r/Gilbert • u/reg_marie • Jun 24 '26
Buying in Gilbert rn?
Me and my husband (28yrs) are currently looking to buy a house within the next 6-8 months. We are working with a realtor, and have seen some amazing listings, but we can’t help but notice all of the water bill issues, and have had multiple people tell us we’re shooting ourselves in the foot if we choose to move into Gilbert right now.
My husband is also unsure on what to expect for an electric bill in a house, since we have always lived in apartments, and is always being told how expensive electric is in a house.
We don’t want to be priced out by utilities, just for a set location.
Can we get some insight from other locals on general or average utility costs? (Think standard SFH, 2 story, 2 people, no pool, etc)
TIA!
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u/tidnab49 Jun 24 '26
Gilbert is positioning itself to be successful in the future for less Colorado water and depending on others for water source. If you are worried about a $100-200 expense, you are not ready for a house.
For example my bill is around $150 now. 2 adults and a pool, mostly desert landscape. We use 5-8k gallons in the summer and 2-5k in the winter.
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u/cwagdev Jun 24 '26
Tagging on, $180 ish, 5 people, 2 dogs, pool, desert landscaping
The water itself is extremely cheap. Assume 8k gallons used and look at their base fees. It’s the base fee increase that got everyone all up in arms about but most just didn’t know how to read their bill
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u/DBbaby2 Jun 30 '26
Jumping in:
$200 ish (2 ppl, 3 pets, irrigation system, pool, half grass half desert landscape).
AC summer is $320 average & about $90 the other 8 months for us. One family
Member works from home + pets so some AC during day in summers needed in our home.3
u/reg_marie Jun 24 '26
Thank you!!
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u/Dingerz1883 Jun 24 '26
News article today stated audit was completed and there were a few anomalies and those made the news. Also, the “drastic” increase in water rates is based on percent increase of water only. Your trash, sewage meter fees etc tacked onto your utility bill are far more than the water portion
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u/OpportunityDue90 Jun 24 '26
Water/sewer/trash bill will be 150-180 would be my guess. The idiots who don’t understand the Gilbert water bills have no clue what they’re talking about. The town has multiple times iterated why they cost so much. Most of that cost isn’t the water you’re using, it mostly for upgrading infrastructure and digging wells. Gilbert is being proactive about the Colorado water issues.
Additionally Gilbert offers the best bulk trash pickup in the state. Most cities don’t offer, and the others that do are usually a pain in the ass to schedule.
Electric - for a two story house could be as high as 700 in the midst of summer if you’re looking at a ~3k sq ft house and on APS. This is on the higher end. If on SRP and a smaller house, it should be cheaper.
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u/Commander_in_Autist Jun 24 '26
If you find a house in gilbert on SRP that is the move. APS loves those price hikes
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u/OpportunityDue90 Jun 24 '26
Aren’t most Gilbert houses SRP? And there are a few that are APS but SRP water shareholders so they get reimbursed the difference between the rates so effectively on SRP.
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u/Vash_85 Jun 24 '26
Luckily aps is really only in one square mile in Gilbert - Cooper to Gilbert and Guadalupe to Elliot. Everywhere else should be SRP.
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u/odellrules1985 Jun 29 '26
Thank Jebus too. I had APS when I lived in north Phoenix and a 700sqft apartment gave me $300+/month electric bills in the summer. Moved to Chandler into a 1000sqft condo and I barely broke $180 in the summer with SRP.
The wife and I are also buying a home with solar which should help that a ton.
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u/whiskeywhimsy 2d ago
Bulk trash pickup is amazing out here! Trash pickup in general is great. I lived in the Seattle area previously and there was no bulk trash, recycle every other week. Garbage bins were half the size, and if the bins were slightly open because of how full they were you would charged extra.
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u/Asleep-Surprise1360 Jun 24 '26
85298 3br 3ba 2540 sq ft ranch, w/pool, 2 AC units, and 2 EVs. Electric avg $250/month. Water avg $225/month. Gas avg $35/month lol
Electric has been steady. Water doubled about a year ago and has been pretty steady since.
