Are the new City of Austin rates pissing others besides me out there? (mortgage, how much)

[sxrckr]

Have you or the previous owners done any energy-efficient upgrades since the home was built in '98?
If not, that could make a huge difference.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

Have you or the previous owners done any energy-efficient upgrades since the home was built in '98?
If not, that could make a huge difference.

Not on the A/C I only made some improvements to the plumbing because that was really out of wack when I purchased the home. The A/C needs to go, but I'm about to move so no need to invest $10k per unit. The next bill should be cheaper, as even if the temps stay high the nights get longer and so the A/C can more efficiently operate.

I have replaced the vapor seals on some windows and I'm sure that helped, but the home needs some major energy savings improvements...

I usually do well with the heating (gas), however. I keep the whole house at 70 in the winter and the cost is usually around $100 in January. The max was $150 when we had that horrible January when it hit the teens for a week. During those times my electrical bill is usually around $50-70. So the total is around $200 max in the winter.

[Austin97]

our bill was $611 last month. 330 electricity, 100 water 100 wastewater


2800 sq ft

[EzPeterson]

Originally Posted by Austin97

our bill was $611 last month. 330 electricity, 100 water 100 wastewater


2800 sq ft

Totally insane.

[centralaustinite]

You probably have ducts that leak. Air tight ducts and attic insulation make all the difference. I would go crazy with the some of bills posted here.

[JT-3]

Our electricity was $162 last month, almost same as last month. 1400 sq/ft home with all new windows except the front bay windows. So far, not really seeing any savings with the new windows. Inside temp stays 73-80.

[gpurcell]

$223 electricity for a 1200 ft2 house...but we keep it at 70 when we're at home/weekends. It's a small price to pay for marital comity.

Edit: 1917 bungalow with all original windows.

[Decidigi]

Originally Posted by EzPeterson

Totally insane.

Our power bill was $678 for August. $100 for water. We consume a lot of electricity though with a slew of computers, 2 fridges and a washer and dryer that never stop running. Such is the life of a large family of geeks

[EzPeterson]

Originally Posted by Decidigi

Our power bill was $678 for August. $100 for water. We consume a lot of electricity though with a slew of computers, 2 fridges and a washer and dryer that never stop running. Such is the life of a large family of geeks

Bull.

3800 sq ft. 3 adults, 3 kids, 4 TVs, 3 computers laptops phones deep freeze washer/dryer AC - all of it.

Absolute worst bill is $179 August 2011.

You people need to learn how to conserve energy, or make some changes to your house $200/month buys a lot of improvements.

[Decidigi]

8 kids, 2 adults, 12 computers (14 monitors), 4 laptops, 8 tablets, a couple of cell phones, 2 fridges, washer, dryer, a fair few frequently used power tools in the garage and a partridge in a pear tree.

You say po-tay-toe, I say po-tah-toe. The computers are used for home schooling, so they're on most of the time. Suggesting we stop using them isn't much of an option as luddite table top curricula bores all of us to pieces while burying us under a mountain of paper.