Cost of utilities & related discussion (power/water/gas/strata/council)

Thought I'd start a thread where we can share info and bitch about the cost of utilities these days.

I just got my power bill for the first quarter (84 days) of this year and it's $609.29 

The cost of power itself has gone up by at least 20% 

I am in a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 people. My bill seems huge for.

How much are other people here paying for power and what kind of place do you live in?

Any other horrible stories to tell about utilities (aside from the fact that we all have to pay them)?

Don't you have a couple of servers running 24/7 ?

Mine is around the $350 mark every quarter, sometimes slightly higher depending on the weather and I pay extra to be on a Green plan. Gonna fuck that off when I move!

I always leave shit on when I go out and never turn things off at the power point. I'm essentially destroying the planet and paying for it.

Well I think mine went up because I had air-con running a lot over summer, but the consumption is still higher than the same quarter last year.

Don't you have a couple of servers running 24/7 ?

Just one.

Mine is around the $350 mark every quarter, sometimes slightly higher depending on the weather and I pay extra to be on a Green plan. Gonna fuck that off when I move!

How big's your place? I still got billed $11 or something for this green crap as well even though I'm pretty sure I told them I don't care about the planet and am not a hippy so take me off it. Will have to call them again. That's 4 FUICs!

I always leave shit on when I go out and never turn things off at the power point. I'm essentially destroying the planet and paying for it.

Same but now I am in the habit of making sure my 30" LCD (computer monitor, not TV) is off/on standby and I am turning off my amp when I'm sleeping or out as well because apparently that will use a bit of power if it's left on all the time.

That's 4 FUICs!

4 FUICs sake!!

4 FUICs sake!!

 

Over $7 a day.

Damn it is even more expensive when I look at it like that.

Did they read the meter or was it an estimated account?

Read meter. It's an apartment complex so they can do so easily.

Did they read the meter or was it an estimated account?

WTF is going on in your avatar man?

Two bedroom apartment, two people living there in one room.

Over 850 every 3 months

I have to pay a little bit each week to try to prepay it a little its so fukn expensive.

What's that? $850 for all utilities all up?

Wow. Just wow.

How?

now

brown

cow.

Gas is going to probably go up in a few years when the domestic price approaches international (30-40% increase I think) due to an increase in LNG exporting.  That will push electricity up too.  Complain all you want but its probably going to get worse, well at least in SA/eastern states. 

What's that? $850 for all utilities all up?

Just for power.

Darwin has only one power company thats how. Plus we are thousands of kms away from the rest of the cities in Australia.

Plus we use air con more than the rest. However we dont use heating and try to avoid air con as much as possible

For some reason our water rates are fukn expensive too however there is so much rain/water here its ridiculous so dont know how it could be so dear. I can understand Alice being expensive but not Darwin as we have monsoons

Yeah fair enough.

Put solar panels up... I am in the process of writing a proposal to strata manager to get panels up on my garage roof. It might be worth it if the strata is cool with it...

Yeah I think solar panels pay off up here more than anywhere else, but we only rent up here and still have own our place in Adelaide. Not sure how the cost of solar panels weighs up against the cost of electricity for Adelaide however.

I would like to buy up here but just dont think I can do it with all of our bills. Im paying Darwins cost of living, rent at $520 a week and then my fricken mortgage and council rates and water down south! $$$$$!!! A crap besa-block public trustee house here is around $500k. A 2 bedroom crusty unit 400k

So no complaining AMers. Adelaide's cost of living is very liveable. I dont know how people do it in NYC!

Darwin's lifestyle is great though and the salarys are much better than SA Far better employment opportunities too

In NZ I turn my oven, my PC, and my modem off at the wall every day - and I still pay $120 a month for electricity. That's $480 a quarter for a studio apartment with just me. No heating, either.
(I am, however, using a dishwasher about twice a week, and washing machine once a week).

And I pay $145 a month for home phone and 40 gig/month internet.

I still pay $120 a month for electricity. That's $480 a quarter

120 x 3 is 360 champ

The NZ dollar is crap though J 

120 x 3 is 360 champ

Oops... This is what happens when you work making fucking educational titles for 5 year olds all fucking day.

Oops... This is what happens when you work making fucking educational titles for 5 year olds all fucking day.

Poor kids.

