If you have a 2100-3000 sq ft house, what is your electric/gas bill like?

[Aimeedyan]

Going househunting this weekend, homes we're interested in run between those sizes (both 1 and 2 story). I'm trying to get a rough estimate of utilities. Summer AC costs are the big thing here (in TX) so I know it will differ some from where you are located but gives me some insight anyways.

Do you mind sharing approx footage and if it's 1 or 2 story? I know those high ceilings can cost a bundle but they look so good!!!

Thanks!

 

[mrsv98]

We have a 2300 sq ft two-story house. In the last couple of years, we have replaced the furnace and ac and installed new high-efficieny windows. Our ac bills run in the $170 range and heat about the same or a bit more. DH likes the house cool, I would run it a little less but our bills are about 1/2 of what they were before we upgraded.

We have a volume ceiling in the living room so to compat that, we use a fan to move the air.

Really, when you look at house, see what the age and efficiency of the HVAC system is and what kind of insulation is in the house.

Happy hunting!

 

[Charade]

My 2 story house is a little over 2000 sq ft. It's just me and two cats. My hot water, heat and cooking is gas. The rest is electric (dryer). In the summer (temp set to 80 during the day and 74/75 at night (75 all weekend) my electric bills are around $80. Lower in the fall and spring (no A/C). In the summer my gas bill is about $25. In the winter (temp set to 68/70) the gas bill is about $200.

 

[RadioNate]

well I'm on TX with a 1 story 2800sqft house. They've been running around 225 this summer and much less in the winter. Usually less than $150.

I know my friend has a 2 story that is about 2600 and her's are over $300 to keep the upstairs cool.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Our house is 2987 sq ft, two-story. We have regular 9 ft. ceilings. Our average bill in the summer is anywhere from 150.00 to 185.00. It doesn't help that we have two A/C units (it's dual zoned). I usually keep it about 76 degrees in the summer, my dh likes it a little cooler so when he's home sometimes we'll drop it less than that.

 

[graygables]

I pay the gas bill for 2 houses (long story) that total about 3000 SF, and electric on one house (1500SF) Both gas and electric are on the annualized averaging plan. Electric is $175/mo ($2100/yr) and gas was $185/mo ($2220/yr), but I have been warned to expect that to go up. I'm in NE Ohio, w/ gas heat, dryer, stove, everything else is electric.

 

[rayelias]

We're currently in a 2200 sft townhouse. Gas runs about $100 in the winter; elec runs about $350/mo year round. I keep it around 72 in the summer and 78 in the winter.

We're moving into a 5,800 sft single family in a couple weeks. I'm a little nervous about heating costs this winter. Fortunately, we have multi-zone heating, so we can help reduce costs that way.

 

[cnaumann]

I have 3000 square feet on the main floor with a 1200 square foot basement. I am in Northern Alabama, we had 498 cooling degree days last August. The house was built in 1959 and the insulation in not great. I have a 3-year-old 5Ton 12 SEER heatpump for the main floor that has been modified to provide hot water (this provides all my summer hot water at no cost, and boosts the efficiencey of the AC somewhat). I have a 1.5T 12 SEER unit in the basement that rarely runs in the summertime. Family of four. Ceilings are 8'2". I also have a large hot tub that is not exactly cheap to run. I have an electric clothes dryer that seems to run 24/7. Water heater is also electric (but most of the water is heated by waste heat from the AC in the summer). Gas stove and ovens. No one except me turns off lights in the house, but I am the one who liek the house 72 in the summer (68 in the winter). At one point, I had compact fluorescent lights in about 90% of the light fixtures, after constant complaints I have swiched over to halogens in most fixtures (it does look better than the fluorescents but at almost 8 time the energy cost.)

The heat is combination heatpump, electric strip and natural gas. The heatpump is by far the most economical of those, so I tend to use it the most. I switch over to gas when the outside temperature is below 20 degress. Natural gas prices have tripled in my area in that last 3 years, and are going up again.

The year after I installed the 12 SEER heatpumps I was able to cut my electric bill over 25%, I am not as diligent now and things have crept back up.

My electric bill for August was 3800kWh or $250. That is about the peak for the summer. During milder months the electric bill is around $125. Winter electic also runs about $250 in cold months. Garbage, water, sewer, spinkler system, gas and tax add about $100 in both winter and summer (more water in the summer, more gas in the winter.)

 

[2BigKIdz]

I have 2300 sqf in a two level home. We keep the temp about 67 all year, we like it cool. In the spring our electric bills were around $100, during the summer they have gone up to $135-145 and are a little cheaper than that in the winter. My SIL lives in the same subdivision but has a different electric co. (hers is supposedly the cheaper as it is a co-op), she has about 3000-4000 sqf including garage and she keeps it really hot in their house, like 78-80 I guess they just turn the a/c off for summer?)all year and their electric bills ranges anywhere from $300-500 per month. We are in VA and it does get very hot and humid here in summer.

 

[ducklite]

I"ve got 3000 sf under air. (In other words the garage and lanai are not included in that measurement.)

