Second Month of Utility Bills at Our New House

The September utility bills at our new house were rather discouraging.   It is a bit difficult to compare usage between the two houses as the billing periods are quite different.  They were usually 30 day bills at the old house for natural gas and hydro but quarterly for water.  The hydro and water are combined on one bill at the new house and natural gas remains the same.  Here's the breakdown for October's utility bills:

• hydro - The cost per kWh for both houses is the same and both houses are on TOU pricing (10.7¢ per kWh on peak, 8.9¢ per kWh mid peak, 5.9¢ per kWh off peak).  The usage pattern remains fairly consistent with the highest usage during off peak hours (8 PM to 8 AM and weekends). We used 430 kWh total at a cost of $66.65.  We averaged $120 per month for hydro at our old house so we are definitely using less hydro which is to be expected given we are no longer cooking with hydro and we are using less lighting.  In a comparison of homes in our new neighbourhood, 33.72% of our neighbours used less hydro than us and 66.28% used more hydro than us.  We are back into the lower end of hydro usage.  $53.35 savings
• water/sewage - Our water/sewage averaged $35 per month at the old house.  The water/sewage portion of October's bill was $42.92.  The water rates are higher at our new house (88¢ per cubic meter vs 76¢ per cubic meter) and the sewage rates are lower (75¢ per cubic meter vs $1.25 per cubic meter.  The basic water service charge was $19.50 at the old house and $15.40 at the new house however there is a sewage service charge of $18.70 where there was no sewage service charge at the old house.  $7.92 expense
• natural gas - We used 1.83 cubic meters of natural gas for a total cost of $35.54 from September 29 to October 27 at our new house.  At the old house from September 24 to October 27, 2010 we used 1.665 cubic meters for a total cost of $31.85.  Two weeks during both billing periods were spent at our vacation home and the furnace was on during the last week to ten days.  The natural gas usage will increase with cooking but decrease because the outdoor grill is no longer natural gas, we no longer have a gas fireplace and the furnace is newer than our old one.  The furnace also has a heat recovery ventilation unit so we expect heating costs to be a bit lower even though the new house is larger.   $3.69 expense

During the month of October, we paid a bit more for water/sewage and natural gas but less on hydro for a net utility savings of $41.74!  Over a year that works out to a savings of $500.88.  We know that the AC will be on more at our new house and we will use more water and hydro when the pool is open but if we continue with good energy conservation methods we should still realize a reduction in utility costs by moving to our new house.

Garden Gnome
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