I only pay about $190 a quarter for Electricity and around $85.00 for gas

Hot water is gas, stove and oven are electric.

Water we pay around $200 per quarter.

Council rates are around $320 per quarter.

2 Bedroom cottage 2 adults

Comfortable with what I pay compared to some.

cow.

ban, triple post

600 power/quarter
200 gas/quarter
340 strata/quarter (includes water)

Can't remember council fees. It's a fair bit in CBD though.

600 power/quarter
200 gas/quarter
340 strata/quarter (includes water)

Can't remember council fees. It's a fair bit in CBD though.

Im in Mile End

Power seems expensive but having the server would be adding to that I assume? I have always thought my bills were quite reasonable compared to what i have paid in the past ? I will not be bringing this up with any of my service providers though!

Im in Mile End

Power seems expensive but having the server would be adding to that I assume? I have always thought my bills were quite reasonable compared to what i have paid in the past ? I will not be bringing this up with any of my service providers though!

Are the power bill reads estimates, or actual reads. If estated be careful cos when they do an actual, the catch up can be huge

caught the gas guy jumping my fence when i was home the other week... electrical is out front, water is shared so its done at a flat rate each quarter...

A friends power bill jumped by 550 bucks last quarter. He complained and they assessed his meter as overclocking by1%, so they took of $9 and hit him up for the rest.

Ours is 300 a quarter gas and power combined. they vary depending on the time of year but usually add up to around 300

Ours is 300 a quarter gas and power combined. they vary depending on the time of year but usually add up to around 300

You live in a tent or something? Bloody hell. My total for gas and power is $800!

three bedroom house only myself and partner live here though (rented)
instant gas hot water
gas stove and oven
ducted aircon
gas heater but open fire and a back yard full of trees
No plasma screen (infact my tv is like ten years old so it prob uses heaps of juice but its only on for a few hours a day and I kill the main power when its not on, Same for the stezza)
No 30" monitor on my laptop
dishwasher

*just checked and we're up to average of 400 a quarter now (shows how long since ive paid the bills)

Do you wash your clothing?

Yes Dryers use loads of power. Not to mention Plasmas

I have a dryer but I think it gets used for about 15 minutes every 3 months when something urgently needs to be dried. Otherwise it's left unplugged...

Plasmas and LCD's use a ton. And are technically still using juice while off

turn em off at the wall if you can

Do you wash your clothing?

yolp, wash then hang out to dry. but with only two us thats only like one or two loads of washing a week.

Plasmas and LCD's use a ton. And are technically still using juice while off

the new ones are meant to be pretty good on the juice

My Dell 30" LCD can't be too good. It's basically on for 14 hours a day every day so I bet that contributes a lot.

what kinda $$ difference does it make to turn everything off at the switch?

i nearly cry when i need to stretch for a remote, so turning the tv off/on at the wall would give me nightmares

I flick off aa power board when I go to bed, I turn it on when I watch tv next(either when I get up and watch cartoons or when I get home and watch cartoons)

what kinda $$ difference does it make to turn everything off at the switch?

i nearly cry when i need to stretch for a remote, so turning the tv off/on at the wall would give me nightmares

I'm pretty sure multiple appliances on standby mode adds up to a paltry few dollars over a year if that.

Of course environment-wise, over billions of people it adds up, but as an individual it's not worth bothering about in terms of cost saving unless your into the "every little bit helps the planet" thing.

I read somewhere a watched tv uses 14 somethings and a tv in standby uses 11 of those same somethings

I read somewhere a watched tv uses 14 somethings and a tv in standby uses 11 of those same somethings

Watts?


Edit: Actually I just found an interesting read on this standby business, take a look: http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2006/10/standby.ars

Those of you who rent: is there an approximate % on top of your rent you generally pay for utilities? What do renters generally think of the idea of paying a flat fee which includes utilities and internet access?

we did that in london, but never had that option when renting in australia.

it was pretty good cos we could use as much water as we needed, leave the heater on all the time in winter, download non stop, etc...

Well that's fine in the UK where they have plenty of water, you'd want to leave the heater on in winter anyway, and where data limits like ours basically don't exist.

I wonder if it exists here. I am interested in offering it as a landlord simply to make life easier...

the kids'll love it

Some figures for thought...