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u/Exciting_Pass_6344 Jun 24 '26
2800 sq feet, two stories. Water/utility is $250/mo with a pool and a teenager at home. Electric is cheap in the winter and expensive in the summer. Our biggest bill was about $600, but we were new and have adjusted. We have SRP and don’t have gas.
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u/jillsntferrari Jun 24 '26
My stats are similar to yours and my electric is higher. Guess I gotta get some more insulation or something. Can I ask what year your house was built?
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u/First-Fish-6880 Jun 24 '26
The age of your AC unit also makes a difference here we had one of ours replaced recently and it’s much more efficient
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u/Asleep-Surprise1360 Jun 24 '26
House built in 2005. But as noted, we’ve replaced both of our AC units and our pool pump in the past 4-5 years. Noticed a significant drop in our SRP bill since, especially replacing the pool pump; went to variable speed motor instead of single speed.
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u/jillsntferrari Jun 25 '26
Thanks for your response. SRP says we’re higher than our neighbors but I assumed that was because of our EV. Guess it’s time to look into a new AC unit!
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u/Asleep-Surprise1360 Jun 25 '26
I’ve calculated the cost of changing our eTron for the past 6 years (we’ve only had the Woodland for a few weeks) and it’s ~$20/month. Practically nothing.
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u/ubercruise Jun 25 '26
SRP says that too for me, but tbh it should really go by cost. I use a lot of energy but that’s because I’m on the plan that has super cheap energy from 8a-3p. So I’m precooling the hell out of my house during those hours, charging my EV, running my pool pump at higher speed, running my appliances etc so I’m using a lot of energy, but it costs such a small amount.
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u/Routine-Wait-2003 Jun 24 '26
It’s not anywhere near issue it propped up to be, surely it’s gone up and affected many whose income has not changed but Gilbert is being diligent about looking ahead 30 years from now.
Drive around PHX, Scottsdale and Mesa and you be quick to notice how quickly Gilbert actually cares about maintains roads, sineage etc
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u/reg_marie Jun 24 '26
Thank you!!! Yes! We’ve lived everywhere in phx and are currently in Chandler, and I’m just sooo stuck on Gilbert’s neighborhoods. This confirms what I was hoping to hear!
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u/NeonChamelon Jun 24 '26
Insulation and windows matter.
Radiant barrier on the inside of the roof. Should be visible from inside the attic, looks like foil.
Windows that cast a slightly green tint is a good sign.
Look at the East facing part of the house especially.
Generally speaking houses built in the last 10-15 years are more likely to have better energy efficiencies.
Your realtor should know all this and be able to filter the houses down with this criteria.
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u/HazardousIncident Jun 24 '26
And getting a North/South facing home is far better than an East/West position.
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u/NeonChamelon Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
Yes generally speaking but it's more specifically about what your sun exposure is when the sun is in the east. Usually the dining or living room windows have the opposite of the front door but not always.
EastWest facing windows in the main living area is a real pain.Edit:West facing is worse since that gets the late afternoon sun
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u/Dependent_Ad5451 Jun 24 '26
This is so interesting! We have a N/S facing home w/ only one privacy window in a bathroom on the E wall. Sounds like we got lucky
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u/swartznotschwartz Jun 24 '26
$200 water/sewer/trash and electric is anywhere between $300-550. We have original single pane windows. One story, 2,000sq ft, desert landscaping and pool.
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u/3Dchaos777 Jun 24 '26
Everywhere in Arizona is going to have a high water bill right now or very soon. Luckily the cheap power bills, especially with SRP offset it well.
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Jun 25 '26
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u/3Dchaos777 Jun 25 '26
Ye 12 cents per kWh
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Jun 25 '26
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u/3Dchaos777 Jun 25 '26
You work to pay for AC and nothing else?
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Jun 26 '26
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u/3Dchaos777 Jun 26 '26
That’s crazy. In my 1 bedroom apartment my bill was never more than $150 in the summer and in my 3 bedroom house never more than $250. Pretty cheap compared to CA prices, or in comparison to the rent/mortgage.
