I'm sure prospective buyers are interested in how much the utility bills are, so I thought I'd blog about mine. I imagine a few existing Ryan Homes owners will be interested in comparing as well. We get our gas and electricity from PECO and our water and sewer from Pennsylvania American Water. For February, the bills came in as follows:
- PECO Gas: $160
- PECO Electricity: $100
- PAW Water: $30
- PAW Sewer: $55
First of all, it is worth bearing in mind that the Michener II is a fairly big house with over 3,000 square feet in our configuration. On the flip side, it has been a very mild winter thus far. The gas bill seems rather high, but part of the problem is that I work at home so we have the heating running most of the time. We've shut off a few vents for areas we don't frequent (like the basement), but it is still higher than we'd like. Electricity is a little lower than I expected. Water seems reasonable, but I was very surprised that the sewer bill was almost double the water bill. I'd be interested to hear about what other people are paying for their sewer service, particularly the ratio between water and sewer costs.
The gas and electric seem fairly reasonable despite the warmer-than-usual temps. I have heard that the sewer charges in PA are rather steep. I know in York county, where I am headed, they are supposed to be something like $60 per month.
ReplyDeleteour electric/gas bill (through Duke Energy) was $200 for January. I live in Cincinnati and we got nailed with cold and a little snow in January. I keep the house at 68 but just recently programmed it to drop to 65 during the day. Our water/sewer bill comes in quarterly, so can't help there, but I don't expect it to be worse then the last house which was consistently $150 every 3 months.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem as if our bills are fairly representative, then. Since posting, I have tweaked the heating to be a little lower during the day and fiddled with a couple more vents. We've had our heating set to 66 at night and 71 during the day, but now I've dropped the middle part of the day down to 69 to see how that works out.
ReplyDeleteI'm in Buffalo and based on your square footage, I'd say even with the mild winter, your bill isn't bad. I've attached the HERS energy star report for your house, based on the numbers you gave, it seems you're right on for the estimated energy consumption/cost for your house in PA.
ReplyDeleteHope that provides some relief.
http://www.ryanhomesenergy.com/print.cfm?region=23&model=Michener II
Thank you! That is good to know.
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