What was everyone's bill this past month? Mine have been outrageous lately and I'm wondering if it's just the price increases or if I have a leak somewhere. Last months bill was $507 for 2500sqft, a/c set at 76* and lawn gets watered twice a week. A few years ago my bill never went over $350 in the summer.

I feel your heat, I mean pain...

I live in a one bedroom apartment, about 750 sq. ft. and my bill last month was $200. Thermostat is on 74-78 during the day, and won't get any cooler than 80 until after dark. Usually about 9:30-10. At night(10-11) I turn it down to 70, and it gets there, just takes fooooooooorrrreeeeevvvvveeeerrrrr.

Ours was $503...ouch. (2300 sqft, temp set to 76, watering every 3 days at 4 am, etc.)



[This message has been edited by msaggie98 (edited 9/1/2010 6:16p).]

Glad to know it's not just me, but we were watering our lawn A LOT to save it (it died last year.) 2126 sq ft house, temp set at 73 (all the time-with fans running. We have high ceilings.) We watered almost everyday for about 10 days straight and nearly flooded out neighbor out in the process due to drainage into her yard. The bill was $487.

I forgot to mention that $200/ month doesn't include water...

Total Utility bills for 2 hottest months of the year:

July 2010 - $351
August 2010 - $360

July 2009 - $350
August 2009 - $296

July 2008 - $290
August 2008 - $262

July 2007 - $230
August 2007 - $239

July 2006 - $198
August 2006 - $238

July 2005 - $211
August 2005 - $210


Hmmm... I know some summers are hotter than others, but this is ridiculous...

[This message has been edited by MisterShipWreck (edited 9/1/2010 7:17p).]

$350 ..

CS Utilities ... thermo at 79 and I let it rise to 85 during the day.

Water 2 times per week.

Big jump from the July bill. The odd thing, my gas bill went up by a decent percentage. Not sure why on that one.

Like I said on the other post-

~1000 sq. ft
- A/C set on 78
- I use surge protectors on all electronics.
- I have switched out almost all of our bulbs.
- Energy saving appliances.

My bill- $372

The TX second mortgage

Most of you high dollar bills is because you set your temp at 76....try 78....

Most of you high dollar bills is because you set your temp at 76....try 78....

22% of your utility bill has nothing to do with providing you with utility services. It's a direct (non-deductible) transfer tax to the City Gen Rev fund.

Take those bills you are considering, and figure out 22% of the bill. In addition to property taxes, sales taxes, fees, etc, THIS is how much direct tax you paid to the CoCS to promote its 'Progressive Comprehensive Plan'.

If the Citizens of CS wanted a tax revolt. . . IF we wanted a referendum on the Comprehensive Plan - THIS would be the place to start.

76* is as warm as we can stand. Every time I turn it to even 77*, within an hour I'm turning it back down.

Yup. Bryan has higher property taxes, but much lower utility bills. CS has lower property taxes, but much higher utility bills. Pick your poison.

at least with the higher property taxes you can deduct it from your federal income tax

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at least with the higher property taxes you can deduct it from your federal income tax

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Yup. Another plus in Bryan's favor. I think someone with money looking to move here would have to seriously consider the high end Bryan developments such as Miramont and Traditions, and factor in tax reductions as well as lower utility bills. It falls in Bryan's favor, most definitely. These parts of Bryan are so close to CS, and the fact that it's only an invisible line separating the cities ... it's all one community really. The question is, where is it most cost effective to live? More and more it's looking like Bryan.

Developments south of College Station, Nantucket, dove crossing, Sendera, Saddle Creek, and places like that. What utility provider do they have?

B - those are all BTU I believe - CSU is 'landlocked' and does not provide power to the surrounding area.

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Developments south of College Station, Nantucket, dove crossing, Sendera, Saddle Creek, and places like that. What utility provider do they have?

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This is a good point. If you can live outside the cities but use BTU, you are in the best of both worlds. Lower property taxes, not being in the city, and low utility rates ... priceless.

Ah, country life!

TimothyD,

If only there was a candidate for council out there that could bring these ideas to the table...

1800 sq ft
80 during the day
78 when we are home and ceiling fans on
window unit a/c in the garage for dogs during the day at 78

$166 for electricity only.

BTU FTW!!!

Dove Crossing has to be College Station Utilities. I'm in Westfield Village which is "further out" than Dove Crossing and I'm on College Station Utilities. Unless you meant some other neighborhood.

1300sf
Total utilities ~$225 this past month and ~$190 the month before.
Program set to 82 during the day, 78 after work, and 76 from 11:00pm to 6am.