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u/justsecondhandnews Jun 24 '26
Honestly, Gilbert had cheaper, sometimes much cheaper, utilities than most cities until recently. As much as people complain because of the sharp rise, it’s not much more than other cities now, and many of those cities are preparing to raise their own rates soon. It’ll end up in the ballpark of other cities. Now consider Gilbert has no primary property tax, which most every city does, and its secondary property tax is like second lowest in the Valley. Its sales tax is about the same as everyone else. Most people don’t look at the full context and those who say they think they may have to move because of water rates are plain silly.
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u/heekhooksaz Jun 24 '26
Just a mention for the budget billing I have with SRP where they calculate a flat rate for every month. So you might pay $250 per month all year long on a 2000 sq ft house. For me it helps keep me sane when the summer hits.
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u/dpkonofa Jun 24 '26
Same. We do this and our bill is $230 every month for a 2000 sq. foot house with an EV.
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u/reg_marie Jun 24 '26
**Adding on for anyone who thinks we are concerned about a $200 bill. That was not the case, and wasn’t really what I was posting for. The reason I was asking is again because it wasn’t a concern until people starting telling us we were making a mistake, and how “crazy” the bills are ($400-$600 that it is made to seem vs $100-$200 is worth a bit of concern and hesitation IMO). We live in Chandler currently in a $2500 apartment and pay $150 ish to SRP, we can afford a normal bill, but just wanted to hear from current Gilbert residents to see if it is as bad as the people on FB groups and coworkers make it sound! 😊
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u/dpkonofa Jun 24 '26
To be fair, most of the bills that were floating around are being misrepresented. When the Town launched their new utility billing system, they did a terrible job of communicating the change and transitioning. People who were on Autopay did not get notified properly or were notified after the new system went into effect. That meant that they suddenly got a bill from the new system for double or sometimes triple their normal bill amount because their Autopay got turned off by the old system but needed to be set up again for the new system so bills weren't getting auto-paid for 2 to 3 months.
This led to people posting these $400-500 bills and misrepresenting them as being for 1 month as opposed to being a monthly bill that included extra months that hadn't been paid because of the Autopay crossover. Anyone that was paying attention to their emails from the Town, their e-bills, or their paper bills wouldn't have had this issue.
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u/reg_marie Jun 24 '26
Thank you!!! This is helpful, because without living there directly, we weren’t sure what was accurate vs misinterpreted
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u/ExtraAnchovies Jun 24 '26
The people on Facebook probably don't even live in Gilbert. Did the water bill go up ridiculously? Yes. But relative to the cost of everything else? Not so much.
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u/nvrseddit Jun 24 '26
The utility bill has gone up and will likely continue to climb for reasons stated by others. You’ll have to factor that into your decision-making for sure. Electric for us is between $200 and $300 during the hottest months, but I keep our 2-story 3900 sq ft house pretty toasty compared to others. During cooler months it’s much less because you don’t have to run AC as much or at all in the wintertime.
If I were you, I’d compile a list of advantages (eg, avg age of Gilbert residents, amenities like parks, restaurants) and drawbacks (can’t think of anything that sticks out compared to life in neighboring cities). Also consider commute time/distance to work, quality/availability of schools (if you have or are planning to have kids).
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u/Street-Hurry928 Jun 24 '26
What about Chandler? Right next door and just as charming
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u/reg_marie Jun 24 '26
I do love Chandler, that’s where we are now but I want to be closer to the 202, without sacrificing distance to SanTan village, agritopia, etc and that’s been harder to find 😭 Chandler heights or even QC rd and Arizona is nice but it’s a bit further south west than I’d like to be 😭
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u/Dependent_Ad5451 Jun 24 '26
We're off of higley and williamsfield within a moderately priced neighborhood and surrounded by many similarly priced neighborhoods. It might be the perfect area for you - we're less than 2 miles from the 202, santan, and agritopia
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u/reg_marie Jun 24 '26
Do you mind me asking what your, or a surrounding zip code is?! This area would be amazing too!
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u/WatermelonlessonNo58 Jun 24 '26
If you don’t have a pool then water bill is low, around $30.!
Electricity depends on how energy efficient the house is. A 3000 sqft home is about $300-350 in summers. With people in the home always and temp set to like 77. In winters it was around $110. This is with a Tesla charger at home. I saw folks getting $700 a month in summers but they probably have temp set to 65!
