Utility bill vs Square footage & year built?

[nexus]

Hi everyone,

My fiancé and I are wanting to move from CA where we rent an 870 sq ft condo built in the 60’s that’s upstairs with poor insulation to a place near/around Nashville built in 1990 or later.

Can you share you average, or min and max annual bill for electricity and water for the size home you’re in and the state/genera areal you’re are?

We are looking into 3,000 sq ft or more — with the expectation that my wife’s parents will end up living with us in the next 10 years (and help with costs at that point). I know it seems dumb to possibly buy a home and pay to heat/cool it when it’s not fully utilized for years ... but that’s our vague idea. We also have a lot of friends here in CA and expect friends or family to visit us to the point where we have guests (when COVID is over) probably once a month regularly.

Definitely the most anti-mustachian thing I’ve ever done ... but living in california is costing us at least $30k annually in rent and state income tax. I also have approval to keep my salary and move, so that’s a plus and an automatic pay raise. Hope these details help!

Thanks for your feedback. I’m mostly scared of buying something old with shitty insulation and having a really high utility bill. Mine was $140 last month due to the heat wave and fires (we couldn’t open windows to cool things off due to the piss poor air quality for 4 weeks straight).

[secondcor521]

Okay, I'll play.

Home built in 2004.  Average contractor grade construction.  1,758 square feet.  Boise, Idaho.

Electricity:  $938.10 total over the past twelve months
Gas:  $403.68 total over the past twelve months
Water:  $269.73 total over the past twelve months
Sewer:  $248.16 total over the past twelve months

I include gas because the central furnace is natural gas powered, which is the most common solution around here.  Electricity is for the A/C, laundry, kitchen appliances, lights, and the rest.  Sewer is based on water usage, so I included that as well.

Water and sewer bills are probably fairly proportional to how many people are in the house.  In the last twelve months, I've averaged 3 or 4 people here.

My family members are probably average users of utilities.  I think our unit costs are below average relative to the rest of the country.

[BikeFanatic]

We also use gas heat living up north, so I only use electric for a space heater, and lights, my electric bike, washer machine, dryer. Rare to no AC. 75 a month electric but gas runs 1200 a year 1000 square foot house. That I insulated myself.

[Theadyn]

Rural Oklahoma.  Total electric at the higher rural electricity rate about $2000/yr for a '78 model small mobile home at 840sqft.  No gas bill.  No water bill, well water on electric pump.  No sewer bill. 

[Jon Bon]

Hi everyone,

My fiancé and I are wanting to move from CA where we rent an 870 sq ft condo built in the 60’s that’s upstairs with poor insulation to a place near/around Nashville built in 1990 or later.

Can you share you average, or min and max annual bill for electricity and water for the size home you’re in and the state/genera areal you’re are?

We are looking into 3,000 sq ft or more — with the expectation that my wife’s parents will end up living with us in the next 10 years (and help with costs at that point). I know it seems dumb to possibly buy a home and pay to heat/cool it when it’s not fully utilized for years ... but that’s our vague idea. We also have a lot of friends here in CA and expect friends or family to visit us to the point where we have guests (when COVID is over) probably once a month regularly.

Definitely the most anti-mustachian thing I’ve ever done ... but living in california is costing us at least $30k annually in rent and state income tax. I also have approval to keep my salary and move, so that’s a plus and an automatic pay raise. Hope these details help!

Thanks for your feedback. I’m mostly scared of buying something old with shitty insulation and having a really high utility bill. Mine was $140 last month due to the heat wave and fires (we couldn’t open windows to cool things off due to the piss poor air quality for 4 weeks straight).

Feels like an odd criteria.

Generally a >3000sqft home in the south will be newer construction. Therefore better insulated. So you might be paying more money to heat and cool, but you will have much better efficiencies.

In Nashville I would just make sure you have a very efficient AC unit as it will get heavy use. I am relatively sure you are only going to get houses built with fiberglass insulation (R13 or R19) in the walls. and blown in insulation in the attic (which you can add more too and get savings that way)

I doubt you would be able to find a house to your liking that had 6 inches of spray foam in the walls.

