Condos, apartments, and utility bills

[Brighter Hell]

I've been looking to move lately and I've just started looking at apartments. Most rental properties have utilities included in the rent, but at one place I've looked at, they're extra. I've always had utilties included in the rent so I have no idea what to expect for bills. It's a brand new building, not even occupied yet. It's a two storey wood frame building, the apartment's about 600 square feet, one bedroom, open concept, and I live by myself. Each unit has a furnace and water heater and the heat is electric.

Those of you who pay utilities in newer buildings, any idea of what I can expect my bills to be if I go with this place? I'd imagine that it would be similar to most condos, and that a new building would be more efficient than older ones. Would a low rise wood frame building be as efficient as a concrete high rise? Any tips would be appreciated!

 

[building babel]

If the water heater is metered you can control your use of hot water and keep the cost down. If your "incoming" water supply is metered you can control your use of water and keep your water bill down. If you have your own furnace ( sounds a bit odd to me, given how small your unit is - are you sure? ) you can control the thermostat - turn the heat down when you're not at home for instance - and keep your heating cost down. Those are the kind of controls people who own their own house have, so I assume that your landlord has granted you similar controls since he/she isn't including these costs in your rent.

 

[afransen TO]

Electric heat tends to be quite inefficient and expense. Did you say you have an electric furnace?

Electricity for non-heating should be about $60 or less per month. You can probably figure out what phone, internet, etc. would be. I have no idea what water rates are in TO, so I can't help you there.

 

[Observer Walt]

I agree that it's a bit strange to have your own furnace for a place of this size. It would also be unusual if the furnace were electric. Almost any place being constructed now has gas heat, unless it's in a rural area with no gas service, in which case propane would be most likely. I would double-check that.

 

[The Burgher of TO]

That doesn't seem odd to me. I have my own furnace and my condo is under 500 sqft. It is a gas furnace tho. On smaller buildings like mine and the one BH is describing it is much more common to have individual furnaces in the units, since it wouldn't be economical to put in large scale HVAC units.

 

[afransen TO]

I'd say gas, if using gas heat, water heater and perhaps a gas drier, should be in the neighbourhood of $40 per month or less, with equal billing.

 

[tayser2]

shit that's cheap.

 

[afransen TO]

Heating is the big expense, and split over twelve months, it isn't so bad.

 

[Brighter Hell]

Each unit has its own furnace and water heater. I was told it's electric but I'll have to double check. If $100/month is what I can expect for gas and hydro that's not so bad. The cost of water is pretty low in comparison.

 

[afransen TO]

Take a couple months to get used to the bills. No point in budgeting so tight that you might run into trouble.