Average monthly cost for natural gas (apartment, leasing, how much)

[depthofpercep]

Greetings,

My two roommates and I moved into a three bedroom apartment about two months ago. We were a little surprised at the cost of the gas bill being near $130 for the first month and $115 for the second month. The first month we used heat for a good portion of it. For the second month it remained off the entire month. We live in a Brownstone in Brooklyn. The owner lives in the bottom two floors and us on the top. There is no hot water heater or boiler on the top floor. It takes close to 3 minutes for hot water to reach the faucets.

I haven't received an answer from my landlord on if we're paying for more than we should but I'm curious to know what the average cost of gas is for 3 people showering and cooking. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[bluedog2]

Is there a separate meter for your apartment only ? Are you sure the heat was completely off ?
$130.00 is a lot for just hot water and cooking.Maybe you are paying for someone else's gas too. I live alone and my gas bill is never more than 12 or 15 dollars. Multiply that by 3 and you get 45. Big difference.

[depthofpercep]

Thanks for your response. There are two meters and NG said that it's supposed to be for measuring the amount of cooking gas for our unit and the other meter is for their two other floors. Even the tech said that that something is fishy that we're paying $130 for cooking gas. He mentioned hiring a plumber to trace the lines but either way I would have to notify my landlord. There is also a $60 monthly gas delivery charge that is standard every month. Do you know that this is? They said that everyone pays it. I think it's outrageous to pay $60 to have them deliver our gas every month.

[UpstaterInBklyn]

FYI: We live in a three unit building in Brooklyn. Our unit is separately metered, so we pay for our own gas for heat, cooking, hot water and our clothes dryer. My bill for gas used during the month of April was $83.58, and we have about 700 square feet and keep the thermostat at 68.

National Grid does impose a minimum fee, which includes approximately the first 300 cubic feet of gas. It is $13.62.

[SeventhFloor]

i dont pay for heat and my gas bill for cooking last month was 20 bucks.

[SobroGuy]

My tenants pay for heat and cooking gas, and depending on where you keep the thermostat the bill can be from $100 to $200 per month on a 900 sf apt with 9.5 ft ceilings. It sounds like you are getting billed for heat OR maybe you are receiving high estimated bills..sometimes when coned can't read the meter, they estimate very high, and then when they do read them, they adjust the bill way down. So check that as well.

[piki]

Originally Posted by SeventhFloor

i dont pay for heat and my gas bill for cooking last month was 20 bucks.

Hi Seventh Floor and everybody. I'm curious, how much do you cook? I'm close to sign a leasing and the heat and hot water are included but not the cooking gas. I don't use to eat outside, I usually cook at home and I also bake bread. Do you have any idea about how many hours +/- do you use your stove?
Thks,
Piki

[Viralmd]

About 20 dollars is right....It's nothing compared to paying for heat.

[mastamind]

I paid national grid $14-$17 a month for a year for a 2 bed room apartment, now my bill is over $1300 for what they claim "the 3 months of September, October, and November". I have the bills of all 3 months paid in full of $14-$17. The month of December 2009, my landlord asked National Grid to come by and fix the pipes outside for the apartment in the back, National grid then turned off the heat completely for 2 days. which i didnt mind due to that im rarely home. please any advice?