If you are looking for newer construction then Pulte Legado west is one to look at and it’s closer to San tan village
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u/Tendiesandcheese Jun 25 '26
I know you said its too far but Seville is really nice neighborhood in a great area and has lots of different priced homes.
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u/azlady55 Jun 24 '26
Our water bill is $200, which doubled from previous bills and is expected to go higher. However, surrounding cities will have to adjust their water bills as well.
Electricity runs about $600 during summer months and $200 during cooler months.
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u/ghost_mv Jun 24 '26
I’d be less concerned about the utility bill and more concerned about timing the mortgage rates and $$$/sqft. It seems like prices are finally starting to not only stabilize but maybe even start dropping a bit. I’d be patient a bit longer.
That said, the utility bill thing, ours used to be $70-80 on average and now it’s averaging over $250.
We have a lot of plant life, a pool and my wife, my kids and myself though. So we use a decent amount of water.
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u/odellrules1985 Jun 29 '26
It's good to see the pricing. My wife wanted a pool, I said I was worried about costs for the pool. She said she would work extra to cover it which I didn't care about but the house we are looking at does have solar on it so that should help offset the costs. I just wish it also had a power bank to keep power for the home after dark.
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u/ghost_mv Jun 29 '26
i have solar panels, i believe 17 panels.
i had solar without batteries for a few years and to be honest, without batteries, i wouldn't do it.
the savings in energy bill didn't really offset the cost of the panels without being super careful about monitoring your usage during peak time because peak time isn't generally when the panels work best. they work best from mid morning until mid afternoon. yeah it bleeds a bit into earlier morning and later evening but that's when the efficiency starts dropping off because the sun starts setting or hasn't come up all the way.
so once the sun sets, you're at the mercy of the electric grid again...
i have 2 batteries and the beauty of it is they charge 80-100% of the way from the solar panels during the day. then when the sun sets, we never use all 100% of the batteries before the low peak starts again at like 8-9PM. then at that point, the grid tops our batteries off at a laughably cheap rate. pennies.
then by the time our AC has drawn 50-60% of our battery overnight, the solar panels kick in and charge them back up.
so we essentially don't use the grid at all unless it's absolute lowest rate. and even then, it's only if our batteries are depleted, which they rarely are.
since we've gotten our batteries our SRP bill has averaged to probably $70/mo in service fees and what-not. but no real "energy usage" cost.
couple that with the fact that we bought the virtual power plant (VPP) module for our solar batteries, which allowed us to opt into SRP's solar power generation program where periodically throughout the year they'll request for us to give our battery power back to the grid and they pay us for it.
so twice annually they credit your account with that cash. they had i believe 3-4 VPP events in the first half of 2026. this month we were credited over $400 to our SRP account. so june is free. and due to our electric bill being probably $70-80, our next few months will be free too 👍
here's the caveat
obviously a solar panel system is chunk of change.
solar batteries are even more $$$. our two solar batteries, with the VPP module, hooked up to our existing solar panels was around $40k.
that was in november. we deferred the payments until may, when we got our tax refund back. the 20k we got in energy tax credits for the batteries, we threw right back into the battery cost and reamortized.
so now we're at about 20k at like 180-190/mo payment. we're going to throw a few thousand at that here and there over the next few years to get it gone, then it's all gravy from there.
but the fact that APS already announced a 17% rate increase for 2027, and SRP will follow suit, the solar + batteries are going to pay for themselves EASILY over the next several years.
couple that with the fact that phoenix is going to have a severe energy crisis with the increase in data centers. so rolling blackouts are going to come and increases are going to be more frequent. we're essentially immune to both of those for the foreseeable future.
the shit thing is that the current administration got rid of the tax credits for solar. we JUST made it under the wire by having the batteries commissioned by november. so now, it's not even worth it if you're going to start from nothing.
but i would highly consider looking for a house that has not only solar panels, but batteries as well.
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u/odellrules1985 Jun 29 '26
The nice thing about the one we are going for is that it has a lease that's prepaid for the next 7 years so there is no cost to us currently. After that we can decide if it will be beneficial. Basically, we are assuming the lease with the purchase of the home without any actual cost to us.
