Bellevue utility costs? (Pittsburgh, Avalon, Avon: appliances, townhouse, water heater)

[BellevueQuestions]

Hi, all. We’re house shopping in Bellevue and really like the big, brick homes in the area, many of which have three above-ground floors of finished living space. I’m hoping you can give me an idea of utilities (gas, water, and electric, mainly) costs in Bellevue. Any insight into how costly it is to heat these houses would be especially welcome. (Do they tend to hold heat well? We’ve never had a brick home. Is there much insulation?) I realize, of course, it will vary from house to house—just looking for a sense of what we might be paying monthly.

[Knepper3]

We are down the road in Ben Avon and my mom lived in Bellevue up until last year when we sold her home (she wanted 1 level living), both brick homes. You are correct, it will vary greatly. Many of the old brick homes have no or little insulation, actual size of the homes vary, windows, and what your temperature preferences are. Our home is brick and 3 stories, that 3rd story does have duct work up to it (many 3rd stories do not) but it is still warm or colder than the rest of the house no matter what. We are a family of 4 adults, keep the house cold in summer and hot in winter (we like to be comfortable). My water is generally $50, sewer is like $70, Electric is $240 summer/$140 winter, and I have the gas plan that averages it out all year which is $110. I think most of the utilities here are the same in Bellevue, my mom paid WAY less but hers was a 2bedroom townhouse and it was just her.


Do you have an agent (My wife and I are both agents), if you find a home you like you can ask about the utility costs. I don't think I would make my home choice based on utilities though since there are things you can do to improve, some immediate and some over time. The biggest improvement we did was replace original, very poor windows. Our utilities went down about $50/month from just that. I also don't think you are going to have a large utility cost difference in most homes, maybe a little more or less but in today's market it is tough to be picky.

[Formerly Known As Twenty]

Originally Posted by BellevueQuestions

Hi, all. We’re house shopping in Bellevue and really like the big, brick homes in the area, many of which have three above-ground floors of finished living space. I’m hoping you can give me an idea of utilities (gas, water, and electric, mainly) costs in Bellevue. Any insight into how costly it is to heat these houses would be especially welcome. (Do they tend to hold heat well? We’ve never had a brick home. Is there much insulation?) I realize, of course, it will vary from house to house—just looking for a sense of what we might be paying monthly.

I live in neighboring Avalon and have a smaller, newer brick house (colonial built in 1958) than those lovely big beauties with which you're enamored, but I can give you an idea of what to expect utility-wise since I live in the area.

My monthly gas bill is currently $124/month on the budget plan. The house has hot water baseboard heat, a gas water heater, and a pair of elderly gas kitchen appliances that have standing pilots. I keep my heat set to between 65-68 degrees in the winter and am quite comfortable.

If a house has hot water heat, is fortunate enough to be decently insulated, and faces in such a way to absorb some heat from the morning/early afternoon sunshine, it really does retain heat rather well. A friend of mine who lives in a large brick foursquare with forced air heat has not only a much higher gas bill than mine (it's a much larger and older house with three floors), it's also a bit chilly in the winter--especially when the heat is due to come on.

My monthly water bill ranges between $25-45 dollars with the past few months being around $31. This bill covers the filling of an old-school top loading washer (about four to five loads done weekly), two original to the house toilets (they use more water per flush than the newer ones), hand-washing dishes (no dishwasher), daily showers taken by 1-3 people, watering the garden, and the monthly washing of cars.

The sewer bill is rather high and is billed quarterly. Last bill was $185. (Ouch.)

The electric bill ranges from $30-40 dollars per month. Because there are trees shading the front of the house and I only use the air conditioners as needed, the electric bill isn't as high as it might be due to cooling needs. (I keep the temperature on the air conditioners set to between 76 and 78 degrees.)

Hope that this information is helpful to you.

[Knepper3]

Yeah that sewer bill makes me mad every time I get it. We have gas forced heat, gas water heater, gas dryer, gas oven and w/ 4 people in the house I am really surprised our budge plan is lower than yours. I would like hot water heat, the heated air cutting on and off plus the dryness is not my favorite but I could not live w/out central ac either.

[Formerly Known As Twenty]

Originally Posted by Knepper3

Yeah that sewer bill makes me mad every time I get it. We have gas forced heat, gas water heater, gas dryer, gas oven and w/ 4 people in the house I am really surprised our budge plan is lower than yours. I would like hot water heat, the heated air cutting on and off plus the dryness is not my favorite but I could not live w/out central ac either.

