Estimating Your Home's Electricity Costs
How much do you spend on electricity per month? Are you moving and want to have an idea of what your monthly costs will be? We've taken data from Statistics Canada, the Canadian Home Builders Association and the Alberta Utilities Commission to calculate average electricity costs by home type: single detached house, condo/townhouse, and apartment.
While the average Alberta household consumes about 7200 kWh per year, how much you power you consume depends largely on the size of your home. Here we break down electricity consumption by house type: single detached home, apartment, or townhouse/condo. These prices are based on the average total price of electricity in Alberta (taking into account the costs of electricity supply, distribution, transmission, local access fees, etc - find out more about the average cost of electricity in Alberta). In 2013, the average total price of electricity in Alberta was 20.5ยข/kWh.
While we hope these estimates will be useful to you, keep in mind that the actual cost will vary depending on factors such as:
- How many people live in your home
- The age of your home
- How well-insulated it is
- How many electrical appliances you use
- Where in Alberta you live
Find out more about the price of electricity in Alberta
Check out the price of electricity per square foot
Annual Electricity Costs For a Single Detached House
| Average House Size | Average Annual Consumption/ft2 | Average Annual Electricity Cost | Average Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1800 ft2 | 4.61 kW/ft2 | $1710.00 | $142.50/month |
About 64% of Albertans live in a single detached house. While home sizes vary, we take the Canadian Home Builder's Association's 2012 average Alberta house size estimate of 1800 ft2 as our benchmark. For a house of this size, we estimate annual electricity consumption at about 8298 kWh per year. If your home is bigger or smaller than this, we invite you to check out our guide that breaks down the cost of electricity per square foot.
Annual Electricity Costs for a Townhouse/Condo
| Average House Size | Average Annual Consumption/ft2 | Average Annual Electricity Cost | Average Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1310 ft2 | 5.35 kWh/ft2 | $1441.00 | $120.08 |
About 12% of Albertans live in a semi-detached or row house (a townhouse or condo). For the average condo that is about 1310 ft2 in size, we estimate average annual consumption to be about 7008 kWh electricity per year.
Annual Electricity Costs for an Apartment
| Average Apartment Size | Average Annual Consumption/ft2 | Average Annual Electricity Cost | Average Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 800 ft2 | 5.07 kWh/ft2 | $832 | $69.33 |
Approximately 24% of Albertans live in apartments. Based on an average size of 800 ft2, average annual power consumption is about 4056 kWh per year.
How to Reduce Your Electricity Costs
To reduce the cost of electricity/square foot, we recommend the following options:
Reduce your overall electricity consumption. This is the most effective way to diminish your power bill. You can start by finding some handy energy-saving tips for the summer and the winter in our FAQ. Another way to reduce your energy consumption is to improve the energy efficiency of your home. Having an energy audit performed on your home is a great way to identify the most effective and cost-efficient ways that you can improve your home's overall energy efficiency. When you replace old appliances, consider purchasing ENERGY STAR rated ones - while they may be slightly more expensive up-front, their reduced costs to operate make them worth the investment over the long run.
Think about switching to gas for more of your appliances. Chances are you already use gas for your heating, but what about for your oven, stove, or clothes dryer? Natural gas, though it can often vary dramatically in price, is generally a cheaper energy source than electricity, particularly in Alberta, where natural gas costs are among the cheapest in the country.
Think about changing energy suppliers. Albertans have been able to choose their energy supplier since 2001. Many energy retailers operate with different overhead costs from regulated rate providers and offer different energy options (fixed prices, variable prices, green energy) that may be more competitive than your current supplier.