I'm sorry, I meant Duck Haven... not Dove Crossing...

1700 SF Stylecraft home

76 day and night

Past bill was around $350

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If only there was a candidate for council out there that could bring these ideas to the table...

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Actually, you wouldn't need a council member for that. College Station has initiative and referendum.

A petition to say, add a city ordinance that "any utility rate increase above the actual cost of providing city utilities would require a majority vote of the people" would do several things:

1. It would end the 22% transfer tax via inflation over a period of several years. The City could keep the current tax rate as it ends the transfer tax by attrition.

This would allow the City to adapt to new budget realities. In other words, it would be a referendum on the progressive comprehensive plan. It would force the Council to adopt fiscal discipline going forward.

2. The City could not offset the decrease in 'utility transfer tax' by property tax increases fast enough because they have a limited window to increase property taxes or those increases are subject to a 'rollback petition'.

3. It would save CS taxpayers money. Real money. For an Average 300/month bill, the savings would be that would be an approx 60/month savings, or $720/year.

4. It would allow us to address our concerns about the direction of the Council directly. . .

I think what we need - in addition to conservatives on the Council - is a community activist with a petition drive. I know, that doesn't happen in CS very often; the Council is much more responsive to the needs of our Citizens than that. . .

I'm not suggesting that any such thing happen. Yet. It's just an idea batting around my head.

~2500 sg ft
69-71 at all times
$529 this month

A petition would also have to clarify that the City can't transfer funds from utilities at the back end, the way it currently does with also transferring the Utilities Capital Improvement Program funding to fund non-utility projects.

Even though I am not a current property owner in CS, but I know that I will be in a few years. This just seems outrageous. I don't understand all the legal jargon you just mentioned, but I am always up for some fair representation of the citizens. What about some type of website to start things off where people can post their utilities bill's histories with an explanation of the break down?

I'm just putting a ball to your bat Tim...

Money put back in the consumers pockets on utilities... $720 a year x say just 25,000 households ( Census 2000, but we know there are way more) is 18 million dollars people can use in the local economy...

Am I right, or just spinning my wheels?

[This message has been edited by BRIANVD04 (edited 9/1/2010 10:22p).]

Built a new home that was finished beginning of July and first full month utlitiy bill was $623. $623, ARE YOU KLIDDING ME?!?!? A/C never under 76 and aside from watering the new sod in the beginning was on a normal watering schedule????

Over $300 just for the electric and $260 for the water? Anyone have any idea what to do? We were paying at highest in Bryan $375 in the Summer. And please don't give me any we use BTU and the markup or any small differences. That is ridicuoous and need to figure it out.

None of these sound right to me. I have a 2200 sq ft house in CS. We leave the AC on 80 while we're at work and turn it down to 76 at night. We have BTU and our most recent utility bill was $118.83. Of course water is seperate as we have Wellborn water ($42.89). Still we have never even got close to $300 in the 2 summers we've been here and our house is far from warm inside. Of course the house is only 2 years old so that may have something to do with it.

Ok...there has got to be something going on. I received my highest bill ever, $408, and I attributed it to a higher amount of water usage shown. We did have something wrong with our sprinkler system but it still seemed just plain wacky for how high it was. We kept the temp on at 76 and watered 3x a week in the a.m. Not a lot changed from the previous month when the bill was $324, which was the highest to date at that time.

Everyone who had a higher-than-usual bill: did it seem to come from your water? And was the amount of units of water quite a bit higher than previous months?

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A petition to say, add a city ordinance that "any utility rate increase above the actual cost of providing city utilities would require a majority vote of the people"

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This, sir, is a most excellent idea. We need to start a MyBCS grass roots effort toward effecting this change.

Wow.

All I got: Wow.

For 06/22 to 07/22:
Res Elec 86.56
Res Water 12.45
Res WW 11.91

That's in a 1400sf 1951-built house. With a very warm programmable stat setting, in the 80's. Given how under-air tight my house is, and with an uninsulated attic, any lower on the temperature is a waste. At least to me. The people who lived in the house before me were paying $2-300 a month in '98, per the records BTU sent me.

Ok, my hot water is from gas, not electric. And my kitchen is all gas, too--the gas runs about $14-16 before taxes and fees.

________________________________________________________
Standing guard, even sitting behind a desk

Occupational hazard of my occupation just not being around

[This message has been edited by capn-mac (edited 9/1/2010 11:13p).]

I'm on MidSouth Synergy, but I have a 1350sf manufactured home and my bill was only $160 (thermostat set at 77 all the time).

1900 sf and $408.00 last month. $80 in water.