gas bill too high?

[sonnguyen]

Hi, all! I was wondering what people are typically paying for gas, electricity, and water (preferably around this time of year).

We have a Dogwood with the 2-story family room and we got our first gas bill (a partial bill) for $63.xx (not including the $30 setup fee) for 10 days' worth of usage. That seemed really high to us (previously we were in an apartment with all utilities included so we may not have a very accurate expectation).

So we wanted to know what others in the community are paying. Thanks in advance for any replies!

Edited by - sonnguyen on 11/21/2002 00:58:33

[Dwarflord]

Ive lived in the area almost 3 yrs now. I have a 3300 sq. ft. single family home (1st 2 levels, does not include unfinished basement). I have an average water bill of $100/quarter, $15 gas in summer, $200 gas in winter/month, $40-60/mo. elect. in winter, $60-$90 elec. in summer. I am very tight w/my money and keep thermostat to 68 deg. in winter and 78 deg in summer. Wife hates it, but even 1-2 degrees makes a big difference in energy costs. I use programmable thermostats and in the day have the one upstairs at a diff. temp. because noone is up there during the day. Hope this helps.

DwArFlOrD

[sonnguyen]

Yes, your response was very helpful--thank you!

This is probably a dumb question, but when you say winter months, which ones were you talking about in particular?

We're still very concerned about the gas being consumed by our house. Your house is much bigger than ours (2400 sq ft, no basement but we have a crawl space). So far in November we've used 102 therms with the thermostat set on 68 during the day and 62 when we're away. This works out to an estimated $173+ by the next meter reading on 12/03/02 (I've been tracking things in a spreadsheet).

We don't smell any leaks.

The other day I turned off the furnaces in order to time the temperature drop. With the ceiling fan on, the temperature was the same both top and bottom floors. We dropped from 68F to 61F from 5:00p to 9:30p; it was about 38F outside. Question: does anyone know if this (7-degree F drop in 4.5 hours) is good or bad or normal?

I've been trying everything...the attic has the proper 10" of insulation...I've used a no-contact infrared thermometer around windows...I just installed wireless digital thermometers in the crawl space and outside and I'll put one in the attic next; I'm going to try to monitor stuff more closely.

I did notice that some of the insulation in the crawl space (a length of maybe 6 feet) had fallen out; this was something we noted at our pre-settlement walkthrough and all they did was attach it with duct tape. It's fallen out 3 more times already. But I don't think this would make a huge impact.

Another thing I noticed is that the crawl space is fairly warm (about 7 degrees F lower than the house interior). Is this normal? There is a furnace down there.

Anyway, right now the outside temp is about 37.8F and our heater keeps kicking on and off. We're burning about 7 therms a day now. I'm even more worried about what will happen when real winter kicks in.

Does anyone have any suggestions for us? Please let us concerned homeowners know. Thanks!