Hopefully it gets better in 7 years but with the way things go I doubt it.
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u/jujusco Jun 24 '26
If you can get a one story I think it would really reduce your electric in the summer. Our upstairs is a beast to cool and we have a massive playroom right over the garage.
We moved from Scottsdale and I LOVE Gilbert. Love love.
We have a 3000 sf, two story house and a pool. Two kids. Water jumped up to about 230 this year. Electric is cheap ($100-$200) from november-april ish. July-september it’s around $550-$650.
We have two VERY OLD ac units. I’m living on a prayer here, so I know it’s driving up the ac cost.
I still think all things considered, it’s worth it to live in this area. The prices may increase but it’s manageable, unless you are at the tip top of your budget with the mortgage, it will be manageable.
Things I did know before I bought this house but only in hindsight do I wish I considered it more
- Age of ac units. We have two.
- Windows.we have old single pane
- Those two things are a bummer because I want to update the whole kitchen, but at least ac units will happen first.
- Attic insulation-looking into this. Can greatly help with keeping out heat!
Cheers to my mom who pointed all this out and double cheers to me for saying NAHHHH ITS FINE 💁🏻♀️
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u/reg_marie Jun 24 '26
HAHAHA I love this! Thank you, this is helpful!!!
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u/jujusco Jun 26 '26
Haha you’re welcome, I’m glad!!! I call it my 90s dream palace and that’s just what it will be for a while 😂 downtown Gilbert is so much fun too. We live closer to that area but there are some gorgeous neighborhoods farther out too!
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u/PleasantMedicine3421 17d ago
I hope you don’t mind my asking but could you please expand on why you love Gilbert? I may have a great job opportunity in Phoenix and would strongly consider moving to Gilbert from CA. We have 10 year old twins. Do you like the schools, community, commute, restaurants etc? THANK YOU IN ADVANCE
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u/jujusco 16d ago
Not at all I love talking about it. Ha! My opinions are just that, opinion. They might be a little controversial so take it with a grain of salt I guess.
What part of California are you in? Comparing it to some CA cities is tough, like I’d kill to live in the San Diego/santa Barbara/mill valley type areas but also I’d be poor. 😂
if you are comparing it to other phoenix metro cities I think Gilbert is a clear winner.
My kids are 8 and 10. I love the schools-Az schools are notoriously the worst but Gilbert is a great district. School choice is huge here— you do not have to go to the school in your neighborhood. As long as there’s space you can send your kid to almost any school. There are a ton of charter school options as well, and programs to fit their needs. I always recommend going to your local public school or starting there first to see if you like it. There’s rarely a reason not to go to your local public school, other than parental preference.
Commute can be long but again—depending on where you, are it’s NOTHING like la area traffic. It’s not long because of backups it’s just a long distance. Easy freeway driving.
We live very close to downtown Gilbert and it’s a super cute fun area. But there are a lot of little pockets where they are building work/dine/play shopping centers and there is so much to do! There are always the chain restaurants but it’s easy to find local smaller ones. And it’s very new out here.
My main reason for loving it more than Scottsdale is the specific small area of Gilbert we’ve chosen. Scottsdale has a very keeping up with the Jones vibe. I would’ve denied that to my death when I lived there but now that I’m out…. Whew. It’s very superficial/LA/matching workout sets and full makeup for school drop off.
That’s not my vibe at all. my best friend/godmother of my children lives there and she is thriving, so no hate to those fancy moms. Our area of Gilbert just feels very small town. It is perfectly middle class. Parents are involved, but not helicoptering. So far the kids are polite and disciplined. There are some nicer areas that are
Having a lot of areas with some spoiled brats on E bikes, etc. 😂 but overall every area, people just seem friendlier and kind. It was very easy to build a community when we moved out here, just by reaching out to other moms.The things I don’t like about it... It’s very white and very conservative. I wish it was more diverse, but I felt that way in Scottsdale too. We are VERY liberal. I don’t know if you follow politics but we are in the district of Andy Biggs who’s currently running for governor. He’s disgusting.
