Saturday, May 24, 2014

One year utility breakdown

It's been about a year and some change since I've moved in. So far, it's been great. The memories of all the stress and turmoil are fading away. My mortgage isn't, but at least the stream of expenses is predictable and manageable.

One thing I've been curious about is how much utilities will cost for the house. With 12 months of data and 3 people in the house, the average cost of utilities breaks down to this:

  • Gas (heating, hot water, and stove) - $78/month
  • Electricity (lights, computers, servers, etc) - $58/month
  • Water, Sewer, and Trash (Seattle public utilities clumps these together) - $95/month
I was expecting worse, so I'm okay with the cost. I think that with a solar system upgrade, I can knock down the cost of electricity. I'm also considering adding some sort of rain catchment for watering plants outside to keep the water bill lower.