Utility bills in winter? (Appleton, Oshkosh: apartments, to rent, how much)

[tomsurfer45]

I plan to move to Oshkosh/Appleton area for college and plan to rent a 2 bedroom apartment, around 800 sq ft. What would be the cost for utility (both heat and power) in a winter month? Thanks.

[BacktoNE]

The apartment doesn't furnish the heat, included in the rent? Does the apartment have gas or electric heat? That will make a big difference.

The 2 bedroom apartment we rented when we first moved here was $700 a month, heated, and had in-floor radiant heating. We paid electric of approx $50 a month in the winter which covered the electric hot water heater and the electric dryer. We rarely used the dishwasher.

[Further North]

I'm very curious about this too. In the past my heating costs have been a part of the rent. I am now looking at apartments where I'll have to pay the heat on my own. I'm looking at taking a 2 bdrm apt. similar in size to the one the OP is inquiring about. I just want to make sure it's a managable amount (i.e. $100 or less per month). I'm also curious to know if electric heat causes higher bills then gas. Thanks!

Jason

[golfgal]

These are actually almost impossible questions to answer because there many different factor involved in how much you will pay, mainly, how good are the windows, how well insulated is the building, are you on the top floor, middle floor or bottom floor, what type of heat, etc.

When my husband and I were first married we rented a 2 bedroom apartment, similar size to what you are looking at. We had electric heat and it ran about $50/month extra in the winter--this was a long time ago too. One move we had we rented a 4 bedroom townhome with a finished basement 2500 sq feet. It had gas heat and our HIGHEST gas bill there was $70. We have had friends that have had gas bills in the $500+ range renting small houses of about 1000 sq feet.

If you know who provides the utilities to the building, which company, usually you can call them and find out what was spent in the past couple years. Some companies will break it down by months others will give you a total cost for the year and then you just have to average that out. That is the best way to figure out a budget.