscaping that needs watering to get established. Once they are acclimatized they shouldn't require that extra water other than what they get from the sky. Not to mention that we are the driest I've seen since moving to Florida 4 years ago.

Our sod is also drought resistant so if we don't want to water it will just go dormant and brown but not die. Again, new place so giving it a fighting chance to get established.

[Dross99_si]

Thank you all. Anybody else care to chime in?
I think out biggest concern is how much is electric is going to be when running the AC so often.

[newred5]

My AC is set at 75 during the day and 73 when I go to sleep ....run it everyday the outside temp hits 80 or above

[FlaLadyB]

1700 sq feet single family home- one person who works mostly from home - last elec was $45. Water is St Lucie West which is not part of Port St Lucie Utilities - water/sewer runs around $65 a month

Your elec is going to change according to the weather and time of year. Mine will hike a LOT next bill because it suddenly turned warm in the daytime and I am at home. That will go up to around $165 or so in the middle of the summer.. I LIKE a/c and it stays at 74 degrees for those months till I can open the the windows and love the cooler temps. I also run my ceiling fans because it DOES make a difference in how you feel because the air is moving.

Everybody lives differently so all these answers are only an estimate. You won't know till you actually LIVE HERE. Frame and CBS houses and condos will be different. Houses with the back facing WEST will be higher.

It is what it is....

[johntd06]

In the summer time june-sept my power bull is around 100$ last month was 73$ I keep my house at 70* my water bill is 21.xx . ( city/ septic) my house has very good foam isolation uv windows also tinted

[PortStLucieWater]

3000 sqft w/ 3 people. 2 working out of home office all day. AC set to ~78 during most of the day w/ use of ceiling fans. Home Automation sets to 76 at sunset & 74 before bed & outside lights on from sunset - sundown. Timer for water heater that runs for a couple hours per day (or we manually flip it on) No pool.

FPL:
Dec - Apr = ~100 - 145
May - Nov = ~150 - 240

Water:
$45-60/m