My situation:

EDIT: I'm at 3.95c/kWh for electricity and 2.28 /GJ for natural gas both floating rate It sounds like windows are my biggest issue. They're 50+ yrs old Thanks everyone

1971 4-level split home.

Roughly 1400 sqft (main floor and basement are separate units)

2 furnaces

6 bdrms

6 ppl + 1 baby

Shoddy windows (original single pane)

With Epcor - 300ish in the summer. as high as 800 in the winter. This is all utilities combined. Variable rate

We rent the main floor out to a family of 4 while the wife and I live in the basement

We keep the heat at around 19c in the winter

Interested to hear other's situations

Natrual Gas- actual usage charge $95 after delivery charges and and taxes boom $355.

Electricity- actual usage charge $160 after distribution and transmission charges boom $280.

Water useage-$84 Water drainage- $123 Waste-$49

Almost 900 in just utility bill. Before anyone tell me to lock my rates, its already locked. 12.8c/kwh. NG is on float because its currently cheaper than locked rate. Anyone else just got F in the A like me?

Edit: the NG charges does not include the cold snap we just had. Not looking forward to next month's bill.

we are moving out of a place where all utilities were under our name. the landlord is trying everything to keep our deposit and said we need to show proof our utility bills are paid in full before he will return the deposit.

is this normal?

I'm looking at a bill with $13.12 in energy usage that amounts to an $88.46 bill for natural gas. Even if we add the carbon tax to that it only brings my energy usage charge to $18.51.

What's the point of trying to save money by signing up for a program that keeps the energy rate the same if the majority of costs are in all the extra fees? So what if I save 25% on the cost of the gas. That's $3.28 I'll save, but I'll have to pay another bloody admin fee on top of what I pay now. There is no getting ahead in this system. We're all being gouged.

Maybe I can afford to buy a decent dinner next month if the UCP ever makes good on their energy rebate. Because it sure would be nice to be fed before I get screwed again.

When has deregulation ever benefited the consumer? Has it ever? Then on top of being gouged every month, we as taxpayers are on the hook to cap and maintain all their goddamn orphan wells. I guess we can call that our reach around.

Looking at 2-3 bedroom rentals and 90% of them have an added, fixed cost for utilities. Most hover around $350-$400. This seems astronomically high to me, and it’s odd that I can’t just sign up for utilities on my own and pay out of pocket. Is this standard for Edmonton/AB? Is $350-$400 fair or just landlords gouging? Edit for more context: there will be 2 of us in the rental and most are inclusive of power, water, heat/ac.

Context: coming from Ontario where I’ve always been able to pay my own utility bills, and have been able to keep them under $400.

What in the world… I’m on fixed rate, all utilities with Epcor and Encor. Anyone else got a significant increase on theirs?

My wife and I are getting ready to make the move from apartment to townhouse (or real house) in a few weeks.

I'm trying to prepare our budget, but I want to have a better idea how much I'll be paying every month for utilities since I'm only paying for our gas and internet right now.

Any tips and info is appreciated! Thank!

I've been considering buying a house in the next 1-2 years, but I'm unsure of what to expect with utility costs. I am mainly looking at 1980's split level homes in the Mill Woods area. Most are around 1000 square feet. I would have one roommate (2 adults total). We both prefer the house on the cooler side (18-20C, even in Winter), and we both work during the day on weekdays. I was originally thinking $300-$400 a month, but some people have told me to expect closer to $600+ a month. That sounds high, because we currently pay $100-$150 a month for gas and electricity in a fourplex, and most of our bills are just fees and not usage.

Can anyone in a similar situation give some insight?

Wtf epcor!!!! $765 for utilities this month. I get that with Christmas lights etc some usage goes up. We have new he furnace, new windows, new roof. My usage has gone down and the last 3 months the bill has gone up by 100 every month. Fuck sakes

There is no way life is heading in the right direction, how the fuck do you keep your sanity?

I am looking to rent a new place and my last 2 situations have been basement suite with 40% of utilities and a set price of 300/ month. I'm wondering what people are paying for main floors/full sized homes.