Also pay attention to shade trees and how your windows are orientated. Remember the south side of the house will generally get sun the entire day.

[terran]

Utility rates vary. I think you'd be better off trying to figure out expected usage and then look up local rates where you're thinking of moving. Or try asking a similar question on a local forum.

Since it sounds like this is a "permanent" move her parents there kind of move, but with a seemingly open ended location (I could be wrong, I just got the impression nothing was "forcing" you to move to Nashville) you might consider renting for awhile to make sure you like it there. That will let you get a sense of the local climate and utility costs too. It'll also let you see just how often friends really visit. You'll make new friends, they'll make new friends, life goes on, so who knows how often you'll really have visitors.

[YttriumNitrate]

It's tough to base an estimate solely off square footage. As an example, I moved 90 mile north from a 1,500 square foot house to a 3,000+ square foot house (both built in the 40s), and my utilities went down. Both houses have modern HVAC systems (95%+ efficiency nat. gas furnaces, modern AC) and good insulation. One big difference is that the old house had a lot of surface area with a basement and 1st floor in the shape of an L while the new place is almost a perfect rectangle with a basement, 1st, and 2nd floors stacked on top of each other. Additionally, the new place benefits from having more tree shade in the summer, and is located in a bit of valley so there's less wind pushing on the house in the winter.

EDIT: One more thing beneficial about the bigger house is that during the summer we tend to let the top floor get hot during the day, and just spend more time on the lower levels. This allows us to use the whole house AC less than we would otherwise. In the evenings, when things aren't as scorching, we hit the top level with a quick blast (~30 minutes) of extra AC from window units to cool things down in the bedrooms up there.

[Sibley]

Rent for a year, don't buy immediately. As for utility costs, sometimes you can look them up for specific houses.

[I'm a red panda]

Square footage about 2,500, year built 2007, state: Iowa

Annual electric bill-  about $300.  We have solar, so we essentially pre-paid our bill for many years when we installed that.  In the winter though, our heater is gas. I would have to go digging to see what those bills are. We also pay $12 in the warm months for gas because that's the stupid minimum charge.

Annual water/sewer/trash bill- $1000.  It was 1/3 that when we lived two miles down the road in another city; our city's rates are so much higher than that city's was.  This is without any watering of our lawn; we typically use 1 or 2 "units" of water, so reducing consumption won't lower the bill much.  We choose biweekly trash pickup; weekly would cost more.


You need to look at YOUR city's rate compared to your usage. This information isn't going to tell you much at all.

[BDWW]

I’m mostly scared of buying something old with shitty insulation and having a really high utility bill.

Almost everything in this country is built with shitty insulation, old, new or otherwise, IMHO.

If you're curious, keeping in mind 1) I live in the cold north, 2) expensive electricity, and 3) I have some above average electric draws, workshop, servers, etc.

Water/sewer bill $40 (minimum charge), sometimes gets to 60-70 in july/august when watering.
Trash $30 ($90 every 3 months)
Gas/Elec $200 average (generally ~$250 in the winter and ~150 in the summer), 75% of that is electric even when heating in the winter(gas is cheap). Average probably 800kwh/month over the year.

~$3400 a year. House is 3200sqft and 1000ft of shop/garage. 500ft of shop I heat in the winter to ~50*.

[bacchi]

Utility rates vary. I think you'd be better off trying to figure out expected usage and then look up local rates where you're thinking of moving. Or try asking a similar question on a local forum.

Yeah, asking for kwh is more useful. Rates in Hawaii are hella expensive and a total bill would be useless compared to someone using cheap hydro in Seattle.


Fwiw, my HVAC uses 150kwh more than the base load (fridge, computers, lights, washer). 600 square feet, very well insulated.

