[MsNyc]

Hi everyone,

I binged on all the old Vermont economy and cost of living threads but was hoping to find more current info.
I've visited Vermont since the 90's so I'm not a newbie and think I have a basic understanding of Vermont.
Right now, I'm looking for houses in Rutland County, mostly in Lake Bomoseen and Castleton area. I was wondering how much water, sewer, trash and oil cost per month?
I'd greatly appreciate any info on the Rutland area, rants about the economy, Vermont politics or cost of living.

[joe moving]

garbage - 35 a month here maybe less in rutland?
water - free, most are on a well
oil.. depends all on how much you use. Propane is about 3 bucks a gallon but special pricing can get you a better deal. really hard to tell without knowing size of house, and how well it is insulated, and how hot you like it...

[jackmccullough]

The Vermont Department of Public Service does monthly reports on heating costs. Here's the link:


Retail Prices of Heating Fuels | Department of Public Service

[cgregor]

UMass livable wage calculator includes a figure for heating in Vermont locations. check it out.

[squarpeg]

There is such a radical difference in what people pay for heat it is stunning. I have friends who heat their well insulated smallish home on about 3.5 cords of wood a year they cut off their property for free. I also have a friend who lives a large drafty old house that burns $10,000 a season in oil....

I live south near Brattleboro. I spend about $120 a month in electric. I bet half of that cost is my electric hot water. We have our own well and septic. I burn on average 8 cord of wood, so somewhere in the $1600 year for heat. Propane for cooking, maybe $10 month? Trash I take to the dump maybe 3-4 large pickup loads a year. I can't recall exactly I think it is usually about $75 so no more then $25 month.

[ctr88]

Originally Posted by squarpeg

There is such a radical difference in what people pay for heat it is stunning. I have friends who heat their well insulated smallish home on about 3.5 cords of wood a year they cut off their property for free. I also have a friend who lives a large drafty old house that burns $10,000 a season in oil....

I live south near Brattleboro. I spend about $120 a month in electric. I bet half of that cost is my electric hot water. We have our own well and septic. I burn on average 8 cord of wood, so somewhere in the $1600 year for heat. Propane for cooking, maybe $10 month? Trash I take to the dump maybe 3-4 large pickup loads a year. I can't recall exactly I think it is usually about $75 so no more then $25 month.

Wow $10k a year on oil is insane for your friend.

Between heat and electric you spend $3,040 a year or $253/mo. In comparison I live in Seattle WA area and spend about $30/mo ($360 year) TOTAL for electric and heat. WA State has I think the cheapest electricity costs in the entire U.S because of the hydro power we have here. Plus milder winters so less heat needed and no AC needed in summers.

Cost of living can be deceptively high in VT due to the taxes, heat costs, electric costs, snow removal, need for snow tires or 4wd, higher grocery costs, high rents, further distances to drive to do everything requiring higher gas/wear and tear on car costs, etc... Even though Seattle is a big city with tons of major high paying blue chip employers, I think cost of living might be HIGHER in VT overall when you factor in everything. Which is crazy when you think about it.

[squarpeg]

So your saying in Seattle there are no heating or cooling costs? I live in North Florida in the winter. I run the heat here and heat my hot water, and cook. All with electric. That costs me about $100 month. You must be living in a tepee.

[Wells5]

Vermont has the smallest natural gas fingerprint of any New England state. In fact, only Burlington has access to natural gas, the cleanest, most efficient and cheapest energy for heating. Wood smoke stinks up neighborhoods and is bad for your health.


https://www.thoughtco.com/smoke-chemistry-607309


There is a huge surplus of natural gas in northern PA, which a company (Kinder Morgan) wanted to export via pipeline to New England. After vehement opposition to the pipeline, especially from Maura Healey the MA Attorney General and Hillary clone, the pipeline was cancelled. This pipeline's proposed path ran very close to Vermont and could have been tapped to supply natural gas to its cities and towns.


Kinder Morgan formally withdraws federal application for Northeast Energy Direct pipeline | masslive.com


//www.city-data.com/forum/massa...ts-what-2.html

[squarpeg]

Well the reason we don't have natural gas is ........no one lives in VT. What are we now, 600,000 in the whole state? I live in a town of 1300 which is typical. We can't even get cell phone providers to put a tower in as there are not enough customers. I very much doubt any company wants to run miles of gas pipe lines through stone filled soil to provide each of our 237 towns with natural gas. Makes no economic sense. What does make sense is to take your chainsaw out to your wood lot and cut down enough trees to heat your home for the winter for free. It is not clean I will give you that, but next year there is another cord grown on each acre you prune. I am not opposed to gas, I just don't think it makes economic sense based on the population base.

[Wells5]

The politicians are always touting "infrastructure." Well, piping the USA for natural gas is infrastructure. Decent sized urban areas like Bennington, Brattleboro, Rutland, White River Junction, Middlebury, St. Johnsbury. Montpelier and others would love to have natural gas available as would many industries, schools, colleges, hospitals, etc. Natural gas availability can also attract new industries. Laying gas pipelines in urban and even rural areas is not that expensive given today's flexible plastic gas pipe. Below is a photo of a house in very rural northern PA, which has a gas meter. It's to the right of the basement door.