Could someone please provide me with a rough estimate of what a monthly water/gas/electric/etc. bill would be for around here in something approximately the size of a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom residence? I'm planning on moving off campus with a few other people next semester and I've never had to pay these costs before, so I'm not familiar with how much they'd run. Just a ballpark figure will do.

Our 2 bedroom, 2 bath, kitchen/living room apartment utilities run between $175 if we skimp on a lot of the electric, and as much as $250 in the winter. Our computers add to the bill, and we run at least 4 constantly. Hope that helps somewhat.

Edit: You may also wanna figure in trash (we don't) and internet/tv/phone. The basic plan (1.5mbps/basic 60ish channels/local calling) runs almost $100. For 3 of us who don't need to download vast quantities of pr0n, the connection is OK (Fidelity....). I've reached 350kbps down, but that's only when trying to download the Knoppix DVD iso torrent a while back.

It all depends on the month, also everything will be in one bill if RMU is your utility co. ( includes garbage, sewer, electricity, water unless you have gas stuff too). Our highest month for what you described: $350, lowest: $150. Don't forget the deposit, which recently went up.

The Deposit is $300 which is refunded after 2 years or whenever you turn off utilities i think i saw something about they pay interest on it? Not sure about that though... Our lowest bill (and only) was $24.45 but then again...we're not living in the house yet, just moving stuff in

Here's RMU's Website, they have all their rates posted (which effective May 1 are decreased)

http://www.rollamunicipalutilities.org/Home.aspx

My low has been around 130 dollars, and 250 on the high end. The high cost was due to the fact that my apartment is heated with a propane furnace, and we had it running constantly that month. The average cost is around 160-170 dollars.

As long as you have a roommate or two, it's really not that bad at all.

Now, my place is only 2 bed, 1 bath, so your bills will probably be a little higher, but probably not by much.

My wife and I have a 2 bed 1.5 bath (one bedroom is an office) and we DON'T leave computers on all day. We keep the house at 64 degrees in the winter, and 78 in the summer. Our electric has been as high as $350 this winter, and as low as $100 in the spring when we can use the windows.

I think this apartment has really crappy insulation though, and I know there's none on the floor (cause I've been in the crawlspace).

Your best bet is to ask the people who live there right now what their average monthly utility bill is. If you can't get a hold of them, ask your land lord. They should be able to get the information for you.

They're rare, but if you can find a place where utils are included, consider taking it. Our rent is a flat rate each month, utilities and cable/internet included, so no surprise charges for us if RMU jacks up the rates for a month for some reason.

For The B Barn our highest has been 400 for the RMU bill (electric, sewer, water, etc.) with 40 in that month for gas. This was a winter month and we were using electric baseboard heat. The next month our electric went down to 225 or so with gas up to 100. This was because we found a gas furnace in our basement (if you've seen our basement you'd know why). I think March our RMU was down to 140 and gas still lingering around 80ish.

This is 4 bed/2bath/1bathroom sink (basement) with little to no isulation. So it will really depend on the age and quality of the house.

Thanks for the help guys. The only place we've looked at so far struck us as a favorable deal (not saying we won't see some alternatives, but yeah...). It was a 3-bed, 2-bath duplex with a small kitchen and some living space (bonus points for not being owned by investment realty). It's currently in the last stages of being built and is expected to be done this summer, so I'm hoping with it being brand new, it would be pretty energy efficient. By the same token though, I can't really ask a previous resident how much something like this costs (it also seems to be the only model of its type we saw in the immediate neighborhood). I'll still probably see what the realtor estimates if we decide to go with this one.

Thanks again

It depends on a lot of other stuff too. We rented a 2-bed 1-bath, small apt. that is terribly insulated. The windows were old, you could stand inside next to them and see your hair move in the wind. Everything in our apartment was electric and our bill for winter averaged $250-300 most months (keeping it @ 70 degrees). And that is only electric and $10 for trash, no sewer/water. So, kept that kind of stuff in mind too, it really affects your bill.

do you have a well or something to that effect?

Apartments generally have water and sewer included in the cost of rent. It's cheaper to do that then to have everybody on a separate meter. Plus it's not really necessary anyway. Around here, water's probably among your cheapest utility costs.

Ditto. A lot of them come with trash included as well.

I live in international village (the a-frames), and utilities are about $50 a month for electric in cold months and $70-80 a month for warm ones, and gas runs from $15 a month in warm months to a whopping $150-$200 in the cold ones. That's one reason why we're moving to Oak Ridge.

This link might be pertinent to the discussion:

http://www.energyright.com/cgi-bin/dtc?tvaparms

-jsn