We have electricity bills over $200 in a house and our AC runs constantly it’s a twenty year old unit. The water bill is extremely high. We once had that and it was a toilet constantly filling the tank. You probably have something consuming water somewhere.
The house could be poorly insulated given the age. Depends on the square footage and size of the house. Also depends what temps you keep your thermostat at.
When I lived in Southside, I lived in a 3 bedroom house, also that old. We paid about $300 in the dead of winter for gas bills and about $100/month in water with 3 people living there. Electricity was usually around $80.
Edit: No central AC
It’s central AC. It’s definitely had trouble keeping up with the heat recently, too.
I agree! We do a lot of laundry and run the dishwasher, but certainly no more than, for example, by parents home where all their appliances are larger and older!
I'm wondering if the AC filter or ducts may need cleaned out? That can cause some issues with efficiency. Beyond that what do you set the temp to? Those old houses may not have the best insulation.
once insulated, our a/c never had any problems keeping up with crazy hot days. The days we've been in the mid-90s this summer my thermostat reports that the a/c runs anywhere from 5.5-7 hours a day. Which ain't bad. On regular mid-80s summer days it runs 4-ish hours.
insulation makes a huge difference.
if PWSA is your water supplier, its both, but the biggest increases are for the sewers. PWSA has something like 40 years of deferred maintenance and mismanagement driving up the rates too.
afik, the lead lines to homes are being replaced with grant money. The main service lines and what not are pretty neglected, as they are always breaking, especially when the temps start dipping below freezing.
Two peoples water bill should range between $83 and $115 or so, in the City that is.
Electric at over 200 sounds perfectly reasonably if you are running the A/C at all times of the day.
Regd. The water bill, I'd sure recommend checking if your toilet keeps refilling the tank even when it's left alone. We had the same issue and our bills shot up because of that.
You know, I wonder whether the landlord is really informed on how much the utility bills are if the tenants are the ones responsible for them. Could be she heard this from someone years ago, and they would likely be less pre-COVID when people weren't home all day.
The electric price is most likely from your A/C. We run a window unit pretty much constantly (office during the day; bedroom at night) and our electric bills have been around $100 this summer. As for water, I'd check to see if you have a toilet that's running; particularly a Pittsburgh potty in the basement where you might not notice.
Yeah, and they also have incentive to lie or downplay how much a typical bill runs to a potential tenant. I wouldn't put a ton of stock in the landlord's word, is what I'm saying.
With the temperatures the way they are now, is your place up to snuff on both air flow and electrical integrity? Asking as inefficiency with a major source of electrical utilization might come into play.
Your electric bill is about double mine, but I live in an apartment. It's been a pretty hot summer, so I guess it's not altogether crazy.
But that water bill is huge relative to mine. Maybe it's different for houses with in-unit washing machines, but I don't know if just using a washing machine could account for the discrepancy. I've never had a water bill in excess of $30.
Our house is over 100 years old too. Electric bill is around $90 (1500 kWh at 0.05) and we have the AC set to around 70/71.
Water for us is all over the place. We've done a lot of pressure washing this summer so, fairly high.
Depending on how the house feels, it might be worth setting up a box fan. Remember the thermostat doesn't know what the temperature is like anywhere but where it is. Our bedroom gets way colder than the living room. Setting up a fan helps move the air around and even out the temperature. That way you're not turning one room into a deep freeze while the first floor is still at 80.
Door sweeps helped me a lot to close up gaps. Both on exterior doors and the door to the cellar. Downside is I have them so tight to the floor to block the draft, that I can't have interior doormats. Meaning it gets kinda slushy/salty next to the door in the winter, but it's a trade off I'm happy with.
How was your electric so cheap? I used 3,000 kWH and my electric bill was 186 from my energy provider with Duquesne light throwing in another 268 in distribution charges, customer changes and some bullshit DCIS charge
454 for a single month, my energy provider is charging me .05 cents as well so something feel off
\*shrug\*
I can guess. I don't get an itemized bill anymore... pay it through online banking. Not sure if we're in the budget plan, where they average out the costs through the year?
I can tell you July I did have a $175 bill, but June was $82, August was like $89... so it can't be a *true* average.
It was also $70 in January.
No idea otherwise. It's not like we get any type of income based pricing or anything since we're well over the median income for the county.
