Why is water heaters plural? That’s not very common in the states. Do you have separate water heaters in each room? I thought people used those in countries where energy is expensive and they only turn them in an hour before they use them and turn them off when done

so then it doesn't sound like an issue of you getting screwed per rate, it sounds like something in your house is using ALOT of power. Might be worth going over everything im the house and seeing where that massive power draw is coming from

My water runs between $70-90/mo sewage is around $70 Electric is $120 Gas is around $90 (budget amount)

1500 sq ft 2 story house with 4 people. Our water seems really high but maybe that’s normal now. Gas has doubled over the last 2-3 years also.

It’s almost double what your mortgage is because you bought a cheap house that probably was build pre 1970s and has no insulation. You could invest in attic insulation, double pane windows, and high efficiency furnace. Your electricity seems high especially if you have a gas furnace. Can you provide more details? Welcome to home ownership. It takes a lot of effort to research all these issues and be a successful homeowner

Edit: electric hot water heater is strange. There are high efficiency heat pump electric hot water heaters but they are expensive and I bet you have a basic resistance hot water heater so get that replaced with something better. You will need to research your setup though because swapping electric to gas involves gas lines and very important proper venting. You can get a tax credit for a fancy heat pump electric water heater if you can’t fit gas

I'm pretty sure the back taxes will be owed only for the tax year they appealed and all subsequent years, which may be different than the closing date.

My advice may not be a popular opinion with the SO, but my wife and I always celebrate Valentine’s Day on a day other than Valentine’s Day.

Every time we’ve attempted to go out on Valentine’s Day it is busy and loud in most places. Some restaurants also offer a pared down menu, which is less than ideal. After dealing with poor dining experiences for several years, we finally made the decision to avoid going out on that particular day.

What rate are you paying per kWh on your Duquesne light bill? And if it's above ~12 cents/kWh for the generation part of your bill you can probably reduce it on papowerswitch.com for a better rate.

Yep, Duq Light and Peoples.

Might wanna have your mechanicals checked if they are old. Check attic insulation for energy efficiency. Can also turn your water heater down too if the water temp is on the high end.

More public transit options? Especially in poorer neighborhoods?! You must be crazy /s

You win best comment. Take all my respect. Lol

I will agree with others here and say that the electric seems very high. I live in a 1,728 square foot house, and my electric bill last month was $68. I work from home, my boyfriend does not. We don't have electric water heaters, but if you're washing your clothes on cold and not taking super hot long showers every day, I don't know how it could be that high. You need to call Duquesne.

That thing is abandoned? I thought I saw it running less than a year ago?

So you probably have Duqeunse Light and People's gas as well and both are about double yours?

This is kind of what I feared, we keep our house cool so it shocks me that we're this much higher than expected.

Something to be aware of. Once you get reassessed you will have to pay the back taxes from the date you closed on your property. If you have an escrow account, they may or may not raise your mortgage payment to allow for the increase in taxes, which can lead to a pretty big deficit. Our mortgage company allowed us too go 4000 dollars in the whole before increasing it. So now we are paying that back on top of our mortgage. Welcome to home ownership.

Regarding number 8, I was at a funeral home where a guy was getting roasted for wearing a white Steeler jersey instead of a black one because it was “disrespectful.”

The news picks an issue and beats it death. They like to shit on Penn hills but the old guard admins are gone and they are turning things around. But because click bait articles pay the bills and they are lazy jagoffs, the news media continues to shit on the district and in the process are perpetuating a self fulfilling prophecy of a failing district

Edit: there is still some of old guard around

In West Mifflin 1500 sq ft house. Definitely seems high, probably close to double our gas and electric.

Electric seems very high. We're 2 adults in a 1800 sq ft. house in Mt Lebo.

Electric for us has been around $100 the last couple months.

Water is pretty consistently between $30-$40.

Gas has been crazy high for everyone. We keep our place at 68 and most recent gas bill was $300.

We have Columbia gas, PAW and Duquesne Light.

I'm not entirely sure. We are gas heat but for some reason our water heaters are electric so that probably is a big part of it.

But our dishwasher is new and the washer/dryer aren't super old so they should probably be fairly efficient. And we wash our clothes on cold. My fiance works from home and usually has a TV on as background noise all day but my calculations say that leaving a smart TV on for an entire month straight should just total about 42 KwH

Duquesne Light claims we used 1470 kwH over the last 30 days.

Some googling says the average household use is 850/mo and as 2 people in a reasonable size home I feel like we should come under the average not over.

The electricity bill seems a bit crazy to me but idk what you have In your house, using that much. In a similar-sized house my other bills are about what yours are but my electricity has averaged only about $100, last one was $140 and that’s the most it’s been (obviously it’ll be more in the summer when the AC is running)

You are still missing the point I’m trying to make. Penn hills wasn’t unique in building new schools. They built new schools without a large enough tax base to pay for them. It’s not like they were a good district before they spent the money. It has become a self fulfilling prophecy as people learn the school district is failing, housing prices go down which means tax rate has to go up. I support early education and they should spend money on the most effective solutions. Your exaggerated numbers are obnoxious

This is very similar to my setup as well. Thermostat on 67, only 2 adults. My water, electric and gas are very similar to yours. I have Columbia gas, PAW and Duquesne Don't forget about your sewage bill, too.

This “news” piece that you linked actually made me laugh. That was scare tactics 101. Also that’s the same Vikings playoff game. They replayed the same video you linked earlier. Shit got rowdy for sure and wasn’t great but we are FAR FAR from the only team to act like that. I haven’t seen a single video like that about last nights game? Maybe I just haven’t seen them.

I would like to reiterate. I love Pittsburgh. I speak highly of it to anyone I meet. I root for the Steelers when the eagles are out.

Here’s fromlast night.

You’re right though. Hostile.

Edit to add some links.

The electric seems high given you have gas heat and hot water (I assume.)

What is your electrical usage being consumed by?

95% of the school districts in this area do the exact same thing with re-assessing any new buyers to outrageous amounts. That's why there's new threads about this issue every single day on this subreddit, with people freaking out from all over the county. I am not sure why you are acting like this is a Penn Hills-specific issue. The millage rate is certainly a Penn Hills issue, but the "newcomers tax/re-assessment" aspect isn't. Especially when if you are re-assessed high enough in some of the richer districts, your tax is still going to be through the roof.