City bill "fees and charges" (Austin, McKinney: renting, house)

[tibbar]

Just got my bill and totaled up the customer fees and various charges....$66.50 almost 1/4 of my entire bill. $11 dollars more and it would have been 1/4 of my bill. Guess that's just the cost of living in Austin.

[CptnRn]

Welcome to Austin...

Oh! Wait! Back in 2007 you wrote you had lived her for 22 years. Yes as in most cities there are basic charges based on service and additional charges based on consumption.

So why is this such a surprise for you?

Originally Posted by tibbar

I registered just to answer this question.

I have lived in Austin for almost 22 years. Electricity is cheaper than the small Kansas town we moved from. The "city Bill" is combined electricity, water, sewer, trash, street sweeping/drainage and my last bill (5/8-6/8) was $173.05. This is a 2130sf house with AC set at 79 and no high ceilings. Last months bill (4/8-5/8) was $109.32 since we weren't using the AC much.

Breakdown...

electricity...105.19
water.........12.30
sewer.........26.43
trash..........18.31
street sweeping/drainage..10.82

Total....$173.05


Gas is also higher. In the summer the fees are more than the price of the gas used to cook and heat water. This Winter the gas bill for the coldest month with the ice storm we had was $121.42. A few years back we had $200+ winter bills due to the fuel prices. Summer is less than $20.

Taxes on the house just keep getting higher....$1400 in 1988 to $4200 last year. The valuation has only gone up $70,000 in those 19 years.

My location is great, I live SW (78749) in a triangle made up of 290, Wm Cannon and MoPac(Loop 1). Everything I could want is within a few miles and camping in McKinney Falls State Park is less than 10 miles. We park the RV 3/4 miles from the park.

I am not crazy about the snakes! We have Copperheads, Rattelsnakes and tons of other non lethal snakes in the yard and garage because of the dry creek/greenbelt we live on....I don't garden much and I watch where I walk like a Hawk!

Other than that I love Austin!

[thesonofgray]

I also found it a bit surprising the total cost of the non-usage fees - the charges for simply having an active account. With no electricity or water/sewer usage at all, my bill since owning a house would be close to the total bill I had renting with typical utility usage.