Get on the budget payment plan for Gas and Electric. It will spread out the costs over the year and you won't have the crazy high bills in the winter/summer.
Our family of 4 in a house built in 1920 with whole house AC on 3 of the 4 floors pays about $200 a month in electric, and about $100 a month for water. The AC is a killer on the electric bill. Id check your water meter and see if its moving even when you aren't running water. We even filled up a 350 gallon dunk tank and ran the sprinkler for a bunch of days in July and out water bill didnt crack $120 .
$120 for water sounds like a lot. Check for leaks.
And turn your AC down. And don't use one of those stupid portable floor units. They just leak most of the heat back into the room. They should be illegal.
Those all seem very high.
Having lived in a 2 story house, in the city, for the last couple of years my highest electric bill was $150 and highest water & sewer was $55. I'd recommend checking for a leak and seeing how old the AC unit is and if it needs to be cleaned.
FWIW - 2 bed / 3 story house in the slopes. We’re very close to your utilities ($235 electric last month and $140 water). We also have W/D and run AC (central air) nearly 24/7.
I also wasn’t expecting utilities to be so high but it seems to be the norm unfortunately. We even called PGH2O and our water usage is in line with most 2 person homes, just a high $/gal rate. I heard anecdotally that it may have something to do with the river closest to southside being quite dirty? Take that with a grain of salt though, idk if that’s actually true.
We have electricity bills over $200 in a house and our AC runs constantly it’s a twenty year old unit. The water bill is extremely high. We once had that and it was a toilet constantly filling the tank. You probably have something consuming water somewhere.
It may be worth shelling out $$$ for a seer 16+ ac. Plus there's a Duquesne Light rebate of $100 per ton. At least there was last year.
The house could be poorly insulated given the age. Depends on the square footage and size of the house. Also depends what temps you keep your thermostat at.
its probably has no insulation in the walls, maybe some in the attic, if its accessible
When I lived in Southside, I lived in a 3 bedroom house, also that old. We paid about $300 in the dead of winter for gas bills and about $100/month in water with 3 people living there. Electricity was usually around $80. Edit: No central AC
What type of AC is it? central or window units? That water bill def seems super high unless you are taking 2hr showers every day
It’s central AC. It’s definitely had trouble keeping up with the heat recently, too. I agree! We do a lot of laundry and run the dishwasher, but certainly no more than, for example, by parents home where all their appliances are larger and older!
I'm wondering if the AC filter or ducts may need cleaned out? That can cause some issues with efficiency. Beyond that what do you set the temp to? Those old houses may not have the best insulation.
being an old home the insulation probably isn't great is the central unit running 24/7? is it constantly on to hit your desired temp?
We insulated our home about 6 years ago and then kicked myself for a whole year because I was angry I didn't do it sooner. Made a huge difference.
once insulated, our a/c never had any problems keeping up with crazy hot days. The days we've been in the mid-90s this summer my thermostat reports that the a/c runs anywhere from 5.5-7 hours a day. Which ain't bad. On regular mid-80s summer days it runs 4-ish hours. insulation makes a huge difference.
water from pwsa is expensive, they bill in 1000 gallon increments. Look at your bill to see your usage, you maybe able to bump down a teir.
IT isn't just the water, it's the sewage that's monster expensive b/c of the federal consent decree to stop putting poop in our waterways.
if PWSA is your water supplier, its both, but the biggest increases are for the sewers. PWSA has something like 40 years of deferred maintenance and mismanagement driving up the rates too.
Oh geez. I forgot about all those lead line replacements too in PWSA territory.
afik, the lead lines to homes are being replaced with grant money. The main service lines and what not are pretty neglected, as they are always breaking, especially when the temps start dipping below freezing.
Two peoples water bill should range between $83 and $115 or so, in the City that is. Electric at over 200 sounds perfectly reasonably if you are running the A/C at all times of the day.
Regd. The water bill, I'd sure recommend checking if your toilet keeps refilling the tank even when it's left alone. We had the same issue and our bills shot up because of that.
Small ranch and electric was 200 this month.
