How much are you paying for utilities? (Chicago: apartments, rent)

[ofTheValley]

Hey Folks,

I'm trying to get an idea of how much utilities cost; ie electricity, gas, water, trash. It's hard to gauge whether an apartment that includes certain (or all) utilities is a good value. I'll have a one or two bedroom apartment if that gives you a point of reference.

Please tell me if you have central air or a window unit and how heavily you use it.

Please tell me what type of heating you use. My guess is that the cost varies greatly.

How much do you pay in February?

How much do you pay in August?

Thanks so much in advance!

edit: Sorry. I also wanted to know if you all find much of a difference in temperature and humidity between living near the lake or further inland.

[chitownabs]

I have lived in 3 different apartments in Chicago. Every apartment included trash and water. Mainly because owners don't want to seperate it out and they just include it in rent.

In terms of heat, it depends if it's central heat of if you have a heater within your unit. Central heat is raidated heat, and while you can control it -- it's a knob, so you can't say 68 degrees, because it's pretty much ON or OFF.

For central heat (radiated) that is included in rent nearly all of the time. I don't know how else they would do it because they can't truly measure how much you used.

In terms of gas heat -- it totally depends on your unit. I lived in one apartment where there was a LOT of windows leaking and the heat had to be turned up to 80+ and it was NOT unusual to see $400 bills between say late December and mid to late March. Again, this was a rather large place and it had leaky windows, so I can't tell you what your 1 bedroom studio is going to cost to heat. It could be $40 a month.

No difference in terms of humidity between lakeside living and further away. If there was, I would be surprised, but it's the difference between 98% and 95%. If you can tell the difference between that, then more power to you. I sure as hell cannot.

Your air conditioner will be used between late June and Labor Day. It will pretty much never turn off in the evenings.