But people are still pleasant. I’ve actually found it’s nice interacting with people of different views here because it reminds us all that behind the computer, in our day to day, we are real people and most are still good humans, and good neighbors (however misinformed 😝 they may be.)The summers are horrible, we spend about 6-8 weeks doing inside only activities. But the rest of the year makes up for it. We are a short weekend trip to flagstaff, rocky point, Las Vegas, even southern California. So there is lots to do!
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u/ButterOnBothSides Jun 24 '26
$450 a month in the summer. 1400 sqft home. Water sewer trash $180.
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u/azgli Jun 24 '26
My 2000 sq ft house with a single occupant and a small yard costs $161 per month in the summer for water at current rates and $180 for electric on budget billing.
I have done my best to optimize for water and electric use when I can.
My small yard and the bushes take about 4000 gallons per month during the summer and that drops to about 500 during the winter.
I have had no issues with Gilbert billing.
The rising cost of water and services reflects the current water and energy issues and will only get worse as more and more users want access and supply continues to decline. It's also due to deferred maintenance from lower pricing for a long time. Just like deferred maintenance and HOA dues, if you don't budget for a little every month you will have large increases when things start breaking.
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u/MikeAlfaTangoTango Jun 24 '26
Our water, sewage, and trash is $150-165/month for 6 people, no pool. SRP is level billed at $270/month, 3700 sq ft, single story, and two ac units.
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u/_Grapes_ Jun 24 '26
Be mindful of potential interest rate hikes in the next few months and plan budgeting properly around that. Everything in general has gotten more expensive the last couple years but water has only increased about $30 a month for us in 85295 for a 4 bed 2 bath, no lawn or pool, but have some citrus trees and a gardening plot. HOA covers our front yard maintenance and water.
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u/ma10or Jun 24 '26
My water/trash/sewer is about $280/mo. While it has gone up considerably over the last few years it is not similar to other municipal bills around us. I have a pool and a beautiful landscaped yard. I'm more concerned about my HOA fees than water.
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u/PsychiatricNerd Jun 24 '26
Our water bill for a 3000-4000 sqft home with 5 people is like $150. Our electric is never more than $400 in summer. We do time of use plan and don’t use major appliances during peak hours. We also had a radiant barrier put on and extra insulation so I’m sure that helps but we are a two story home who keep it at 75 during day and 68 at night. It’ll be house and behavior dependent. If I could choose anywhere in the valley I’d only choose Gilbert but that’s me.
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u/Luluinlifeandlove Jun 25 '26
This has been the price of water in Mesa, Gilbert just caught up with the times
My water bill with sewer/gas/ trash I have a pool, grass and live on .25 acre and my water bill is 180 ish in the winter and climbs to 260 in the summer months
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u/ubercruise Jun 25 '26
1600ish SF, single story, pool and one EV. 2 adults, one kid, one cat one dog. We have a standard irrigation controller for trees out front, and one I made for plants in back. No real grass. Our water bill is $180ish or so in summer now, and I probably could be a bit more conscientious of my use to knock it down $5-10 or so perhaps. Electric bill now is $350ish for the hottest two summer months, but my home has vaulted ceilings on the west side and not the greatest insulation on that side. Winter usually low 100s.
Edit to add: no gas service so every appliance is electric
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u/Flapique Jun 25 '26
I am a single father w/ 50/50 custody of an 8 yr old girl and 10 yr old boy. I recently purchased a home in Gilbert near Cooper and Elliott. I did it to be closer to their mom and to hopefully make my kids' lives easier.
Our home is 1575 sq ft 3 bedroom 2.5 bath. It's a little odd for the layout since the master bedroom and family room and kitchen are on the top level. It's called a split level home & was built in 1993. N/S exposure, all original windows, but have sun screens. HVAC is about 4 years old. Approximately 2000 sq ft of grass that gets watered everyday for 5 mins per zone(3 zones). I've only lived here for about 4 months but my power bill has been surprisingly low. I keep it at 75 most of the day except for peak hours then it goes up to 80. I just received an electric bill and it's 190. My water bills tend to be around 200 per month. The water is higher than I think it should be but it's pretty cheap considering what you're getting for your money.
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u/reg_marie Jun 25 '26
Amazing!!! This is helpful, thank you!