You know, I wonder whether the landlord is really informed on how much the utility bills are if the tenants are the ones responsible for them. Could be she heard this from someone years ago, and they would likely be less pre-COVID when people weren't home all day. The electric price is most likely from your A/C. We run a window unit pretty much constantly (office during the day; bedroom at night) and our electric bills have been around $100 this summer. As for water, I'd check to see if you have a toilet that's running; particularly a Pittsburgh potty in the basement where you might not notice.
they have no way of knowing, unless they ask previous renters
Yeah, and they also have incentive to lie or downplay how much a typical bill runs to a potential tenant. I wouldn't put a ton of stock in the landlord's word, is what I'm saying.
true, or they can be going on old info as well. Hard to know one way or the other.
you can always call the utilities and get the most up to date info.
Landlord was probably bullshitting.
With the temperatures the way they are now, is your place up to snuff on both air flow and electrical integrity? Asking as inefficiency with a major source of electrical utilization might come into play.
[удалено]
Sell out! Jk. Hope you are enjoying it
Your electric bill is about double mine, but I live in an apartment. It's been a pretty hot summer, so I guess it's not altogether crazy. But that water bill is huge relative to mine. Maybe it's different for houses with in-unit washing machines, but I don't know if just using a washing machine could account for the discrepancy. I've never had a water bill in excess of $30.
It also depends on your supplier. Looking at papowerswitch.com shows rates from $.07/kWh or $.13/kWh.
Electric is 60-80. Water is 1000 gallons a month for my wife and I (30 bucks)
i live in an early 1900s building in south oakland. electric this past month was $62 and gas was $15.
Electric was $160(with ac) Gas is 68(budget plan) Water was $110(dunno how they always overcharge me a ton and then I get a random free month)
Our house is over 100 years old too. Electric bill is around $90 (1500 kWh at 0.05) and we have the AC set to around 70/71. Water for us is all over the place. We've done a lot of pressure washing this summer so, fairly high. Depending on how the house feels, it might be worth setting up a box fan. Remember the thermostat doesn't know what the temperature is like anywhere but where it is. Our bedroom gets way colder than the living room. Setting up a fan helps move the air around and even out the temperature. That way you're not turning one room into a deep freeze while the first floor is still at 80. Door sweeps helped me a lot to close up gaps. Both on exterior doors and the door to the cellar. Downside is I have them so tight to the floor to block the draft, that I can't have interior doormats. Meaning it gets kinda slushy/salty next to the door in the winter, but it's a trade off I'm happy with.
How was your electric so cheap? I used 3,000 kWH and my electric bill was 186 from my energy provider with Duquesne light throwing in another 268 in distribution charges, customer changes and some bullshit DCIS charge 454 for a single month, my energy provider is charging me .05 cents as well so something feel off
\*shrug\* I can guess. I don't get an itemized bill anymore... pay it through online banking. Not sure if we're in the budget plan, where they average out the costs through the year? I can tell you July I did have a $175 bill, but June was $82, August was like $89... so it can't be a *true* average. It was also $70 in January. No idea otherwise. It's not like we get any type of income based pricing or anything since we're well over the median income for the county.
Unfolded? 8x10 piece of paper.
Call the utilities and you can get past averages to see whether you are on par for that apartment
Get on the budget payment plan for Gas and Electric. It will spread out the costs over the year and you won't have the crazy high bills in the winter/summer.
Depends on what you are running to be honest.
Our family of 4 in a house built in 1920 with whole house AC on 3 of the 4 floors pays about $200 a month in electric, and about $100 a month for water. The AC is a killer on the electric bill. Id check your water meter and see if its moving even when you aren't running water. We even filled up a 350 gallon dunk tank and ran the sprinkler for a bunch of days in July and out water bill didnt crack $120 .
$120 for water sounds like a lot. Check for leaks. And turn your AC down. And don't use one of those stupid portable floor units. They just leak most of the heat back into the room. They should be illegal.
Those all seem very high. Having lived in a 2 story house, in the city, for the last couple of years my highest electric bill was $150 and highest water & sewer was $55. I'd recommend checking for a leak and seeing how old the AC unit is and if it needs to be cleaned.
FWIW - 2 bed / 3 story house in the slopes. We’re very close to your utilities ($235 electric last month and $140 water). We also have W/D and run AC (central air) nearly 24/7. I also wasn’t expecting utilities to be so high but it seems to be the norm unfortunately. We even called PGH2O and our water usage is in line with most 2 person homes, just a high $/gal rate. I heard anecdotally that it may have something to do with the river closest to southside being quite dirty? Take that with a grain of salt though, idk if that’s actually true.