Glad I'm not the only one who's peeved about that sewer bill! It's over two and half times higher than it was when I purchased this house nearly six years ago. The first high bill that I received, I thought that there was a leak somewhere in the house until my neighbors mentioned that they had a similar increase in their own sewage bill. I'm guessing along with the higher water bills, the higher sewer bills are paying for some sort of infrastructure updates.

I'm guessing that the higher gas budget might be due to a combination of the poor replacement windows installed by the previous homeowner and those standing pilots. I cannot think of anything else that could make the budget higher than yours. It was a bit higher the first year that I lived here due to the original oversized boiler, but it went down a touch once the newer, more efficient one was installed. Hot water heat is the best! So cozy and quiet.

Central air conditioning is on the docket, but with a lot of high ticket items in front of it on the list, it's going to be a while until it's installed. I bought the house knowing that the mechanicals for the a.c. were broken (the house was priced accordingly). I didn't have central air conditioning in any place that I lived until 2007 (including my childhood home and my college dorm), so I'm used to either going without or using window units. Someday! The house is well-built and well-insulated (for its time), so except on the hottest of days, it remains somewhat comfortable inside.

On the bright side, unlike a lot of houses in this area of a similar and older vintage that have hot water or steam heating, there is ductwork in place for air conditioning so once the a.c. does happen, I'll have the best of both worlds.

[BellevueQuestions]

Thank you! This is very helpful. We’re coming from Minnesota, where water/sewer is a lot cheaper—the benefit of 10,000 lakes—but it sounds like electric is fairly comparable. We will definitely be looking into insulation and new windows if we end up in a house with neither. Our home here went 100 years completely uninsulated before we got some blown in, and we’ve noticed a big difference in the winter.

[Formerly Known As Twenty]

Originally Posted by BellevueQuestions

Thank you! This is very helpful. We’re coming from Minnesota, where water/sewer is a lot cheaper—the benefit of 10,000 lakes—but it sounds like electric is fairly comparable. We will definitely be looking into insulation and new windows if we end up in a house with neither. Our home here went 100 years completely uninsulated before we got some blown in, and we’ve noticed a big difference in the winter.

Water supply isn't an issue here in Pittsburgh (it's so very lush even in the heat of a somewhat dry summer), but the aging infrastructure of a Rust Belt city and its surrounding metro area is, which mostly explains why the water and sewage bills have increased so much over the past several years as the utility companies have been gradually updating the aged systems.

Still, it seems as though you're a fan of old houses and have a good idea of what to expect with owning and caring for one. Bellevue is definitely the place to find a lovely older home on a quiet street within walking distance of plenty of basic (and a few not-so-basic) amenities. Neighboring Ben Avon where Knepper and his family live is lovely, although with far fewer walkable amenities than Bellevue.

Good luck on the hunt for a new place to hang your hat(s). Hopefully you will find one that has reasonable utility bills! They're out there.

[Reggiezz]

As I recall, the federal government's EPA mandated the sewer changes. Think of it as a tax.

[Knepper3]

Originally Posted by Formerly Known As Twenty

Water supply isn't an issue here in Pittsburgh (it's so very lush even in the heat of a somewhat dry summer), but the aging infrastructure of a Rust Belt city and its surrounding metro area is, which mostly explains why the water and sewage bills have increased so much over the past several years as the utility companies have been gradually updating the aged systems.

Still, it seems as though you're a fan of old houses and have a good idea of what to expect with owning and caring for one. Bellevue is definitely the place to find a lovely older home on a quiet street within walking distance of plenty of basic (and a few not-so-basic) amenities. Neighboring Ben Avon where Knepper and his family live is lovely, although with far fewer walkable amenities than Bellevue.

Good luck on the hunt for a new place to hang your hat(s). Hopefully you will find one that has reasonable utility bills! They're out there.

Yeah a little more quiet here but it is lacking anything really interesting other than a coffee shop but that is fine with me. I do like Bellevue, it has a lot to offer and prices there are reasonable compared to many other similar areas. School rankings hold it back a little.

[PghPatriot]

Originally Posted by BellevueQuestions

Hi, all. We’re house shopping in Bellevue and really like the big, brick homes in the area, many of which have three above-ground floors of finished living space. I’m hoping you can give me an idea of utilities (gas, water, and electric, mainly) costs in Bellevue. Any insight into how costly it is to heat these houses would be especially welcome. (Do they tend to hold heat well? We’ve never had a brick home. Is there much insulation?) I realize, of course, it will vary from house to house—just looking for a sense of what we might be paying monthly.

Beautiful affordable homes there, but be mindful of the air quality. It's not great in general in Pittsburgh, but it's worse in that area.