Austin Energy Costs.. (Cool: renting, how much, house)

[jdog_gop]

Considering relocating and trying to get a handle on cost of living. I know it was a particularly hot summer down there. Austin Energy's site said the average heating bill was about $230. That seemed a little low to me.

What is a reasonable expectation to pay to cool a typical 2500 sq foot home? Also what would a heating bill run in January?

Thanks.

[centralaustinite]

Forget January!

August is the key month here. Cooling costs are much greater (MUCH) than heating costs.

So much depends on the quality of construction in the home, if there is a radiant barrier, low-E windows, how much western exposure there is, etc. It is impossible to generalize. For example, I doubled the size of my home but moved to a three-star green built house full of energy saving features and found my utilities were about the same as they were in an older home that was half the size.

In the City of Austin, the single bill from Austin Energy will include water charges, wastewater, trash pickup, and street fees all on the same bill. So it can make comparisons difficult.

What does Austin Energy say the average cooling bill is? If $230 is their average for August, I'd say that's about right. The electric part of my bill never goes above $150. In January it might be $40 for electric with maybe a $100 bill for natural gas heating (and that would be a high estimate, you'd probably only have that for a single month).

[jdog_gop]

that is very cheap.. it costs me nearly $350 in the month in the summer here in CT for all those thigs combined. In the winter, about the same.

I'd definitely be buying a newer house so I guess I should be somewhere in that range.

Thanks for the info.

[Trainwreck20]

2300 sf house here, electric portion never goes above 175 or so.

[calel]

So much depends on the quality of construction in the home, if there is a radiant barrier, low-E windows, how much western exposure there is, etc. It is impossible to generalize. For example, I doubled the size of my home but moved to a three-star green built house full of energy saving features and found my utilities were about the same as they were in an older home that was half the size.

I totally agree with this. For example, I am renting a 1400 sq. ft house and my worst bill this summer was $215 for electricity. We leave the A/C at 85 during the day, 70 at night, so it's likely that an inefficient air conditioner, not enough insulation, leaky ducts, etc...are contributing to that bill.