Hi everyone. My lease ended in my last apartment this month and I decided to move to a place closer to work (less than 10 miles away). Now, at my previous apartment, I was paying $790 a month but it included heat and hot water (gas). Lights and air conditioning were electric and I paid them. My electric bill never topped $60, even with running the AC. It was usually between $30-50. With my lease ending, they wanted to up my rent to $820, and since the rent kept going up year after year with no fixes/updates to apartment and a particularly bad year of leaks and water damage, I decided to be on my merry way.
I found the current apartment I just moved into, and the rent is $700 a month. I have a much shorter commute time to work, and the place was just redone, had new appliances, and looked great.
There's only one thing that worries me, and unfortunately didn't really hit me until I moved in: my heat/hot water is now electric and I'm responsible for that as well.
My apartment is 2 stories along with a concrete basement and an attic. It's basically a small half-double in a row home. My living room and kitchen are on the first floor and bedroom and bathroom on 2nd. The electric heat is baseboard and is adjustable in every room. The knobs that adjust the heat basically say "low" "medium" "high" and there's nothing that says the exact temperature of the room.
I can afford an electric bill up to $150, even $200 for a few winter months, but what concerns me is it creeping higher than that, like $300 range. From what I've heard, it's not unheard of, and I'm trying to do all I can to prevent that.
The floors are carpet for the most part, attic was just insulated before I moved in, and windows and doors to outside are new. Right now it looks like the price through my electric company is 5.995 cents per kWh, which is pretty good. But, this can change. I'm wondering if it would be wise to search for an alternate energy supplier for a fixed rate, at least until the winter is over?
I acquired a space heater, and plan on putting plastic film over the windows.
Any other tips on the best ways to deal with electric baseboard heat? I'm starting to get worried that I bit off more than I can chew, but maybe I'm overthinking it.
October 21, 2017 at 02:14AM
