Just got my December Utility Bill....

[sammielynn]

I just got my December utility bill this morning. I nearly fell in the floor. It was $496.83 I just saw my spring trip to Orlando fly out the window. Here is the breakdown:
First out house was built in 1890 - 1 1/2 story Queen Anne - have added floor and ceiling insulation and new furnace in the past three years. 1890 square feet of heated space. Still a hard house to heat and keep warm.
3 people two cats living in home (me, DS16, DS14)
Keep thermostat on 65 when we are at home and 60 at night and when we are gone during the day. I never really feel warm at home. Run space heaters when we are sitting and watching TV or doing home work.
All of our utilities are on the same bill.
It had not been really that cold . (we live in East Tennessee) Had one or two nights below 20.
We were all home for two weeks during Christmas.
Gas - $260.04
Electric - $128.44
Water - $34.95
Sewer - $62.84
Garbage Collection - $7.24
Taxes - 3.23
I have spoken with four neighbors and theirs were all higher than mine. We live in a Hidtoric Districe so all the homes have 10 Ft. ceilings and are over 100 years old.
Nieghbor one - 81 year old man - lives alone keeps all but four rooms of his hours closed off but has the thermostat set at 75 day and 70 at night.
Bill $497 - $390 just for his natural gas.
Neighbor two - Couple in their 40's one small child - two story house larger than mine - keep thermostat at 68 - Bill $624
Nieghbor three - retired couple - husband out of town for last month helping sick family, so only one adult in home very large three story - keeps thermostat at 60 and only heats two stories - Bill $611
Neighbor four - Couple in late fourties two sons in college both home for holidays during this heating cycle - large two story - thermostat around 67. Bill $678
I knew in my mind that this was going to happen but to see it on paper just blew me away. My November bill was $350.
How are your utility bill going???

 

[westjones]

Mine will probably total about what yours is also. I was expecting it, though. On the news here they have been warning everyone that the gas bills will be higher. I don't have the electric bill yet, but the gas bill is just under $200 for our 2400 square foot house. Our sewage was about the same as yours and so was our water. I just hope the electric isn't too out of line, but it probably will be based on what is being reported in the news.

DJ

 

[OhMari]

Is that your property tax bill. $3.23 a month?

If it is, that is super low, I have to budget $220 a month for our property tax and our water bill runs $65 a month, my heat was $287 and electric just came for $127.

 

[wright1baby]

We built our home in 2002 and are all electric. We opted to pay an extra $5000 to have Geo-thermal heating. I know we financed this extra $5000 with our mortgage for 30 years and probably spending more, but month to month our electric bill runs about $170 at it's highest($120 in summer). Oh...our house is 3600 sq ft (finished basement) and 6 people live here (Me, DH, DS, DS, DD, and My Dad has his apartment in the basement).
So many reasons to hope for a short winter!! Hope it warms up soon for you guys in TN!

 

[DMRick]

Is that your property tax bill. $3.23 a month?

.

Boy, wouldn't that be a dream. She said her utilities are all on this bill, so I assume that is sales tax.

This year more than others, I an very glad we have a wood stove, and purchased our wood very early, before the price went up too much. While we spent $900 on six cords, my gas bill is just about what it was last year. And of course the heat is a nice heat, sinks into everything. Next year? Well, I"m afraid the price of wood will be skyrocketing.

 

[dizagain]

I choked when I got our gas bill...$289 for a 2300 sq ft two-story home. I guess I knew it was coming, but still I thought we were doing great by freezing ourselves...I've been keeping the thermostat at 63 all the time with the occasional 66 for a few hours in the early evenings. We were gone for a week during the billing cycle and turned the thermostat to 50. We're in Illinois so it got very cold in December...can't imagine what my bill would be if we kept it at the upper 60's! This bill was higher than my summer electric bills for air conditioning in Texas and that says alot because DH kept it COLD.
At least we can always add sweaters and blankets, right?

 

[jennifer293]

Where in Tennessee do you live? I am in Tennessee and we pretty much only run on electric. We turn our gas logs on every once in a while if it gets really chilly out. The HIGHEST my bill has EVER been is 172.00 and my water is 21.00 a month religiously...I would DIE if I got a bill that high!!!!

I know the gas company came out and filled our tank up and we still had almost a half of a tank from last winter and they filled it without my approval and I am not on auto fill, so I called and got rather rude and at first I told the lady I WAS NOT going to pay it, she offered for me to make payments and I told her NO, but then she offered the gas to me at a VERY low rate so I took that and told her if they EVER came out to my house again without my approval I would not pay the bill.

