What is the average electricity bill for a family living in a single residence in Texas?

Question

I realize this number varies depending upon many factors, like whether you have central air conditioning and all that, but I just wanted to know some rough numbers. My family is considering moving over to Texas (near Houston area) and wanted a idea of what to expect for a single family.

Answer 1

We are paying 12.6 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity in the southern tip of Texas, where it is almost 100% FFahrenheit temperature and paid $80.00 this month of June for May 2007. I just moved to my new home. Oh yes, make sure the home is very well insulated and review the information with each electricity company because we have a few companies.

Answer 2

Any average would be absolutely meaningless. The size of the house, what you set the AC at, how many people live in the home, whether it's occupied all day, the age of the AC unit, how well the ducting is insulated, how well the home is insulated, where the outside unit is located (north side is best, south is worst) all factor into the bill.

Electric rates in Houston are high, I can tell you that much.

If you are considering a move to TX, keep in mind that the electric rates may be the least of your worries. TX doesn't have an income tax so the money must come from somewhere. That's usually from property taxes and I can tell you from personal experience that TX property taxes are INSANELY high. I sold off a rental in San Antonio last year that was valued for tax purposes at $83k. The annual property taxes were $2800 last year! I live in MO in a home valued at $170k and my property taxes are less than $1,000. In fact, my MO combined income and property taxes are less than the property tax on the place in TX. (The valuation on the place in TX was stepped up to the sales price of $107k. The new owner's taxes are over $3,500 per year. He actually tried to get me to make up the difference!)

Answer 3

If you are going to run central AC, as you will really need to, expect to have a monthly electricity bill ranging from $100 to $300 if you have good insulation. If the insulation is not as good as it could be, expect the high bill to easily exceed $400.
The other unexpected tax is the combined school and property tax. It is often much higher than other areas. Take a careful look at the tax on any property you are considering to buy.
Good luck..

Answer 4

Ours is about £160 per month for our electricity alone. We have a gas hob and gas central heating/water. Our oven is electric. There are 3 of us living in a 3 bed semi. So it works out about £13.30 for each of us, each week... which is still quite a lot of money to be forking out. There have been so many price increases over the past 16 months - it's very expensive. Our utility companies are all public now, and were sold to mainly foreign investors - so all the profits they make go out of our economy and out of our country - making all us people poorer. That's capitalism for you! The unscrupulous criminals get to make huge amounts of money, whilst the many poorer/middle class are becoming so much poorer. You can always stand up to the system I guess and protest... but no one does that anymore in the UK... which is a little sad and rather lazy if not dormant. Everyone seems asleep.

Answer 5

We had a 1550 sf (app.) house just NW of Houston for several years. Our average bill in the summer was around $120, in winter around $20. We had central air, but the heat, stove, water heater, and dryer were all gas.