Utility cost for 1800 sqft house

amother

Mistyrose

Mon, Apr 09 2018, 2:28 pm

I am trying to figure out how much of a mortgage I can afford. Approximately how much would utilities be on an 1800 sqft house. No central air. I am not sure the exact heating system but we are looking in Inwood on Long Island and the houses are approximately 100 years old. We are a family of five and Dh and I both work pretty full time so no one is home between 9 and 4 on weekdays. Approximately what would water electric and gas (heat) cost us per month and did I miss any standard monthly untilities?

amother

Amethyst

Mon, Apr 09 2018, 6:57 pm

Water: $50
Electric: $80
Gas: $150 during the winter. (our dryer is not energy efficient at all and causes gas to go up.)

Our family and house are similar in size to yours.
There are people home all day.
We are conscious about turning off lights, etc.

Also, you may have oil, not gas. Something to think about. If it's oil, you can expect the overall bill to be higher than gas.

OutATowner

Mon, Apr 09 2018, 7:27 pm

I don't live in that area and I only have electric, but just wanted to point out that the sq footage does not include basements or additiona, which can make a big difference in the bill. When comparing bills keep that in mind. Hatzlacha!

amother

Crimson

Mon, Apr 09 2018, 7:27 pm

amother wrote:

Water: $50
Electric: $80
Gas: $150 during the winter. (our dryer is not energy efficient at all and causes gas to go up.)
Our family and house are similar in size to yours.
There are people home all day.
We are conscious about turning off lights, etc.

Also, you may have oil, not gas. Something to think about. If it's oil, you can expect the overall bill to be higher than gas.

Are you talking about a house or an apt.
If a house, is it a newer house or older house.
Both these are major factors.
We paid what you did in an apt. Only electricity was a LOT higher in the summer. And gas a little higher in the winter.

We currently live in a house with solar panels. Some days/weeks/months we get 100%+ electricity from the solar panels and O&R buys it off... (It goes automatically) we pay $35 for the panel lease. That includes maintenance fees.
Gas, it depends how the house it built. How many floors is this 18sq. Is there an additional basement. If not, Is there crawling space? (Of not, then the house needs lots more heating and shouldn't be turned down too much who out of the house as it'll take waaay to long to reheat.....)
All depends.

My guess would he around $400 a month on average.

But this is all guesses. Can you ask the local utility company?

amother

Seafoam

Mon, Apr 09 2018, 9:29 pm

Older homes are not as well insulated, so you will probably be leaking lots of air. When we bought our 60 year old home, the previous owner had kept the thermostat on 60 and had a gas bill of 250 for the months in the depths of the winter. We insulated our home immediately, and our thermostat is set on 71 average. The highest we've paid was 200/month. So there are a lot of variables, not only square footage.