Average Monthly Gas Bill

[stevelabny]

um, it really depends if your paying to HEAT your own place.
at least here in nyc, many apts have to pay their own gas...for their stove. not for their heat. my tenant has about a $10 a month gas bill. give or take.

while i get the monstrosity to heat the entire house.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

My 2 cents:

Go with the utilities included apartment. The reason? The Landlord has the incentive to keep the place well insulated so he does not pay an arm and a leg in heat if the winter is harsh.

My wife and I saved money one year by getting an apartment with no utilities included. Granted it was in NH where the winters are a little colder than DC, but that year we had multiple nights with temps below zero. The place had drafty windows, virtually no insulation in the basement. The furnace ran constantly and it still could not keep the place warm. No lie, we could freeze water on the kitchen floor. Our gas bill was in excess of $350 for two months of the year.

You might come out a bit ahead with the cheaper apartment paying for utilities, but you may find you will pay in other ways.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

If its relatively close, my advice is to go with the all bills paid.

The convenience is extreme. Also, being able to run lights and heat without worrying about the upciming bill is very nice.

Our current apartment includes all utilities. Really *wish* we could find one that had all included in the new area, but have not stumbled onto one, yet.

The only utility that is included with either of the apartments is gas (heating and stove).

And, as we're learning with our current apartment, if utilities are included, they have absolutely no incentive to turn on the AC until the temp is well into the 80's. ((but that's a whole 'nother thread ))

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

In that case...

Our current apartment includes all utilities. Really *wish* we could find one that had all included in the new area, but have not stumbled onto one, yet.

The only utility that is included with either of the apartments is gas (heating and stove).

And, as we're learning with our current apartment, if utilities are included, they have absolutely no incentive to turn on the AC until the temp is well into the 80's. ((but that's a whole 'nother thread ))

Well, if that $100/month difference is only for gas, I would probably go with the less expensive apartment - as long as it appeared the place didn't have really drafty windows etc. so that the bill would be reasonable (contacting the gas company for an average monthly bill is a good idea, but you have no idea if prior tenants ran the heat at 60 degrees or 70 degrees so your milage may vary). My home here in Massachusetts (1600 sq. feet) runs around $100 per month (maybe a little higher) for gas when you average it out. During the heating season, we keep the place at 70 when home and awake, 65 at night and 62 while at work.

And if we can get the weather to warm up, maybe I can turn the heat off...of course we'll probably go straight to 90s and I'll have the AC running constantly, but as you said, that's another thread.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

One,

Check what runs what. Natural gas can be used for Heating, Cooking, Water Heater, even Clothes Dryer. The more Nat Gas appliances/utlities you have the higher the bill (most gas appliances CAN BE more efficient than their electric counerparts, not ALL though). Thus check the age/brand of those appliances, you can then look them up & see the stated efficency.

Check the windows. Single pane glass ups the heating bill. If you find out, get the Insulation values used in the walls.

Apartments are tricky. Most of the ones I lived in (even all utlities), were made as cheaply as possible & did nothing to try to increase effenciy.

Good luck.

 

[tarchon]

My wife and I saved money one year by getting an apartment with no utilities included. Granted it was in NH where the winters are a little colder than DC, but that year we had multiple nights with temps below zero. The place had drafty windows, virtually no insulation in the basement. The furnace ran constantly and it still could not keep the place warm. No lie, we could freeze water on the kitchen floor. Our gas bill was in excess of $350 for two months of the year.

Was the fan on the furnace running? Oftentimes, a broken fan causes those sorts of symptoms. Since the hot air never gets distributed to rooms, it never gets to the thermostat, the furnace just keeps running and running, and the house just stays cold (except for the furnace closet, which is nice and toasty). It's also sometimes caused by an extremely clogged filter - I've seen that a lot. Basement insulation is almost completely irrelevant to heating a house in most cases, because warm air rises and the surrounding earth tends to regulate the temperature pretty effectively, which is why people often don't bother insulating a basement.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Was the fan on the furnace running? Oftentimes, a broken fan causes those sorts of symptoms. Since the hot air never gets distributed to rooms, it never gets to the thermostat, the furnace just keeps running and running, and the house just stays cold (except for the furnace closet, which is nice and toasty). It's also sometimes caused by an extremely clogged filter - I've seen that a lot. Basement insulation is almost completely irrelevant to heating a house in most cases, because warm air rises and the surrounding earth tends to regulate the temperature pretty effectively, which is why people often don't bother insulating a basement.

No the fan ran, it just blew luke-warm air. The filter may have been clogged, it was my first experience with forced hot air (grew up with forced hot water baseboards), so I really didn't know what to look for. As for the basement, since you could see through a few holes in the stone foundation, I doubt the insulating properties of the earth were worth very much. It was so cold down there that I think the warm air in the ducts lost a lot of heat before hitting our apartment. It was an old, run down home and the landlord had no interest in puting anything into fixing it up. I learned a lot about what to look for in an apartment from that place.