A 60W lightbulb for an hour uses, surprise surprise 0.060kWh.  At a residential average 20c/kWh this equates to 1.2c per hour - ie sweet fuck all.  Oli, your screen at (assumed) 240W equates to about 5c per hour or 70c for a 14 hr day, fairly well fuck all too, but kind of significant per quarter.  

Induction motors (eg fridge), ac & heating are a couple of things that chew up the most.  14W for a TV is ludicrously low btw, check the nameplate on the back.

Thanks roost.

My monitor uses approximately 147W apparently.

I don't have any heaters in use at all. It'll be interesting to see my next bill because it'll be for a quarter where no airconditioners have been used at all and because I have a new fridge and washing machine. I also got a different server here so I'll just be turning on my bigger older one when required.

Those of you who rent: is there an approximate % on top of your rent you generally pay for utilities? What do renters generally think of the idea of paying a flat fee which includes utilities and internet access?

Why do that though Oli... as a landlord its not worth being responsible for more than necessary as it just ends up being a head fuck.

General rule of thumb in leasing: as a landlord if you can put any responsibility back onto the tenant, then do it. Saves you time, money and the pain of having to organise shit when it goes wrong (general upkeep and maintenance). Do you really want those phone calls in the middle of the night where your tenants are complaining about their interweb connections dropping out? Plumbing and property repairs/maintenance are enough IMO. Nightmare for your property managers.

In commercial tenancies, internet is generally the responsibility of the tenant... whereas electricity can be a part of the outgoings. Head fuck working out portions of power usage between tenants each month and who pays what. I rather it when the tenant just pays the lot and they are responsible for connections etc.

Ez, good points. I should have phrased it differently. I meant when renting out a room, not an entire place.

I did end up renting out a spare bedroom in my flat to a student for 6 months then some backpackers for another month. It's empty now while I do some renovations/changes around the place but I'll be looking to rent my whole apartment out pretty soon. I am going to get an agent to look after it though. Save me the trouble!

Yeh, a single room would be easy - as you are there 24/7 to attend to any issues.

However covering costs & responsibilities for a whole property would be annoying if you arent on site often. As a landlord you have to rely on the third party middle man; the property manager to fix all of the issues.  And when there are tiny issues cropping up all of the time, it gets annoying dealing with extra matters besides maintenance and repairs. Better off just leaving the tenant to organise all of the connections for the whole premises.

Yep makes sense.

Cheers.

Why pay for advice when its right here on AM
 
P.s I think that Timmy dude is a Residential Property Manager, you could go through him. He is on AM I think too. Otherwise Elders are pretty good when it comes to residential and they dont rip you off percentage wise each month.

Why pay for advice when its right here on AM
 
P.s I think that Timmy dude is a Residential Property Manager, you could go through him. He is on AM I think too. Otherwise Elders are pretty good when it comes to residential and they dont rip you off percentage wise each month.

Tim lasted about 2 weeks in that job I think.

I've had an appraisal from Phillis and they handle a lot in this part of the city. They know this specific apartment complex well and have sold a number of them (including mine to me a few years ago). I'll probably go with them...

Tim lasted about 2 weeks in that job I think.

Seriously?

lol

Residential property sucks. Fuk looking after peoples houses. Nightmare having to do inspections.

lasted 2 months, being out on the road doing inspections/appraisals was ok, being stuck in an office was not.

can still give you some advice if you need oli

lasted 2 months, being out on the road doing inspections/appraisals was ok, being stuck in an office was not.

can still give you some advice if you need oli

Ah I knew it was 2 of something lol.

If I am renting out my place I know my tenants cover their electricity and gas and internet.

I know I cover the strata costs. What about council fees and SA water stuff? I pay over $1,700 a year for council fees and water connection (that's not even including water consumption since that comes with my strata) so obviously this plays an important part in my sums.

Council fees and water connection are still yours homie. renters pay for the water they use

That means they don't pay for the water they consume though, since water is covered under my strata arrangement...

oooo tricky one. Reckon your fucked there. Erika's the one you wanna ask

The strata totals here are based on the total square metres of the place, so in the complex of 24 apartments I and 3 other tenants pay more in total than anybody else because we have the largest apartments. Our 4 are on the corners of the complex and we have an extra bedroom and garages.

