princetown

Hi All
Just wanted to ask, we are thinking of moving to Canada, and have heard the utility bill are very high, (electric, gas) can anyone shed any light on this for me.

Cheers

Wannabe

This is like asking how long a piece of string is...
Utility bills can be very high, if you use a lot of electricity. On the other hand, they can also be very low, if you don't use a lot of electricity. Pretty straightforward so far, eh?

If you're asking about how much electricity costs, I can tell you that here in Ottawa we pay 5 cents/kWh during winter (till May 1st) and 5.8c/kWh during summer. On top of that comes delivery, tax and some other small stuff.

Our last hydro bill was $72.81. This is for a 2br apartment, where we don't leave lights on in rooms we're not in, we don't have a washer/dryer, and heating's included in the rent, so we don't use electricity for that.

Steve_P

A simple search of this forum using your thread title came up with numerous threads here are a few.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=utility+bills

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=utility+bills

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=utility+bills

Cheers
Steve

hot wasabi peas

It all depends where is Canada you live, how you live, how insulated your home is, etc... for instance my 2 bed condo in the temperate climate of Victoria is cheap this way; electricity's about $20 a month (even with electric heat) and water/hot water is included in the monthly strata (building management) fee which is $190 per month. So for just over $200... a fully functional place to rest your head.

A big house requiring a lot of energy consumption to heat up and cool down in an area with more extreme temperatures is another story.

hudd

Hi
It depends where you live, age of house and size.

When we had a brand new house in Calgary our utility bill were close to what we paid for the 4 bedroom Victorian house we had in Suffolk(Calgary house was 200sq ft bigger than the house were had in the UK).

Found buying a 1905 brick farmhouse utility bills were significantly higher. 2004/5 electricity $1800/yr, heating oil $3200/yr. We had used portable AC units & fans in summer, electric hot water tank. I did all the environmental things such as cavity wall insulation, insulted roof, new double glazing, Eco-lighting etc, just made the house less drafty.

Modern homes in Canada are made of OBS/ 6x2 inch wood studs and 6 inches of Rockwell insulation in the walls. They are cheaper to heat and cool than say an older home.

This link maybe of interest

http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/famil16d.htm

hudd

getoutofbritainquick

Blimey thats expensive. considering BC and Alberta have plentiful cheap sources of gas and hydro electricity? :scared:

Souvenir

Since when did cheap-to-produce equal cheap-to-buy?

getoutofbritainquick

Sorry forgot its Canada. Must get a wood burning stove and a few extra blankets

We currently pay about £1200/year for gas and electricity for a 4 bed detached.

hudd

We installed a wood burning stove in our basement, which I think saved us about $1000k/year on heating oil. Just spent 12 weekends being a lumber jack cutting wood.

Souvenir

Cue Monty Python........

g_is_for_canada

BC specific, large 4 bed house. Ballparks -

Electricity (lighting/electrical equipment, water heating) $85/month
Gas (space heating, cooking, fireplace) $40/month
Water (unmetered) $30/month
Telephone $30-40/month + long distance/international calls
Property tax $2k on a $720k property (well below average I think)
Cable TV $50+ (digital, couple of movie channels, internet = $135)

You should also budget for security deposits. Didn't have a problem when I lived in a new apartment building, but moving to a new house, all utility companies want $200-400 per account as security. It could be that the previous resident at this address defaulted on every utility bill, although it's not uncommon for them to ask you to put up a deposit.

They pay you far less interest on security deposit credit, than the late charges if you allegedly owe them money. Pay bills on time to avoid frustration with them.

Overall, utility bills are similar if not slightly more reasonable than in Britain.

Another big point is that although new build houses are very energy efficient, I was amazed at how few places seem to use timer controlled heating. Even though we bought an expensive house, the thermostat is a mechanical type, without timer; a type my parents had in the early 70s. Although energy efficient lighting is available, people are fairly backwards towards this kind of efficiency compared with Britain. Bulb prices are not too expensive, especially through places like Ikea.

I installed (very cheaply) a timer and digital thermostat that looks really good and ensures the system isn't pumping out heat 24/7. Water heating in my case is not controlled, and probably should be as my electricity bill is huge.

Hope this answers some of your questions

princetown

Thank you to you all, for your replies.

Cheers

Grah

before worrying about the cost start working out what you want from the product.

i.e a home is all about location. So where is the location, what is the size.

Said elsewhere you will be a HGV Driver what is your family looking for?

iaink

You might want to rethink the wood. Its about $400 per cord for split dried hardwood at the mo, and if using it exclusively you might be looking at 6-8 cords for the winter.

We use our woodfire as Plan B, its pretty to look at, and it helps out the oil furnace. We cut a bunch of trees down, and havent had to buy it, so its something for nothing.

Our house is not fantastically insulated. Our Heating Oil (furnace and water heater) is equalised at a little over $200 a month. Our Hydro (Electric) is at about $130 a month, but will hopefully go down once we shell out $3k to replace our old inefficient central air unit. There aint nothing cheap about running a home in the country here. Either you pay more for a newer home in the first place, or you pay higher bills to keep it running. We bought ours cos I loved the location and she loved the yard. If the OH ever wins the lottery, the house will be bulldozed and rebuilt

hudd

iaink

I had a permit from the forestry to collect end off cuts from the mill. Some were 4 feet long and 2 feet in diameter. I took me 12 weekends to collect/split the wood.Wood splitting is good for stress relief after a bad day at work ?.
We burnt 5-6 cords a year. Wood stove would heat our old farmhouse down to -15C before oil furnance came on.