How Much Does Electricity Cost Per Month in an Apartment? Guide

Are you trying to do research on how much does electricity cost per month in an apartment? Do you want to get a rough draft of the budget you would need before you make the decision?

Don’t worry, in this guide, we will be giving you full details on what you should expect! We will discuss with you all of the angles you need to look at, not just the electricity bill for the apartment you plan on getting.

On average, an electric bill for a 1-bedroom apartment for a single person plays around $110 and $130 per month. However, it can go up and increase as high as $45 if you are more than one.

So, before you jump straight into the decision of living alone and renting an apartment, you really need to hear us out.

Other Typical Apartment Utilities

You can consider electricity to be the largest chunk of the bills you’ll pay. However, it’s not going to be everything you’ll have to think about.

There are other utilities and bills you have to pay for and consider, these include:

• Water Supply
• Heating and Air Conditioning
• Gas
• Internet (WiFi), Cable and Phone

That’s the general overview of the other things you want to consider for your monthly electricity bill. We’ll give out a more in-depth and thorough computation of your electricity costs per month below.

For now, let’s tackle one of the most asked questions about apartment monthly bills, which is…  

How Much Does WiFi Cost for an Apartment?

The answer to this question varies from one person to another. It’s not actually the same for everyone, and while there could be some that are close to what you’ll get, it’s not ALWAYS going to be 100% identical.

To give you a rough amount, the average monthly cost for internet services or WiFi is about $50 for average speeds.

But, it can go up to $100 if you want a better and more robust type of internet connection.

This, of course, will depend on a number of factors such as the speed and quality of the service and the cap of the internet (or if it’s unlimited).

How Much Does Electricity Cost Per Month in an Apartment?

Based on more recent studies and data, the typical American utilizes 41% of their energy on space, heating, and cooling applications around their homes.

Then, they use about 35% of this on electronics, lighting, appliances, and other fixtures around their space.

That’s already a staggering 76% of electricity usage, which would greatly be a contributing factor to the overall rate and price of the electricity bill. What’s also often overlooked is the number of rooms in the apartment.

In order to have a clearer answer, let us discuss two (2) major contributing factors to your electricity bill, which are the number of roommates and the size of your apartment/number of rooms.

How Many Roommates Do You Have?

If you’re tired of surfing the internet about the question of how much does electricity cost per month for 1 person, then this is the answer you’ve always been looking for!

Typically, if you are living alone, your electricity bills wouldn’t actually be big especially if you’re out most of the time, everything in your apartment will be turned off, right?

So, the typical rate of your electricity bill in a 1-bedroom apartment will somewhere be around $110 to $130, with air-conditioning units, heaters, gas, and everything in place.

On the other hand, if you have roommates or other people residing in the apartment, the rates would substantially go up. It can go as high as $180 if you have two (2) more people with you plus another room.

That leads us to the next contributing factor, which is…

How Big is Your Apartment?

Living alone can actually make a studio-type unit sufficient for you. You could have no rooms, just a single unit with a bathroom and a kitchen.

Should this be the case, you can expect to save anywhere between $10 and $20 for your electricity bills every month because of the small space.

If you’re living with one (1) or more people, and if you have more than one (1) bedroom in your apartment, the bills could spike up to as high as $150 to $160 per month, considering that all other utilities and add-ons are included.

These are the major factors in dictating how much your electricity bills would cost on a monthly basis, based on the size of your apartment and the number of people living in it.

Breaking Down the Average Monthly Cost

It’s not just enough for us to give you figures without explaining them. To help you further, we’ll try to break down each and every attributing factor on the average electricity costs you will have per month.

Heating and Air Conditioning

46% and above is the percentage of apartments in the country that utilize some form of air-conditioning unit or heater.

This contributes to about 35 to 41% of the total energy consumption of your apartment. It’s also the biggest contributor because it’s the type of usage that has the largest kilowatt per hour kWh usage.

Water Heating

The use of water heating is also aimed toward heating and air-conditioning – and it’s part of the 35 to 41%, too.

More than 49% of households and apartments in the country use electricity to heat water, so it’s not surprising if you do.

Cooking and Other Appliances

The other 35%, based on the study, is found to be for the usage of appliances such as refrigerators, televisions, electric stoves and ovens, microwave ovens, vents, and other more appliances.

These are the factors or the breakdown of the usage of electricity in an apartment!

While talking all about these, let us not forget the location where we are because different states have different average standards of living.

Where Do You Plan on Living?

Based on the most updated data, Mississippi is the cheapest and the most affordable state to live in. The average electricity costs of people living in Mississippi sits at about $122 per month. Take note, that’s the average household, not for those living alone.

So, if we take it into account and we consider all variables, it’ll come out to anywhere between $98 and $107, which is lower or equal to the national average electricity cost which is $107 per month.

On the other hand, Hawaii tops the list for the state of living and is based on housing costs. The average cost for electricity in a Hawaiian household is at a staggering $205 per month.

This is almost double the national electricity costs of $107 per month.

Final Verdict

So, have you decided whether or not you’ll take on the path of living on your own? Do you think you’ll be better off living by yourself than with other people in terms of finances and in saving up on monthly bills?

Or would having roommates be a better or a cheaper option for you?

Regardless of your decision, hopefully, your question of how much does electricity cost per month in an apartment is answered.

If you initially thought that you would need thousands of dollars for your monthly utility bills, think again! It’s actually a lot better than what you were expecting!

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