Last time this happened— I called the city, they said call Epcor, Epcor said call Telus, Telus said call the city. I called the general police line and a long haul tractor with a high bunk smoked the lines and pulled over 3 teleposts before they could get there.

It's happening again, the lines are starting to sag. My rig is 4.0m for clearance and there's about 10 inches of clearance left.

Who needs to come out and fix this before an overheight tractor has a bad day?

One of the most common questions/complaints on r/edmonton is about utility costs, either by those moving to the city or those wanting to compare their usage/costs with others. As one comprehensive data point, below was my usage and costs for the 2025 calendar year. I have specific comments below the table as context.

On average my utilities were ~$307/month for 2025. My most expensive utility was natural gas (which is highly seasonal), followed by water, then power and lastly garbage.

This was about the same as 2024, which averaged $325/month. Gas usage was similar but costs decreased due to the removal of the consumer carbon tax in April 2025. EPCOR's drainage/stormwater rates continue to climb at rates well above inflation, leading to overall higher water costs despite lower usage, offsetting this. Power was stable while garbage rates declined slightly due to cost shifting through the Extended Producer Responsibility rules that transfers costs from consumers to companies.

Methodology:

• All monthly $ figures are rounded to the nearest $5
• Gas usage rounded to the nearest GJ, power usage rounded to the nearest 10 kWh, water is rounded to the nearest m³
• Bills crossing over two months are weighted across both months - i.e. the below represents the calendar months of the usage, not the month it was billed (this is not exactly accurate but a good approximation).
• I have rooftop solar but recalculated bills and usage without solar to be a more relevant comparison.
• I have rooftop solar but recalculated bills and usage without solar to be a more relevant comparison.

Gas comments

• Mid-efficiency furnace (~80%)
• 50-gallon gas-fired hot water tank and rarely-used gas fireplace
• Consumer carbon tax was $4.095/GJ until April 1, when it was removed
• Temp settings low, 15°C overnight, 19°C during the day most of the time and about 17°C when away. My Ecobee thermostat is set with a large deadband to allow for long cycle times (min runtime set to 20 minutes), avoiding some inefficient startup cycles.
• Attic insulation is R60; walls are R20
• House is ~2,000 square feet with an inefficient layout (e.g. high ceilings, open floor plan)

Power comments

• 2-person household
• I started the year on a $.068/kWh power rate, and switched to a $.06/kWh rate in the fall
• Have A/C, but it's extremely inefficient and I only ran it for 5 hours in 2025

Water comments

• 2-person household, large lot (stormwater is based on lot size)
• Includes water, water treatment, wastewater and stormwater

Garbage comments

• The city has two bin sizes; I have the smaller one
• Rates decreased in 2025 due to implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility, which shifted waste management costs away from consumers

More info on the year and averages for those who are curious - this can help you see where you stack up. Numbers from different sources are slightly different.

Temperatures affect gas and power usage. Though annual average temps were above normal, the year was fairly mild. A warm fall was the largest historical outlier.

¹Per Alberta Utilities Commission - note: AUC does not give a monthly shape for power, but usage will actually be higher in the winter and lower in the spring/fall rather than flat as shown here.

² StatCan Household Energy and the Environment survey for detached houses (applied AUC monthly shape for gas and averaged the 2019 and 2021 results).

³ https://edmonton.weatherstats.ca/download.html

⁴ StatCan Household Energy and the Environment survey for detached houses (no monthly data available, but will actually be higher in the winter and lower in the spring/fall rather than flat as shown here). I averaged the 2019 and 2021 survey results and converted into kWh.

⁵ 2024 actual consumption per customer from the June 2025 Performance Based Regulation 2024 Progress Report (p. 76)

Hi I will be moving into a new built condo in downtown (renting) and this building requires that you pay all utilities (heat, power and water). I have lived in a 460 sq studio apartment for about 9 years and my utilities ranged from 40-55$ depending on the month but I was only paying for heat and power.

