Live in Dallas, how much is your electricity bill in the summer? (apartment, new home)

[NiceJohn]

Wow. DFW summer demands a lot of cooling electricity. plus the high property tax. It is not cheap to own a house in DFW.

[sftransplant]

Originally Posted by DFWNewHomeSpecialist21

$550 is alot to spend during the summer mths but your costs depends on a lot of factors (i.e. sq footage, charge per kilowatt, if your home is energy effiecient). I have a 2,000 sq ft home and I work from home for the most part because I have 3 kids. My home is also energy effiecient (i.e. W/D, dishwasher, microwave, stove, fridge, and good insulations). My electric bill has never been over $150, even in the summer time. Newer homes are energy star certified, which means it will have save on your electric bills. Make sure that when you choose an electric company you get the lowest per kilowatt charge possible. You can go to www.PowerToChoose.com to get all the providers serving the DFW area.

$550 is a **** load to pay for electricity. I'm surprised that there aren't more companies trying to provide multi-zone heating/cooling systems. I hate the fact that the A/C is cooling my kitchen and living room at night. Seems like an absolute waste of energy and money. Am I the only one who thinks the energy companies and home builders are in cohorts so energy consumption is artificially high?

Can anyone throw some light on the costs involved to add in a multi-zone system in a home so that only specific rooms are cooled based on user setting ?

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

All I can tell you is that when I remodeled my house, converting the basement to finished space, it was cheaper to get a second unit for the basement than to get a multi-zone unit. Also, the heater/a-c guy said that those multi-zone units don't work so well. No idea why he said that, cost was the deciding factor.

[bookworm2768]

Originally Posted by sftransplant

$550 is a **** load to pay for electricity. I'm surprised that there aren't more companies trying to provide multi-zone heating/cooling systems. I hate the fact that the A/C is cooling my kitchen and living room at night. Seems like an absolute waste of energy and money. Am I the only one who thinks the energy companies and home builders are in cohorts so energy consumption is artificially high?

Can anyone throw some light on the costs involved to add in a multi-zone system in a home so that only specific rooms are cooled based on user setting ?

I looked into the options when we were looking into buying a home and were finally lucky enough to find a home with a split system - hte bedrooms have a different HVAC system than the rest of the home.
Initially we had considered homes without the split system and I had a really hard time finding companies which would put in a split system for anywhere near a reasonable price. It is way more expensive than you will recoup in a few years. I had considered getting single units for the bedrooms since only two are in use at night.
I think you will find that a lot of homes here (especially older ones ) come with a split system which is really helpful

[calmdude]

The age of the house and the insulation etc make a big difference. Last year, we moved into a bigger new house (5300 ft2) without pool and got a chance to compare bills with the 15 yr old 3400 ft2 house with a pool. The bills in the bigger house were actually slightly lower. During peak 3 summer months they were about $590 for 1 month, about $550 for 2 - for the older house.

[LQQKOUT]

2500 sq ft home...all electric @ 500.00 per month in the peak summer months...

[tashina]

$350 during the hottest months. 2850 sq ft, medium sized pool, 1981 house with dual pane windows and 10 seer system.

[AKgirlinCA]

Yikes!!!

[calmdude]

Originally Posted by AKgirlinCA

Yikes!!!

I remember my days in Orange County - even in the summer, if you opened your windows around 7pm, you did not need airconditioning. By 11 pm, you needed them shut else it would get cold. Near the coast, some aparments did not have a/c and it was not needed. Here, one gets used to 95F in summer at 9pm! OC winters were also quite mild. I really miss that weather but do not miss the commute or the (then) high cost of housing.

[Konfuzed]

I'm looking to move to the DFW area from central Florida, so I'm used to hot summers and fairly high electric bills. If I were to purchase a new home in the Collin County area, say around 1500 sq. ft., what would a good estimate be for the utilities?

Thanks!