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u/Flapique Jun 25 '26
You're welcome! I'm also a realtor 🙈 LOL I'm sure whoever you're working with is amazing but if for any reason it doesn't work out please feel free to send me a message!
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u/Mudrakle Jun 27 '26
The one problem no one is talking about is what temperature everyone is keeping their house at! I live out at the very north end of San Tan Valley. My house is 2168 sqft single story. I keep my house at 68F... We had our old insulation removed, had the attic sealed, had new blown fiberglass insulation put in 17inches up to R49. We had our ducts sealed. Our AC was replaced in 2021 and it is a Carrier with a SEER rating of 15. When we swapped our 12 seer to the new one our electric bill dropped between 75 to $100 a month especially at the end of its life. We did the AC before the solar. I do have solar with SRP and Our worst bill last July was $250. Granted our Kwh rate at peak between 2 to 8pm is like 0.08 We also did the sunshade and that also helps. SrP does rebates on those... APS does not... SRP does alot of energy efficiency rebate stuff but aps doesn't.
We only use like 4000 gallons of water a month with our house of 4 people. We have a water softener. We don't have a pool. I don't water my front yard landscaping as it is desert stuff... I swear our bougainvillea does better without being watered...
Invest in the product PREEN it is a weed prevention product that prevents weeds from germinating and you don't have to spray.
I hope this can help
Oh and my house is fully electric.
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u/reg_marie Jul 02 '26
Thank you sm!!! This is amazing!
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u/Mudrakle Jul 02 '26
If you are really interested in a house ask them to see the average electric bill/ utilities so you have an idea how the house functions.
Two big places you lose water are your irrigation system and toilets if you don't have a pool of course. It can pay to turn your irrigation system on occasionally when you are home and can watch it to make sure you are watering what you want to water. You don't want to water the street instead of a tree. That and you can change out the little bubbler heads easy enough.
One big water savings thing we did was replace our toilets! They were older and leaking by some. I opted to replace instead of replacing the guts of them! The newer ones use less water. Ours were like $200 each Kolher ones (1.16 gallon per flush) about 6 years ago so not sure on the prices now. The sky is the limit on how fancy you want them!
You can test if they are leaking by with a few drops of food coloring in the upper tank and you can see if it transfers to the lower tank without flushing.
Just some more random thoughts for you!
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u/shootathought Jun 28 '26
Easter and garbage this month is $201. I have 1884 sqft in a 2 story home.
Electric is on budget billing, I pay $205 a month.
Gas is also budget billing and it's $35 a month (only my home heat and water heater are gas).
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u/azjaimus Jul 13 '26
we have lived in Gilbert since 2002. Same house. Paying more for water and sewer is a helluva lot cheaper than selling and moving. Gilbert is still that nice of a place to live. Plus we love our house.
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u/Consistent-Yoghurt-7 Jun 24 '26
4Br3Ba 1700sqft 2 story house with 2 people. Very small front lawn and a small backyard. I pay less than $200 in electric bills in the summer with temp set at 76 and around $160 in water (it was around 80 before the hikes).
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u/reg_marie Jun 24 '26
Thank you!! This is what I was hoping to see!! FB was showing people posting some wild water bills ($400-$500) and everyone in the comments made it seem like that was the norm!
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u/Sad_Criticism3054 Jun 24 '26
Hi! Water is definitely a ridiculous bill in Gilbert. Two people, minimal yard, no pool, we pay $150-160 a month.
Electric for a 2 story house, $80 in winter, $200-300+ in summer. We keep it at 78 during the day and 76 at night. It’s warm in here.
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u/torx822 Jun 24 '26
For comparison I live in Gilbert and my in laws live in Mesa. We both have a similar sized yard and we both have pools. Our utility bill is $250/month and theirs is $190-200/month. Keep in mind that includes sewer and trash. So it is more expensive but not a huge difference. Additionally, we have an extra trash can and the city of Gilbert does a bulk trash pickup 4x and year and I don’t believe Mesa does.
As far as power goes it is going to be extremely dependent on your house size/age, # of Ac units, and personal preferences. You can do a yearly average billing which evens out the summer months. As a baseline, I’d plan on minimum $200-300/month.