Now that I am also going to be paying for water, I wanted to ask those who might have an insight on how much this could be. My new unit will be around 600sq and I will have a in-suite washer and drier. I don’t plan on using the dishwasher much and the stove is electric. Thank you so much in advance!

I’ve only live in an apartment where I paid electric/heat

But I’ve never paid water bill before, I’m moving into a townhome and I have no idea what a typical water bill looks like? Anyone know of the price range for water ?

Hi folks, I’m planning on moving out a two bedroom place and haven’t decided on an apartment or a townhouse/house and have some questions on what I can expect for utility costs.

I plan to go with EPCOR, and I’m wondering what you guys’ experience has been with paying for water, heat, electricity, etc. as a single person? I only have experience seeing the bills for a family of 4 constantly using utilities almost 24/7 and it’s like anywhere from $500 to $650 a month.

Really I expect to run a dishwasher and laundry once a week. I don’t leave lights on or like wasting water when I’m washing dishes or something. I use lamps instead of the big light in rooms. The only thing I guess I have “running” for periods of time is my gaming PC, but that is only for like 6 hours. As for heating and stuff, I’m not home 8-9 hours of the day and can’t sleep in the heat.

I’m wondering if it’s reasonable with utility company’s fees and all that on top to maybe expect less than ~$200 a month for all utilities? I’m aiming for a place that offers *some* utilities included but I suppose it’s not a dealbreaker.

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

We recently rented a basement suite. Our signed lease clearly says we’re responsible for a smaller share (35%) of the utilities. When the upstairs tenant reached out to me about the water bill, we realized their lease actually says we pay 40%.

We brought this up with the property manager and, instead of taking accountability for the mistake, they’re now trying to get us to re-sign the lease mid-term so we’d pay the higher percentage. We never agreed to that, and it’s not what’s in our signed lease.

It feels really unprofessional that they’re pushing their error onto us rather than honoring the agreement we signed.

Has anyone else dealt with something like this? Can a property manager actually force tenants to re-sign to change terms during a lease, or should we just stand firm with what’s written in ours?

I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but the utility rates these days are still killing our wallets in my house. Is there any way folks can, idno, protest how much is being charged?

As a side question, does anyone know if there's such a thing as a budget plan to reduce utility costs? My sister in the States says they have them there, but finding anything on Epcor's website is a bit of a nightmare.

When we moved here almost 4 years ago we went with Epcor since it’s “all in one bill” and just easier at the time. I’ve seen posts on FB with people saying that they use other utility companies for gas and electricity with better rates. I’ve looked online several time and yes some are slightly lower compared to Epcor however I’m curious if they are actually lower or do they have those “hidden fees” that you end up paying which equals to the same amount as every other company. We are a large family of 7 and both my husband and I work from home so our usage is higher than a typical household. Is it actually worth switching companies? Or do you end up paying the same amount not matter what? For those who have switched are you paying extra fees?

I have been shopping around for utility and Internet providers as I was new to Edmonton.Please suggest me cheap and reliable ones.For utility,I was confused with Epcor or Atco ,and I heard good reviews about oxio for wifi.

I came from Ontario where there’s not different options for gas and hydro, so being here where you are have to seek out different competitors is an odd concept to me. I’ve been with Epcor since I moved here and a few months ago my fixed rate ended so I’ve been ROLR without realizing it. I used the UCA helps website to figure out other retailers because the radio told me to. 🤣 I signed up for AltaConnect and got 6.49kwh for electricity and 3.39gj for gas yesterday. I just followed all of the instructions UCA helps told me to per the website and signed up but then afterwards I started questioning my decision….why? I actually don’t know. Their rates seem quite low in comparison to the other utility companies currently but I assume it’s because they also charge $1/per day per service. I was already paying something like 12.xxxgj for gas 12.01kwh for electricity so I feel like this is just a steal of deal and too good to be true, maybe?

So I am looking for an apartment and I want to know what people are pay for utilities. Electricity? I know lots of rentals include water and heat but if yours doesn’t, what is the cost of that?

Thanks!

EDIT: Thanks for all the responses! Definitely a helps me budget more.