Washington Gas bill

We moved into two car garage townhome in southernwalk broadlands dec 2003. Just had a minor jolt when we saw the first months gas bill. it came upto 250 $ (minus the initiation fee of 45$) . We are just two of us and we also close vents in some corners and rooms that we don't use much and maintain the temp in our house close to 71F. Moved here from an apartment where all the utilities were paid. so was just wondering if you all could help me on the gas costs per month.

~ Soumya

 

we live in your neighborhood in a two car townhouse. our gas bill has been between $100 and $130 since we moved in (october 2003).

there is only two of us in our house. we keep our thermostat very low (68F) and close doors and vents in the rooms we do not use. i have also adjusted the dampers to control the flow of air to certain levels.

 

Was it End unit/ interior unit ? Ours is an end unit and we did get $160 consistantly since November and $100 sep/oct. Not sure this rise me the question of wall insulation is not proper. I have to hire an inspector to check it out else buy an infrared thermometer and see around exterior walls the temperature is consistant.

 

We have a single family (about 4800 sq. ft) and our last month's bill was $205. I keep it at 68deg. top and bottom units when we are at home and keep it at 64deg. top/bottom at night or during the day when we are not home. We use programmable thermostats. Also note that we only have 6" of insulation in about 1/3 of our attic (we cant seem to get davenport out here to add more insul.)
Your bill will go up exponentially with the temp you set it at, and I would recommend a programmable thermostat if you dont already have one.
Your bill seems high to me, of course some of our neighbors last year had $800+ bills when ours was in mid $300's, but they have it set high and run the fireplace a lot......

DwArFlOrD

 

We're in an interior 2 car townhouse in Southern Walk. Our thermostat is set at 73 w/the fan running all the time (as they suggest you do, motor is made to run all the time, not to shut on & off). Our bill has been $150-$200 the past 2 months. We have the temp high cause our upstairs bathroom is like an icecube.

 

VM has used cheap windows in the Southern Walk homes. I can feel a draft near every single window in our house. Thus, I expect our gas bill to always be high.

 

We are in an end unit 2 car TH in Southern Walk. Our bills so far this Winter range from $150 - $200. January bill was $199. That's not too surprising considering how cold it was last month. We keep the place at 69 while we are home and at 64 during the nights and during the days.

I'll second the programmable thermostat. It will save you money over time.

MD

 

I am now worrired ...we have half open dampers on both levels since we moved in and also do not operate the fireplace as much as we maintain the temperature at 72F. Do you think that a gas dryer will make a difference? I run the dryer thrice per week say about 2 hrs in total per week.

 

well I do maintain high temperatures as we have the bathroom in the extension so it feels very cold in the mornings.

 

We have a SF in Southern Walk (Birchwood model). Our gas bill for 12/8 - 1/7 was $220. I actually think this is quite reasonable, considering how much water we use (we have 2 kids who take baths every night and also like to play in the jazucci tub, we average one load of laundry each day, we run the dishwasher once a day, we have double shower heads and my wife frequently uses both of them). Additionally, we keep our upper and lower thermostats set at 68 degrees day and night.

I read the horror stories from last year of people with $500+ monthly gas bills, and was pretty worried when we moved in in November. I'm glad our bills have been a bit more reasonable.

That said, I am interested in replacing our thermostats with programmable ones. Is this something that I can do myself? I can't believe VM didn't provide programmable thermostats. We moved from a 12-year old townhouse in Alexandria, which had absolutely no upgrades, yet it still had a programmable thermostat. Unbelievable.

 

Engle didn't provide them either. It's easy to install maybe fifteen minutes for someone who is not comfortable with wiring. Buy a thermostat at HD or Costco sometimes has them for less. Unscrew the old one from the wall. There will probably be three or four wires depending on your heating unit. The instructions will tell you how to attach the new one. It's comparable to setting up speakers to a receiver.

One note to improve heating efficiency. I just installed storm doors and that helped alot in my heat loss.

 

For those who have been in the house for more than a year, contact Washington gas and get put on there payment plan. That has helped us a lot. We got hit with a $250 bill two years ago. We have an interior TH, but we used to use our fireplace a lot. Our basement is an icebox in the winter. We stopped using our fireplace, and started using an electric space heater when we are down there.

 

Thanks, Homer! I think I could handle that. I've learned a lot about wiring since I absentmindedly wired my TH's ground line to the "hot" screw of a replacement light switch. Can you say "pop"? My townhouse certainly could!

 

does your house have extensions? whats the approx. sq footage on your home
thanks

 

You don't even need to be in your house for a year - we moved into our house in November and signed up for the budget plan after our first bill. The budget "estimate" may be off a bit, but it sure beats those huge winter bills!

 

That's great. When we signed up, they told us you had to be in the house for a year.

 

You can also lock in the rate that you pay for gas w/washington gas competitors as well. This has saved us some money.
Also, if parts of your home are cold (bathroom above the garage....) use a space heater w/an outlet timer to turn heat on prior to using it. This is a good alternative to setting the thermostat to a higher temperature just to help heat a single room. We have an oil filled radiator in our baby's room (since we have the thermostat at 64 at night) set to 70 that stays on all night for her then we turn it off during the day. And then we have a timer outlet that turns on a ceramic heater in our bathroom about an hour before we get up to heat up the bathroom, makes it much more palatable when taking showers in the a.m.

DwArFlOrD

 

I'm not familiar with oil radiators. How do you ensure adequate ventilation for the room?

 

Our gas bill has come up to $150. We have programmable thermostat in the lower level and we set it at 70 for about 4 hours a day on weekdays in the evening and the rest of the time it is at 60. The upper level doesn't go beyond 67. We are just the two of us at home and we close most of the doors and vents.

 

Are you sure your dryer runs of Washington Gas. Your dryer should be Electric unless you requested for Gas Dryer hookup.

For 72F temperature thats should be the bill around (not sure howmany sq feet in total). I maintain 68F to 70F with no fireplace and I was getting $160. Ist worth to hire an inspector at 11th month inspection and double check and make sure home is insulated properly. I will be doing the same and I regret for not hiring one at the the time of pre drywall inspection/before closing.

Moved in Sep'2003
Oct $105
Nov $132
Dec $128
Jan $160