A few years back, Australia* decided to privatize all their utilities…electricity, gas, water etc…so that they could incorporate competition into the marketplace, and said utilities would become cheaper for us punters.
Well, of course, price competition is a fucken’ joke, and the cost of those utilities have skyrocketed to the point where average families on average incomes are finding it really tough to keep up with their bills.
Just as an example…I’m a single woman living in a one-bedroom unit. My last electricity bill (12 weeks) was $450 (which included a $130 ‘service fee’). Admitted, my heating and cooling is all electric, but still…
1 bedroom apartment, near west suburbs of Chicago - heat and gas are included in rent, electricity runs about $40/month in the winter, $60-$70/month in the summer but that’s because I run the AC all the time.
ETA: Gas oven range for cooking so that helps a lot.
I’m not in the US, in a 2-bedroom, 950 square foot house, and my electric averages about $140 per month, while my water is about an additional $45 per month. So $450 over 12 weeks for electric AND water seems pretty good to me!
Water and trash collection is about $100/month. There’s usually one electric bill in spring and another in fall that are around $130, the peak of winter is around $180, and the peak of summer is $400. No gas.
Two-bedroom, two-story condo-style apartment in San Diego. Relatively new, well-insulated building with overhead fans in all rooms. Two adults, no kids.
Our utilities (gas and electric combined) average $60-64 per month pretty much throughout the whole year.
We don’t live by the beach, but are close enough to the coast that we don’t usually get the scorching heat that afflicts areas further inland. We get by most of the summer with just fans. There have been two or three months over the past six years when summer heat has led us to turn the central AC on for eight or ten days, and in those months the bill can get close to $70, but that’s about it. We have never once turned on the heat during what passes for winter down here.
Usually the only real variation i notice is the occasional time when we’re away for two or three weeks, and the bill drops to $45 or $50.
Our house is about 1630 sq ft over an unfinished basement. We have a well, so no water bill. Our furnace is oil-fired, we’ve got 2 fireplace inserts to burn pellets upstairs or logs in the basement. Everything else is electric. There are just 2 of us living here.
Our electricity is on the budget plan so based on our historic usage, the bill is averaged over the year. Right now, that average is $250/month. I think a big chunk of that is because of my husband’s aquarium setup - with several pumps running full time, plus lights that cycle on and off and the computer that runs it all. I also run my kiln occasionally, and that sucks the electrons right up!
Last year, we spent about $500 on wood pellets, and it kept the upstairs very comfortable most of the winter. We ran out in March, so we had to burn oil for a few weeks - that might have come to $100. This year, we’ll get half again as many pellets, so we’re looking at $750, plus probably another $100 for wood for the basement fireplace. Very roughly, that comes to maybe $150/month for the cold months.
I’m sure if we hadn’t replaced all of our crappy old windows a few years back, those costs would all be higher. Multi-pane vinyl windows are much tighter than the old wood-sash-and-aluminum-storm-windows that we used to have.
Michigan, small house with one occupant (not counting three dogs and two cats.)
Gas & electric - $60-80 per month roughly April-October. During winter months it’s $200-$250 monthly. Hopefully next winter those bills will be lower because I am replacing some windows and improving/adding insulation this summer.
Water and sewer is quite inexpensive, $30-35 per month. Higher in summer because I have a very large yard and vegetable garden that I water extensively during dry spells.
Weekly trash pick up provided at no additional cost by the township.
Wow that’s not much!
I have two cell phones (one smartphone with all the bells and whistles, one back-up dumb phone) for $60 per month. Cable internet, $40 monthly. No TV.
I paid my bills a few weeks ago. Electricity was $175 for the quarter, 40% for “Service to Property” not usage. My gas for my hot water and stove but not oven was $104, half of which was for “Service to Property” not usage.
According to my electricity bill the average daily usage for a 1 person household is about 14 kWh per day. I use about 5 kWh.
Two bedroom, approx 900sq foot house, two humans in the Twin Cities metro area: Our electric runs about $55/mo, water/sewer/recycling is $110 every three months. The gas varies greatly. In the summer, my bill (minus the service plan) runs about $25/mo. In the winter it can run up to $200/mo, but my furnace IS 70 years old. We do not have central air. If we put in the window A/C, my electric bill increases $3/day it runs.
For the quarter to the end of April my electricity bill was $238. I don’t have gas, so this covered everything: lights, appliances, cooking, hot water.
Ok, we live in a double storey, 28ish square house with all electric everything (except hot water - solar), double glazing and a 4.5kW solar power system, and our bill is around $300 a month. The solar system, which went in December 2013, is saving us around $100/month. We do pay the extra for 100% wind power to try to offset our carbon emissions.
US, Atlanta area, 1 person in a ~900 square foot top-floor apartment.
Gas heating/water heating & electric cooling:
Winter: electric ~$30/month, gas ~$60 (max, if it’s a cold winter)/month.
Summer: electric $110-$120/month (I like it cool to sleep, so that affects this a lot, as does being on the top floor), gas ~$30 max
Wow, people pay a lot, more than I expected. I feel like I am being raped, but we pay 150/month gas and electric with a 3300 sq foot home with budget billing. Phone and internet 90/month. No tv (that’s why we have internet). We have two cell phones with unlimited talk, text and data (grandfathered) for 150/month.
Oh water is 90/month in summer and 20/ month in winter.
Just outside of DC, for a townhome:
$100-150 combined for electric and gas. Over the summer my gas is $20-25, during the winter my electric is 30-50.
TV/Internet/Phone $110.
Water is about $75 for 3 months.
Electric for a house (small) is $100-130 a month.
Internet/phone is $80
Cable (basic) is $20.
Heating – I use oil, and it’s about $500 a month in the heating season (October-April), but $0 outside of it.
I’m very lucky
Rent/water/trash = $150
Electric = $40.00/$175 varies seasonaly
Cable = $80.00 (I really need to find something better)
Heating = $25.00/put on a sweater (Texas+chemo left me with problems)
Very small income,so this is a large %