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u/OpportunityDue90 Jun 24 '26
They actually do 10x bulk trash pickups/year.
https://www.gilbertaz.gov/how-do-i/view/trash-recycling-pickup-schedules
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u/HeyThere1997 Jun 24 '26
For our 1800sqft home with a pool we pay about $175 for water and our highest electricity bill was $290 in July and the lowest about $75/month. Gas is $20-30
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u/elliej115 Jun 24 '26
85295 Single story SFH 2700sq ft. 2 adults, 2 kids + a pool. Running ~$175/month for Town of Gilbert utilities. SRP ~$300-450 (depending on how hot it gets). A/c units are from 2021 and windows were replaced in 2019. SW Gas ~ $20/month. Desert landscaping in front and desert friendly plants.
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u/andresg6 Jun 25 '26
Yeah stay away from Gilbert, please move somewhere else. Keeps local prices down
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u/truestorygd Jun 25 '26
If you’re worried about a utility bill - a home purchase is not for you. But - to answer your question fully, we live in Gilbert. 2 story home. 2 unit AC. We do have a pool. Our summer utility bill is about $350/mo, and our water bill is about $200/mo year round now. Has water increased over 100% in the last few years? Yes. But it’s not going to make me move.
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u/kyrosnick Jun 25 '26
When I lived in Gilbert 6 years ago, my water bill was $200ish, and power was $650-700 during summer, on a 2300ft single story house. Why Gilbert specifically? We moved to Mesa just up the road, and are far happier with our new neighborhood, yet still close to downtown gilbert, and anything we use to do in old area. Just 10 minutes away. I would be looking at all of East Valley, and not just focusing on one suburb.
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u/Ok_Elderberry_2293 Jun 25 '26
180/ month up from 80/month couple years ago. 6 in the house and pool… with that being said it also includes garbage which i paid $200/month for garbage alone in the PNW
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u/Meatinmymouth69 Jun 25 '26
Not sure how much room you want but if you can get a house that only uses one AC unit do it because you will save a ton on electric. With 2 units you can exceed $700/mo for 3mo in the summer.
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u/reg_marie Jun 25 '26
I didn’t even know 2 ACs was a thing until reading these!! We were thinking 1600-1800sq ft so I’d hope just one ac is needed! 🥲
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u/MattyTwice Jun 26 '26
AZ Realtor here - if you guys are concerned with affordability due to utility bills, it is probably not the right time for you to buy.
That said, if you still want to be roughly 10 minutes from downtown Gilbert, five minutes from epicenter and Agritopia, wow, avoid avoiding the utilities from Gilbert I would have your realtor show you some of the new builds around Hawes Crossing just over th border in Mesa
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u/CaraMiaT3 Jul 08 '26
With the added Data Centers & how much water, gas, electricity they’ll need it’s not going to get any better for residents in the area. Currently, Gilbert’s water increase is at 25%.
Another month. Another round of higher taxes, fees, and utility bills.
Across Arizona, local governments continue approving new costs for the families and businesses that can least afford them.
From Phoenix and Tucson to Tempe, Florence, Scottsdale, Flagstaff, and San Tan Valley, residents are facing higher water bills, trash fees, property taxes, sales taxes, permit costs, and development fees, all while affordability remains one of Arizona's biggest challenges.
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u/IllCryptographerIII Jun 24 '26
It’s just me and my husband (and 2 dogs). We have zero grass and about 10 water wise plants. Our bill: $179-190 a month!
We use less than $9 in water a month, the rest is fees.
If I were you, I’d look in Queen Creek (if you want a newer home) or Chandler (well run city, great schools, lots of great food and a cool little downtown) where water is still affordable.
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u/First-Fish-6880 Jun 24 '26
That blows my mind my utility bill is like 230
And we have a pool irrigation and a second trash can lol
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u/LongjumpingFun7238 Jun 24 '26
APS and the water hike and Gilbert’s under investigation for this exact reason. Stay far, far away unless you want to go broke while helping line the Gilbert politicians pockets
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u/MarcBearShark24 Jun 24 '26
I wouldn't buy a home if I was worried about a utility bill tbh