Today we got our first electric bill from MO. That was kinda weird. Here, with the solar panels and being here the entire month, our bill was $12. There, not being there one day of the month, our bill was right at $60. There’s an almost $12 per month customer charge . . just for the pleasure of being a customer of the electric company, and an almost $3.00 per month local municipal franchise fee so $15 right off the bat whether you use electricity or not! I’m anxious to see the water/sewer bill and gas bills.
I’m assuming water/sewer will be the minimum, which I think is about $40. Here, with the well, we aren’t paying anything until there’s a well repair bill. I’ve had one in close to 9 years and it was only a few hundred dollars so that definitely makes our water less than paying for municipal water.
The gas bill will be high. I left the thermostat on 60 to keep pipes from freezing (hopefully) and it’s been really cold there. I can’t complain about the gas bill (I hope) because we pay a lot for propane here. One refill usually lasts us through the entire winter but we’ve already had to get a refill this year.
In summary, here’s my bill for here. Nothing but the kWh charges. No added fees. No taxes.
Here’s my bill for MO. With everything added in, it comes to 14.7 cents/kwh.
The difference in kWh, even with the fees added is only about a penny more in MO but we’re paying more in Texas than we’ve ever paid per kWh. I’m sure all the fees here are still there but just added into the kWh price and not itemized like they are in MO. Probably if I were using more power and the customer service charge was spread out over more kWh, the cost might even be less in MO.
No matter, the price of getting to spend more time with Addie and having our own place there is worth it.
Nelle Coursey says
I would say that is a great trade out!!
Pamj says
Just a suggestion, we have a beach house down on the Texas Gulf Coast. Our electric bill was all over the place, I got tired of not being able to figure it out. Our youngest son installed a Nest and low and behold, the up & down and all over the place with the electric, resolved itself the first two months. Plus I called the electric company and they now send “use” reports once a week now. We started turning the water off to the house at the meter, when we are not down there too. Has made a gigantic difference and a savings of over $100.00 a month. Nest device cost $199.00. The first 2 months savings, paid for the Nest. The Nest is controlled on my IPhone with the Nest app.
Judy Laquidara says
I can get online and see how much we’re using at any time. I’m in a rental and the owner will not let me change the thermostat. I offered to pay his a/c guy to do it and keep the old thermostat and have it put back on when we leave but he’s still thinking about that. Vince will talk to him when we’re there next about that. I also can’t turn off the water because it’s a gas water heater and the owner doesn’t want me doing that. We do have the Carrier version of the electronic thermostat at our house and can control it from anywhere.
The problem is that in MO it gets way colder than it gets at the beach house in Texas so I’m going to have to keep the heat running to keep the pipes from freezing. They’ve had so much cold weather there this year. I won’t complain about $60 electric bills – ever and that was actually for a month and 7 days since it was my first reading.
The electric company will actually give us a Nest thermostat but then they can control it when there’s a spike on power, which isn’t going to bother me because I’m not there that much and doubt I would ever be there during a critical time – not when I have almost free electricity at home with the solar panels.
Elle says
Judy, our place in the mountains where the temp is often below 10 for weeks and below 0 quite often, does not get frozen pipes. We keep the baseboards at 50 when we’re away. I would think you could go down to 50 without issue.
Judy Laquidara says
This house is very, very old with little to no insulation. When I was there, I took cans out of the cabinet and they felt like they’d been in the freezer. I expected the contents to be frozen! Only the kitchen has plumbing on an outside wall but I definitely don’t want the pipes to break while I’m not there for months at a time.
The owner asked me to leave it at 60 so I will. Vince is going to talk to him about the Nest thermostat next time he goes with me.
Ethelann says
Part of the cost of the rental is the utilities which you allowed for. I agree with you and would not take a chance on frozen pipes. We had a programmable thermostat and it was such a nuisance in this older home we got rid of it. This house is like your apartment, no duct work for dual systems , 2 floors. I like setting it my self for the day. I think you are taking the actions needed to keep costs down. It still is nowhere near what you would pay to buy a house. ???????