Utilities cost in a house in SLC, preferably South Jordan, Daybreak Community? (Sandy: how much, new house) - Utah (UT) - City-Data Forum

hueimo · 05-07-2008, 08:51 AM

Could anyone share their average cost for the AC and heater all year long for their house per month? I'm looking for a number for a house roughly 2000-2500 sq. foot with 3-4 bedrooms. I'm planning on moving to Utah from Hawaii and would like to know the common monthly cost on these utilities. Also, do you need to turn on the heater and AC all year long for real? thanks for sharing.

Bridget · 05-07-2008, 03:03 PM

When I have a minute I will go back and look at my utility costs. Hopefully this will move your question up and others can respond too.

kaytidid · 05-07-2008, 03:20 PM

I am on an equal payment plan for both gas and electric. I pay 80.00 month for electric and 33.00 a month for gas. I haven't had my heat on for several weeks now and I have a pretty high tolerance for hot weather, but my husband and daughter suffer from allergies so we do run the central air all summer long. I have a 2000 square foot house with 3 bedrooms upstairs and 1 in the basement. Much of your AC use will depend on how hot you can take it and the direction your home faces. Because of the way our house sits and our window placement, we catch nice breezes in our home. I would love our windows open more often. The aforementioned allergies make that a bit difficult to do for very long.

Bridget · 05-08-2008, 10:37 AM

I am not on an equal payment plan but I just went through 17 months of bills that I had on hand and averaged the cost. Half of the bills were from my older 1973, 1900 sq ft home in West Valley. I was very inefficient. The other half were from my 2005 home, 3400 sq ft home in Syracuse (Davis county - north of salt lake). It has better windows, insulation, everything is more efficient. We didn't see a big difference between the two sets of bills so that is why I average the two together. The biggest difference was the power bill because the old house had evaporative cooler and the new house has central air. The average monthly cost of 17 months worth of power was $76.17. The average monthly cost of 16 months worth of gas was $63.19.

You gas bill is always high in the winter months. The peak winter months it can get above $100-$125, depending on the temperatures and what you have the heat set at. Your power bill in the winter will probably vary between $55-$70. Again, depending on usage. I am a SAHM with 3 kids that like tv, video games, etc.

In the summer if you have central air you will probably get a bill between $100-$150, depending on usage, size of house, if it is on all day or if you are at work all day. Our old house had a evaporative cooler and we moved to our new house at the first of July. I actually took a little off each bill to get my estimates because my sister was staying with us. They stayed in the basement which has a seperate AC unit and temperature control and her husband would turn the temperature down to 62 degrees (in a basement!). Their unit was running non-stop. We would have never had to have turned it on if they were not there. But to give you an idea. While they were here our bill reached $259 for June 29 through August 3 and $215 in for August 4 through September 3. This was peak season for heat but when they left it was still pretty warm outside and our bill was $67 for September 4 through October 3.

I would put aside $200 per month for gas and power until you see exactly where you are going to be living and how energy efficient it is. Water is also something that will vary by area. Our standard water bill in W.V. was $54 but during the summer it would be over $100 for a couple months. At that house our garbage was included on our Power bill. At our new house water is $89 and that includes secondary water and garbage. Our secondary water takes care of the lawn so it won't really be over $89 ever.

I hope this helps a little and I didn't ramble too much.

hueimo · 05-09-2008, 10:07 AM

thank you for the detailed breakdown of the total utilities cost, seems like the total utlities cost bill doesn't really go up to $400-500 per month as in AZ state for instance, right? do you need to use the heater or AC at all during spring and fall? thanks again.

Bridget · 05-09-2008, 10:35 AM

I think that is an individual preference if you have your AC or heat going. Our heater hasn't been on for the last few weeks because it has warmed up and I actually thought to myself, "my brother in law probably has his AC on." I don't think it is warm enough for that yet. Ours usually isn't on unless we have an extreme change in weather either way. Right now if it a little bit warmer, I just open the windows.

DP525 · 05-09-2008, 11:46 PM

I live in Daybreak. All houses in Daybreak meet Energy Star requirements so will be less to heat and cool than the average house. In the winter the highest gas bill for heating in my 3500 sf home was about $210. In summer, the electric bill for cooling also goes to about $210 with the temp set at 76 degrees in the day and 71 at night. I just paid gas and electric for April...about $50 - 60 for each. Spring and fall the heat and air conditioning run very little.

hueimo · 05-10-2008, 12:48 PM

we're very interested in daybreak, but do you find the commute time from daybreak to foothill SLC where we'll be working tolerable? other than that, seems like there's so much to do with our son at daybreak, looks like a very good community, except for the smaller yards.

DP525 · 05-10-2008, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hueimo

we're very interested in daybreak, but do you find the commute time from daybreak to foothill SLC where we'll be working tolerable? other than that, seems like there's so much to do with our son at daybreak, looks like a very good community, except for the smaller yards.

Smaller yards but more parks. The idea of Daybreak is for people to socialize instead of hiding in their backyards. The setup of the smaller yards and more parks helps that. And I actually have a quarter acre which I don't consider too small.

I commute to the south to Utah County so I can't help you with the commute info. However, the TRAX line is being expanded now and will eventually have two stops in Daybreak. It currently runs from Sandy to downtown and then to the University. I know at least one person who rides the bus from Daybreak to the Sandy station, then rides the train downtown.

Also there is a new freeway going in on the west side of the valley and will pass through Daybreak so that should help commuters. But it and the TRAX extension are still several years from completion so you will be driving for now, at least over to Sandy.

hueimo · 05-10-2008, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DP525

Smaller yards but more parks. The idea of Daybreak is for people to socialize instead of hiding in their backyards. The setup of the smaller yards and more parks helps that. And I actually have a quarter acre which I don't consider too small.

I commute to the south to Utah County so I can't help you with the commute info. However, the TRAX line is being expanded now and will eventually have two stops in Daybreak. It currently runs from Sandy to downtown and then to the University. I know at least one person who rides the bus from Daybreak to the Sandy station, then rides the train downtown.

Also there is a new freeway going in on the west side of the valley and will pass through Daybreak so that should help commuters. But it and the TRAX extension are still several years from completion so you will be driving for now, at least over to Sandy.

thanks to DP525 for your detailed response, they have been very helpful, if you don't mind my further questions here:

1. If we're not LDS, does it make it harder for our family to socialize with the other families in daybreak parks? sorry if this might sound silly. Are there any chinese family at all at daybreak or any asians at all? what would you say the percentage is like? any family in daybreak who only has one child in their family. so sorry for my many silly questions.

2. if my husband works at foothill, and we take the trax when it's done being built, where will he stop and will need to ride a bus after that to foothill? if he works late, will there be late busses to take?

3. from what I see, we could get a house at daybreak from 270K to 400k, lots of local Utah people say that this is expensive, but to us from Hawaii, we think that's a good deal, my question is, how much were these houses worth back years ago? were they really way cheaper than the current market?

so sorry to bother you...but thanks so much for your helpful input.