Utilities - What Do You Pay For Gas - Electric - Water? (Albuquerque: apartment, rental market)

[schullybabe]

Hi,

We are looking at houses to rent in NM and so far we are being quoted about $200 in utilities on average. We are looking at 3-4 bedroom homes. I was curious about the cost of water for those who are also watering a decent sized yard(I know that isn't that helpful). We found a great house with a lovely front and back yard with grass, but it is on the higher end of our budget and we have never had to pay for water before so I didn't know how much to budget in for that. It will make a big impact on whether we rent the house or not. Our other options have little or no grass to water so I wasn't sure how huge of an impact this would have on our utilities. Sorry for being longwinded...in a nutshell,

What do you pay for utilities?
What do you pay for water if you have a yard?

Thanks in Advance.

[mortimer]

schullybabe, about to take a plunge into the rental market:

> ... we are being quoted about $200 in utilities on average.

That's probably a good guess for an average over 12 months.

We paid $430 for electricity and $1,200 for gas for the past 12 months for two people.
Average $137/month.
Our single neighbor paid $640 for electricity and $1,680 for gas over the same period.
Average $193/month.

> We are looking at 3-4 bedroom homes.

Both houses 3-bedroom and high-quality construction.

> ... cost of water for those who are also watering a decent sized yard ...

Just for some bottom-end perspective, we pay $28-30/month for a yard of rocks.
Wastewater is proportional to water use at $21 and garbage is on the same bill - $15.
Add another $5 for tax.

I don't know what the water billing rate is for someone who has a yard. Our water use was about 4,000 gallons, so if you have kids, that might climb to 7,000-8,000. For a front yard, add 10,000 gallons and the back yard, another 10,000 gallons - that's *if* you don't have border-to-border grass and irrigation and *if* the system is well-maintained.

Now you are up to almost 30,000 gallons per month so a proportional bill would cost you $150 - give-or-take.

It's entirely possible that many moderate-sized houses have water consumption of 40,000 gallons per month. Many of the places in Tanoan might be over 100,000 gallons per month. (I'm guessing here, but sometimes I'm a good guesser.)

Is this a new place? If not, does the landlord not have those records?
If not, try the city utility company and ask them for some hisory.

[schullybabe]

Well, we were a little silly and did not ask the realtor when we were there about the water. We are going to try and call and get an estimate, hopefully they will be straightup with us. The home is probably like 10-15 years old so I am not sure. We obviously weren't fully prepared with all the things we needed to consider, it wasn't until after the fact we realized that actually having a yard will cost us money. Most of the other homes we looked at had just rocks and dirt. We do have one child, and thought it would be great to have a yard but we will only be there for a year so we are trying to see if it is worth it or if we should save a little money and live a little cheaper. Thanks for the info.

[_yb]

We use about 4500 gallons of water a month. Fully xeriscaped. That runs about 58 bucks a month for water, garbage, sewer and tax. We have one child.

[mortimer]

schullybabe wonders:

> ... will only be there for a year so we are trying to see if it is worth
> it or if we should save a little money and live a little cheaper.

Living a "little cheaper" is something you will never regret.

"OH! I WISH I had been more extravagant and not saved so much money [during that time] ..."

Hint: You can always ask for a discount on the rent. To cover maintenance.

ObRule:
It never hurts to ask.

ObRule2:
It's always easier to ask forgiveness than permission.
(Not applicable in this case, but I always put this in.)

[Bobby777]

I'm trying to figure out what the average electric/heating bill is for an Albuquerque home or apartment.

I searched for some answers on this topic, and found this thread, but people only discussed what their summer electric bill in that thread.

So, if you could reply with some information about your electric/gas/heating bills, I'd really appreciate it. Some of the things I'd be interested in hearing about are your:

-Average electric bill in the summer (please say if you use a swamp cooler or A/C)
-Average electric bill (plus gas bill if applicable) in the winter
-Your type of dwelling (apartment, townhouse, or house... and the number of bedrooms and square footage if you know it)

Thanks.

[rybert]

Here's a link to PNM's average Electricity use page:

Electric Rates Increase Request: Average Breakdown for Customers | PNM (http://www.pnm.com/customers/elec_rates_092208_chart.htm - broken link)

Looks like the average electric bill during non-summer months is $65.49 (600 kwh)

Here's average Natural Gas:

Natural Gas Costs | PNM (http://www.pnm.com/customers/gas_cost.htm - broken link)

Seems high to me. Anybody else have their bills from last year handy (maybe including your sq. footage might help... I promise not to rant about your large houses )

[GOPATTA2D]

~3400 feet, $140 month on the budget plan, gas and electric combined.

[rybert]

That's for the winter? Not bad.

[JstmeinVA]

We are still considering a move to NM, I would love this information as well, we have until Jan 1 to give an answer.

Trying to desperately find out if the move will be worth it. Would love to move but need budget info.

Darlene