[Ecky]

Northern Vermont. ~1050sq ft heated, another ~300sq of unheated but attached space. Built 1962. Insulation is probably above average in a house of its vintage. 2 adults. Water comes from a well, and goes into septic.

Heat comes from a pellet stove and a mini split heat pump. Hot water is from a conventional electric water heater on peak. We keep the house around 70F in winter and only run the heat pump in summer if it's going to get above ~78 inside. We have a heat pump dryer and use a dishwasher.


Our electricity is lowest in September, where the temperature is basically perfect and humidity is low. We use around 190kwh heating water (at 2/3 price) and 220kwh for the rest of the house, totaling ~$82 @ $0.17 per kwh. In February, the heat pump is generally running full tilt 24/7. We tend to use around 240kwh heating water and 700kwh for the rest of the house, totaling ~$190 @ 0.17 per kwh.

Once per year we buy $800 worth of pellets for heat, and pay ~$1675 per year in electricity. We pay around $50 per month for internet, and $5 per month taking our trash to a transfer station.

[jamesbond007]

945 sft., year built: 1970. PG&E in HCOL in CA. Average bill for both electricity and gas heating - $60 per month. no AC.

[geekette]

Soooo many variables. 

Central NC, so approximately the same latitude as Nashville - built in 1988, 2,000 sq ft, far too many windows, electric and gas average about $175/mo combined.  But I see complaints on NextDoor of multi-hundred dollar summer electric bills.  Do they keep it on 68 in the summer???

[lutorm]

Hawaii, built 1950, 1400ft^2 living area. No heating or cooling, so cost for that is $0.

Cost for electricity: $25/month fixed connection fee now that our PV system is paid off, typical usage is somewhere around 6000kWh/year (which would be about $2k/year if we didn't have the PV.)

[norajean]

There are way too many variables for this to be useful information. I imagine the range is from near zero to over $1000 per month.

[nexus]

Thanks for all the responses and input. I’m still sorting through everything, but hoping to catch up and address any questions before the end of the weekend. Just skimming through the responses, it’s very likely that my expenditures will increase. I’m also in a HCOL area in CA, so the rates will be lower in TN, but everyone who said there are a lot of variables are right. If my usage doubles but my rate is 50% less it’s a wash.

Regarding TN, I have lived there in the past (rented) so we’re not approaching this blindly. Albeit, things could have changed in the 5 years since I left.

I appreciate everyone’s input. Even if the info isn’t useful to some of you, it doesn’t mean it isn’t useful to me.

[seattlecyclone]

Here goes.

Location: Washington
House: Detached single-family, 2,000 finished square feet, plus 500 square foot unfinished basement and one-car attached garage.
Year built: 1923, with one bedroom and bathroom added upstairs around 2000.
Occupants: 3 adults, 2 small children

2019 utility bills:
Natural gas (furnace only): $636.36 ($53.03/month average)
Electricity: $856.58 ($71.38/month average)
Water/sewer: $1,042.28 ($86.86/month average)
Trash collection: $364.96 ($30.41/month average)
Cable internet: $599.40 ($49.95/month)
Total: $3,499.58 ($291.63/month average)

[Villanelle]

Before you put in an offer, have your agent as the sellers to provide a year's worth of electricity bills or at least amounts.  That's going to be far more meaningful than what different people in different house in different areas pay. 

Even then, you have no idea whether these people cool to 65* in summer, heat to 72* in winter, and take hour long hot showers, or if it's 84* summer and 56* in winter with 4 minute cold showers.    But it's at least something probably more meaningful than what I, in Virginia, pay for my electric bill.  Because at least you know that the bills you are looking at cover the same rate and capture things like age of the a/c, whether or not the w/d is gas or electric, etc. 

[Blue Skies]

You should be able to get utility cost estimates for any house that you are seriously considering purchasing by asking the realtor. 
However... the people who owned our house prior to us purchasing it routinely used 3x the electricity per month that we do (now, in the same house).  So, even then, take it with a grain of salt.  I have no idea how they used that much power.