My elecrtic bill averages out to about $100 a month, it's never been more than $130. My gas bill is about $15 a month. We are in the south, where you a/c more than heat, and we spent a lot fo time researching energy efficiency. We have a heat pump, and if you are using more a/c than heat, electric is the way to go. We spent extra $$ for a gas water heater, gas dryer, and we also have gas run to the lanai for the grill.

I keep it about 74 in the winter, 78 in the summer. It feels cooler because we have ceiling fans that run all the time in the a/c weather, so it feels about 74.

My house is brand new, and we put Tech Sheild in, and we feel it has significantly lowered our a/c costs.

Anne

 

[pw2pp]

Of course it varies with location.....
we had a $292 Gas Bill one month last winter (in Michigan)
and our house is the very lowest sq. footage that you are asking about.

 

[froglady]

Our bill is about $300 in summer, May- October, less in winter, and the lowest in spring/fall. (when I have neither heat nor A/C turned on)

Our house is around 3,000sf, 2 story, and almost 100 years old. We live in an historical district, so it would be VERY expensive to replace the windows. We have two heat pumps, plus a window heat pump unit in the guest apartment, where DD lives during the summer.

 

[golfgal]

Well, I don't know if I can compare our house to what you are looking at because up north, the houses are more energy efficient, basically, we have tighter windows and more insulation. Our electric bill is about $20 more in the summer with the AC on pretty much all summer long (so $60 instead of $40), we had about 20 days this summer over 90 degrees, the rest was about 89 degrees and humid . In the winter or largest gas bill was $120 and that was for January when we had temps in the 50 below zero range. Our house is about 3000 sq feet with an additional 1000 sq feet of finished basement, so 3 finished levels total.

Why don't they insulate houses better in the south? It would cut down on your cooling costs, too.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

3320 sq ft...Pretty high ceilings, 2-story...AND dh likes it cool, around 75-74 during the day....$500.00
(just for electric and we have 2 units)

 

[Christine]

I have a 2-story, 2500 sq ft home. This past August, my electric bill was $310.00. My gas was $45.00. They reverse in the winter. I have dual zone AC and heat so I've got two units running. My September electric bill was $246.00. We had several days (I think 10) that were about 100 degrees in August.

 

[Southern4sure]

I have a 2 story 2550 sq ft home with 12 ft ceilings on the bottom floor and 10 ft on the top floor. We are all electric. We keep the themostat set at 78 with occasionally lowering the temp when we know comp is coming over. We have ceiling fans in every room to keep air circulating. I just switched to budget billing last month which my electric bill should be $160 a month every month including winter. Before I switched, the bill ran $200 a month June, July & Aug. but ran about $150 before that. We have 1 AC unit

 

[Frantasmic]

I live in the DFW area of North Texas. I have a 3200 sq. ft. two-story house. We keep both thermostats at 78 in the summer and use ceiling fans. We have the average billing offered and our monthly bill from May to October for electric runs about $225 for the average billing. If we didn't have average billing, our highest would be for August and run about $340.

In winter, we use natural gas solely and we may hit $200 in Jan or Feb.

 

[Aimeedyan]

That gives me a good idea of what to expect! Some of the 2 stories have zoned upstairs and down, and that appeals to me since we don't have anyone living upstairs yet so we could keep it really really warm to save on $ unless company comes.

I really want an electric ac/gas heat house.

 

[AllyandJack]

Our house is about 3,000 sq feet. It's 2-story colonial.

We have central air. In the summer, I keep it at 64. I like it cold, so it's running ALL the time. Our electric bill maxes out at $160. We don't have any fancy zones or anything, so even rooms we don't use are getting cooled. In the winter, when we don't use the central air, the electric bill is about $70.

We have propane heat. Again, I like it cooler, so I keep it at about 70 - unless it's REALLY cold and windy, then I'll bump it up a few degrees. We're on a plan with the company and, this winter, our monthly payments are $192. We pay 10 months out of the year. Last year, it was $239./month and we just started the new plan for this winter last month. We currently have a credit of over $1,000. We had a big credit at the end of last year, so that's how we ended up paying so much less this year. We're also capped at $1.60, so we'll never pay more than that amount per gallon. Washing everything in cold made a big difference, too.

I freeze poor DH out in the summer....I have it down to 64 in the house and then I put the ceiling fan over the bed on full blast. I can't help it.

 

[NCRedding]

We have two seperate systems in our house. The downstairs is electric a/c and natural gas heat (put in in 2002) which covers about 1900 sq ft of house, kept at 73 in the summer and 70 in the winter. That part of the house has 9 foot ceilings, and new replacement windows--brick, but built in 1932. The upstairs unit covers 800 sq. feet which was added to our house five years ago. All electric, not very efficient, and further hampered by the design of the addition, which has heat build-up on either side of the edition. We have to keep the AC on 70 in order for the room upstairs to be cool enough for sleeping at night (it gets to about 76 during the day)

OIUr equal pay for our electricity is $151 per month. OUr gas is $81 per month (but we have a $10 per month charge just to have the gas).