I probably shouldn't have gotten so rude with her, but I did not have the 300.00 they were billing me for and I was VERY UPSET at that point and time.

I am very sorry that your bill is so high and I hope you can still go to WDW!!!

 

[nordkin]

Our gas bill for December in the Washington DC suburbs was $327 for a little over 3000 sq feet with cathedral ceilings. We have a programmable thermostat that is set on 60 during the day from 7AM to 3:30PM, 70 from 3:30PM to 10PM, 62 from 10PM to 5:30AM, and 70 from 5:30AM to 7AM. We locked in our rate per therm since we have deregulation in Maryland and have a pretty good rate of $1.28. If we had not locked in we would have paid $1.84 so we saved a lot of money although it was still high.

 

[Lives4Disney]

My NiCor gas bill was $550 for a month from the middle of November to mid December. It was COLD in Illinois for several weeks. We were actually cold in our house, and paying this much to "heat" it!!! I practically fell to the floor when I opened that one, but I was guessing it would be about $450.

What is that LOW tax??? Wow!! Our property taxes are hideous!!!

Lives4Disney

 

[sammielynn]

Jennifer293 - I live in Harriman, not far from you. Harriman has always been know for high utilities.
OhMari - the $3.32 was sales tax not property tax. My property taxes are about $700 per year.

 

[Lives4Disney]

Jennifer293 - I live in Harriman, not far from you. Harriman has always been know for high utilities.
OhMari - the $3.32 was sales tax not property tax. My property taxes are about $700 per year.

Wow....this interests me.... My property taxes are much more than $700/MONTH. I live in Northern Illinois.

Lives4Disney

 

[disney1990]

$700 a year for property taxes. Ours are over $3,000 and our house isn't that large.

 

[sammielynn]

Just goes to show that living in the hills of Tennessee in a small town has some advantages. Just not on utilities!

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I have spoken with four neighbors and theirs were all higher than mine. We live in a Hidtoric Districe so all the homes have 10 Ft. ceilings and are over 100 years old.

I don't know it this actually helps or not, but when I lived in a house with high ceilings someone suggested that I leave my ceiling fan on low during the winter since heat rises.

 

[Mskanga]

I cannot complain this year , I have a propane furnace and I filled up in the middle of November and paid $360 for 200 gallons , I just got another fill up yesterday and I got 148 gallons , it cost me $281 but this will last me probably another 6 weeks or perhaps a bit longer. My house is kept between 65 and 68 degrees at different times of the day and it's 1300 sq feet , the master bedroom and master bathroom don't count because we use the electric heat on that one since it's empty most of the day and the heaters for that one are different.

 

[christinadei]

We just got our electric bill, it was $331. Last month was $179 and we used more electric last month. I am so not happy. They have been saying that the fuel surcharge woudl go up, it sure did. The fuel surcharge was $150 and my electric usage was $150. I have no gas. I am really not happy about it.

 

[wasabi girl]

My electric bill for dec was nearly $400...and that is with us gone for a week (to WDW!) and then come home to 7 days of no power after the ice storm...I too keep my furnace on 64, we never feel warm either. I've got the buck stove in the LR going and wear sweaters...and turn it down more. I'm really wondering if we could install solar something (thought of this during the ice storm) to heat or supplement the heat pump....I live in SC! Good luck with the rest of your winter...you aren't alone, we're all feeling it.

 

[rkmassa]

Ours was 156.00 for gas, 84.00 for electric, 33.00 sewer and water together, and 13.00 for trash. Our house is 1,200 square feet, and partial basement. Our home was built in 1920 with 9 foot ceilings. We keep our temp in the house at 70 during the day and 65 at night. I guess I can't complain.

 

[yoopermom]

Well, you know. Luckily we live in MI's UP, where everyone's poor (pretty much). Here's how cheap I am: plastic on inside and outside of all windows (I feel like last night's leftovers in Saran Wrap), straw bales two deep/two high around foundation of house, all room vents closed off except kitchen, bath, living room (bedroom doors kept closed until one hour before bed), heat NEVER higher than 60 (hey, it keeps the MIL away!), no lights on except in the room I'm in, and two hound dogs apiece at night to keep warm. DS thinks I'm killing him, but I remember the energy crisis of the 70s, so I must be getting old. I can't afford to refill my heating oil for at least another month when it's over $2.50/gal. The people I really worry about are the old and the infirm. My family can live off our body fat for quite some time!
Good luck!
Terri

 

[dreams91]

I have a 2300 sq ft home. Our electric bill alone for Dec was $400. And we have a heat pump! Needless to say, we are now running only the woodstove. Can't afford another bill that high.