If you're renting an apartment and thinking about buying your first home the cost of utilities can be a scary unknown! If some or all of your utilities are included in your rent that makes it difficult to accurately budget for your increased costs. Utility costs are also rising across the board so itโs important to have some wiggle room in your budget. I broke down how much we spent on utilities in 2022 and included our totals from 2020 and 2021.
When you own a home in Massachusetts you are responsible for paying electric, heat (usually gas, oil, electric, or propane), and water and sewer if you are connected to town service.
๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐:
We have a 3 bed 1 bath 1,000 sq ft ranch with a partially finished unheated basement. It's just myself, my husband, and our cats.
We have oil heat which is more expensive than gas. We do have gas on the street and it's in our plans to convert in the future. One thing to note with oil heat is that you have to find an oil company to fill it up periodically. Our company is COAN and they offer automatic fill ups.
We keep our thermostat between 62-64.
We have city water and sewer and we get billed quarterly. We didn't water our lawn last year. We do have a dishwasher.
2022 Breakdown
Electric: $2,432 yearly. Average $202 monthly.
Water/Sewer: $2,017 yearly. Average $168 monthly.
Jan - $551
April - $410
July - $466
Oct - $590
Oil: $3,145 yearly - Average $262 monthly - 680 gallons total
Jan - $396 for 108 gallons at $3.669/gallon
March - $701 for 168 gallons at $4.169/gallon
August - $1,029 for 198 gallons at $5.169/gallon
Dec - $1,031 for 206 gallons at $4.969/gallon
Utility Total 2022: $7,594. Monthly Average: $632
2021 Breakdown
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ = $๐,๐๐๐ Average $132 monthly
๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ/๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ซ = $๐,๐๐๐ Average $163 monthly
๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ญ๐จ๐ญ๐๐ฅ = $๐,๐๐๐ Average $184 monthly We used 722 gallons in 2021
Jan: $324
Feb: $308
April: $484
Sept: $647
Dec: $440
Our yearly utility totals for 2021 were $5,754 which breaks down to $480 a month.
2020 Breakdown
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐: $๐,๐๐๐ Average $174 monthly
๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ/๐ฌ๐๐ฐ๐๐ซ: $๐,๐๐๐ Average $143 monthly
๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ญ๐จ๐ญ๐๐ฅ = $๐,๐๐๐ Average $119 monthly Our fill up amounts: (oil prices ranged from $2.2-$2.5/gallon)
Jan - $346
March $310
July - $405
November - $367
Our yearly total for utilities was $5,237 which breaks down to $436 a month.
