How much are utilities for an apartment?

Your monthly total is the sum of the recurring service charges you pay outside rent. Use the table to separate those costs before you add them. Use each dated reference as context, without adding the benchmarks together.

First, check which utilities your rent includes. Keep those services beside your rent amount instead of adding them again. Ask how much each extra charge is and how it’s worked out before you finish comparing apartments.

Use costs for the actual apartment rather than assigning a total by bedroom count. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) groups rented apartments together; its building-size rows count homes in a building.^⁠[2] A building with more units isn’t the same thing as an apartment with more bedrooms.

• Record how many people will live there and the apartment’s floor area. Ask how the local climate and the unit’s location in the building affect heating and cooling, and whether past bills reflect the same occupancy.^⁠[7,8] Don’t turn bedroom count alone into a dollar allowance.
• Ask what powers the heat, hot water and cooking equipment.
• Check which services you pay for and who sends each charge.
• Use available bills for that address, with their dates attached.

You can use these checks for an apartment of any size. Don’t assume your bill will stay below a smaller apartment’s bill. Con Edison identifies insulation, seasonal changes and added appliances as reasons energy bills can change.^⁠[9]

Rented US apartments averaged 6,246 kWh of electricity in 2020, according to EIA.^⁠[2] A kilowatt-hour measures electricity use. Dividing that annual figure by 12 gives 520.5 kWh per month, or about 521.^⁠[2]

Keep electricity use separate from its price. You can open our electricity prices page alongside your local bill or rate information. An older usage average and a newer rate won’t tell you what someone actually paid.

Start by confirming whether you pay for gas and what it powers. Residential gas can serve heating, cooking and water heating.^⁠[10] Ask about each system, rather than assuming gas means space heating alone.

In 2020, rented apartments using natural gas averaged $424 in annual gas spending, or $35.33 when divided by 12.^⁠[4] This includes estimated spending where households didn’t pay the supplier directly.^⁠[3] It isn’t today’s separate monthly gas bill or an allowance for every apartment.

• EIA’s 2025 US residential gas price was $15.34 per thousand cubic feet, a volume unit rather than a monthly bill.^⁠[11]
• That national price includes delivery, taxes and other charges.^⁠[10] Don’t add an assumed fixed fee to it to create an apartment quote.
• Check for other heating fuels too. EIA identifies heating oil and propane among fuels used in homes.^⁠[7] Add any separately payable fuel cost to your own list.

Check these services separately, then count each extra charge once. EPA’s combined 2024 water and wastewater rate estimate was $16.83 per 1,000 gallons.^⁠[5] That’s a volume-based rate reference, not a monthly apartment bill or a trash charge.

Many water utilities combine a fixed base fee with a fee for use.^⁠[12] Many also base sewer charges on the amount of water entering your home.^⁠[12] Ask which charges your quoted amount already covers.

Use the recurring price of a plan available at your address. The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Urban Rate Survey measures rates offered in urban areas; it doesn’t measure apartment residents' paid bills.^⁠[13] Treat an advertised offer as something to check, rather than a national monthly allowance.

• Check the monthly price and whether it’s an introductory rate. FCC broadband labels disclose those details.^⁠[6]
• Check the price after any introductory period, plus any extra monthly fees and taxes. The FCC’s sample label separates these fields.^⁠[14]
• Ask whether equipment is included in the quoted total. Keep any installation charge separate from your recurring budget.

Write down the price you expect to pay after the promotion ends. Keep any earlier promotional price beside it, with its end date. That gives you both amounts to plan around without counting a fee twice.

Build the estimate service by service, using your lease, available bill history and current prices. In Con Edison’s area, prospective renters can request up to 24 months of past electric and gas bills.^⁠[15] Ask your own provider what information it can share.

If you have a full year’s actual charges, work out their monthly average. Keep the original bills beside that calculation so you can see the higher months. Use current prices when deciding whether the historical average fits your move.

Label the result as a monthly estimate for the whole apartment. Once you’ve confirmed that you need an electricity account, follow our guide to setting up electricity before move-in.

Ready to set up electricity for your apartment? “You can either connect your existing utility account or, if you’re moving in, we can set everything up for you.”^⁠[17] Read about electricity setup for your move. Our service is completely free.^⁠[17]

Electricityvia Utility Co.

Sample account

UsageTracked

BillsTracked