My apartment is about 132 sqm in total (including the garage) so even though I have had less than 2 people living here on average since I moved in I pay more for the strata because of the size of my place. It ignores the fact that some other tenants (family above me for example) have 3 kids in a smaller apartment and almost certainly use more water than I do.

So at least I don't feel bad about having long showers...

The stupid thing now is that if tenants aren't directly paying for their water consumption then they can essentially use as much as they want, and if the strata management sees an increase in water consumption it results in an increase in the strata fees which in turn is passed on to the owners/landlords. For what it's worth I think less than 5 of the 24 apartments here are owner occupied. 

advertise it as "potential for a pool"

dont you still pay excess water usage?

advertise it as "potential for a pool"

Haha, interesting idea!

"Dig a hole in the garage and you can fill it with water (won't cost you) for your own indoor pool!"

dont you still pay excess water usage?

Nope.

If you are thinking of renting, ask all of these questions to your strata corp! lol. They should be able to advise you appropriately for your building arrangements.

Generally, Lessor pays for all up front. Tenant reimburse the Lessor for percentage of the water bill, depending on what is negotiated when entering the lease.

If nothing is arranged the standard is:

Rates, Taxes & Water
The landlord is obliged to pay council rates and land tax charges. Charges for water supply are paid as agreed between the landlord and tenant. In the absence of any contrary agreement, the tenant is responsible to pay for the cost of water usage exceeding 136 kilolitres per year.

However, before entering into the lease agreement, as a landlord you can include a condition in the lease agreement that a tenant pays for their own water consumption. You must give the water accounts to the tenant as they become due. If you do not provide these accounts and have had every opportunity to do so the tenant may only be held responsible for part of the account.

If the property is on a separate water meter you can ask that they pay the entire water consumption bill and the supply charge by including this as a condition on the lease agreement.

If the property is on a shared meter you can still ask that the tenant pays for water. It is recommended to calculate water charges as a percentage in these cases - eg water meter is shared between two rented properties, each tenant is charged 50% of all water usage.

Its tax deductable anyways so stop whinging    Sometimes, Landlords dont worry about making tenants pay for water costs. Depends.

When you receive your bill for your strata fees, it should itemise what each cost is for- including your water costs. From there you can calculate how much you are entitled to and the tenant can reimburse you for the amount negotiated or standardised.

Dont stress though your property manager works it all out for you. You wont need to worry about it. Just forward the bills to your PM, and they will pay all of your bills out of your monthly rental. Then you dont have to worry about all of the bills each month - you just worry about your mortgage, thats it.

Here is some more info for you:
http://www.sa.gov.au/subject/Housing%2C+property+and+land/Renting+and+letting/Information+for+private+rental+landlords/Being+a+private+rental+landlord/Bond%2C+rent+and+other+charges#Water_charges

Otherwise the Consumer affairs site has a lot of information you can read up on. The Government even holds information sessions on this type of stuff. You can enrol here:
http://www.sa.gov.au/subject/Housing,+property+and+land/Renting+and+letting/Information+for+private+rental+landlords/Tenancy+forms+and+fact+sheets/Residential+tenancy+information+sessions/The+information+sessions+available#Managing_your_rental_property

You are cool Ez 

Thanks!

I sure am.

Im even fricken cooler in real life.

 

  $602.77 power bill.

$36.41CR power bill, love solar power!

Bloody hippy!

Real man energy...

image not archived: coal-burning.jpg

$602.77 power bill.

cheap grow room? way too much freezer space, like, enough for a body? Awesome as fuck huge wall sized plasma screen? Hobby welder? Tazer addict?

cheap grow room? way too much freezer space, like, enough for a body? Awesome as fuck huge wall sized plasma screen? Hobby welder? Tazer addict?

Not growing anything.

Freezer has 1 loaf of bread in it on average. Could probably fit up to about a 2 year old in it but not much larger. Haven't tested this though.

No TV here.

No welder.

No tazers.

Just lots of computers.

I would just like to say that adding to my skills as an environmentally sustainable design architect, Im also able to do home and business energy use audits and provide plans on how to reduce consumption and/or costs.
/end plug

 

Turn it off?

Jayar, the bill for your services would probably be higher than his power bill for the year. lol.

All tax deductable though Oli so for for it 

Too bad you dont own a house.... solar panels are the way to go these days.