The average Texas household pays between $300 and $400 per month across all utilities combined — but that number hides wide variation by city, home size, and the time of year. A 1,200-square-foot apartment in Dallas and a 2,800-square-foot house in Houston can produce bills that differ by $200 or more even in the same month. This article breaks down each utility category with real figures so you can benchmark your own spending and identify where you might be overpaying.
What Counts as a Utility Bill
Before running the numbers, it helps to define the category. “Utilities” in common usage covers the services that keep a home functional on a monthly basis. In Texas, that typically means:
- Electricity (the single largest line item for most households)
- Natural gas (for heating, cooking, and water heating in homes connected to a gas line)
- Water and sewer (billed by the municipality or a municipal utility district)
- Trash and recycling (sometimes bundled into water, sometimes separate)
- Internet service (increasingly treated as a baseline utility rather than a discretionary expense)
Some households also carry a landline or a home security monitoring fee, but those are outside the core five. This article covers electricity, gas, water/sewer/trash, and internet. It does not cover renter’s or homeowner’s insurance, which some aggregators fold into “utility” estimates.
Average Electricity Bill in Texas
Electricity dominates the Texas utility picture. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that Texas residential customers paid an average of approximately $148 per month in 2022, the most recent full-year figure available. That placed Texas above the national average of roughly $122 per month. The gap is explained by two factors: summer cooling loads in a hot climate, and the relatively high square footage of Texas homes compared to the national median.
Breaking that figure down by usage tier gives a more useful benchmark:
| Monthly Usage (kWh) | Estimated Bill at $0.12/kWh Effective Rate |
|---|---|
| 500 kWh (small apartment, mild months) | $60 |
| 1,000 kWh (average apartment or small house) | $120 |
| 1,500 kWh (average Texas house, spring/fall) | $180 |
| 2,000 kWh (average Texas house, peak summer) | $240 |
| 2,500 kWh+ (large house, July or August) | $300+ |
The $0.12/kWh figure used above is a mid-range effective rate for Texas in 2024. Actual rates on the competitive ERCOT grid range from roughly $0.09/kWh on a promotional 12-month fixed plan to $0.16/kWh or higher on variable-rate plans or short-term contracts with low base rates but high recurring fees. The effective rate (total bill divided by total kWh) is the only figure that allows honest comparison across plans. PUCT data shows that variable-rate customers routinely pay 20 to 30 percent more in peak summer months than customers on fixed-rate plans at the same usage level.
Seasonal swing matters as much as the rate. The same household that spends $90 in April can spend $280 in July — not because the rate changed, but because a Texas summer pushes air conditioning usage to two to three times the spring baseline.
Average Natural Gas Bill in Texas
Not every Texas home uses natural gas. The EIA estimates that roughly 56 percent of Texas housing units use natural gas for at least one appliance, most commonly space heating, water heating, or a gas range.
For homes that do use gas, the average monthly bill runs approximately $40 to $60 per month across a full year, but the distribution is sharply skewed toward winter. A household that pays $15 in July may pay $120 or more in January when a heating event drives continuous furnace use. The February 2021 winter storm (Uri) produced bills that were multiples of normal for customers on variable-rate gas contracts, in some cases exceeding $1,000 for a single month. That event remains relevant because it illustrates the risk profile of variable-rate gas pricing, which is a direct parallel to variable-rate electricity risk.
Household piped natural gas in Texas is distributed by utilities like Atmos Energy and CenterPoint Energy, which are regulated monopolies. The commodity cost component of the bill passes through at cost, so the distributor’s margin is fixed. Month-to-month price changes reflect Henry Hub spot prices more than anything the customer controls directly.
Average Water and Sewer Bill in Texas
Water billing in Texas is handled at the municipal or district level, which produces more variation than any other utility category. The Texas Water Development Board and various municipal rate surveys point to a statewide average of approximately $60 to $90 per month for combined water, sewer, and trash service for a typical household.
City-by-city figures from recent utility rate surveys illustrate the range:
- Austin: roughly $80 to $100 per month for a household using 7,000 gallons, after Austin Water’s tiered rate structure applies
- San Antonio: approximately $55 to $75 per month at comparable usage through SAWS
- Houston: approximately $50 to $70 per month through Houston Public Works for the water/sewer component alone (trash billed separately at roughly $25 to $30)
- Dallas: approximately $65 to $85 per month combined
- Fort Worth: approximately $55 to $75 per month combined
Municipal utility district (MUD) customers outside city limits sometimes pay more, particularly in fast-growing suburban areas where infrastructure costs are being amortized over a smaller customer base. If you live in a MUD, check your rate schedule directly — the statewide averages above may understate your bill.
Landscape irrigation is the single largest driver of above-average water bills in Texas. A household that runs an irrigation system through summer months can double or triple its water consumption relative to the indoor baseline, pushing the water bill from $70 to $200 or more.
Average Internet Bill in Texas
Internet service in Texas averages approximately $60 to $80 per month for a broadband connection, based on survey data from BroadbandNow and the FCC’s Fixed Broadband Deployment data. The actual amount a household pays depends primarily on which providers serve that address and what promotional pricing is in effect at signup.
Fiber providers (AT&T Fiber, Google Fiber in limited markets, Frontier Fiber, and several municipal providers) typically price symmetrical gigabit service at $65 to $80 per month with no data caps. Cable providers (primarily Xfinity and Spectrum in Texas) price comparable throughput plans at $50 to $110 per month, with promotional rates often expiring after 12 to 24 months and reverting to higher standard rates. Satellite options (Starlink, HughesNet, Viasat) generally run $50 to $120 per month with latency or data limitations that affect certain use cases.
Internet is the one utility in this list where active rate management produces reliable savings. Calling to renegotiate at contract end, or switching providers when a promotional period expires, routinely reduces the bill by $20 to $40 per month for customers who take the time to do it.
Total Monthly Utility Cost: A Household Estimate
Adding the category midpoints together produces a working estimate for a typical Texas household:
| Utility | Low Estimate | Mid Estimate | High Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity | $90 | $160 | $280 |
| Natural gas | $15 | $45 | $120 |
| Water, sewer, trash | $55 | $75 | $120 |
| Internet | $60 | $70 | $90 |
| Total | $220 | $350 | $610 |
The mid estimate of $350 per month is consistent with survey data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which reported a median “selected monthly owner costs” figure for Texas that implies utilities in the $300 to $380 range for owned homes. Renters in apartments tend to land in the $220 to $300 range because of smaller square footage and, in some cases, landlord-paid water or trash.
Why Texas Electricity Bills Run Higher Than the National Average
Three structural factors explain Texas’s above-average electricity spend.
First, cooling demand. Texas’s climate requires air conditioning for six to eight months per year in most of the state. The national average reflects climates like the Pacific Northwest and the upper Midwest where cooling loads are far lower.
Second, home size. The median newly built Texas single-family home exceeds 2,200 square feet. More conditioned square footage means more electricity consumption at any given outdoor temperature.
Third, market structure. Texas operates the ERCOT grid as a deregulated retail market in most of the state. Roughly 85 percent of Texans in the Houston, Dallas, and other competitive zones choose their retail electricity provider. Competitive markets produce price dispersion — customers who shop actively and stay on fixed-rate contracts tend to pay less, while customers who let plans expire onto variable rates or stay with default providers tend to pay more. The EIA data that produces the $148 average includes both groups.
How to Benchmark Your Own Bills
Comparing your bills to a statewide average is useful only as a starting point. A more precise benchmark requires matching your household profile.
For electricity, PUCT’s Power to Choose database lists plans by zip code and usage tier. Entering your actual 12-month average monthly usage (available on your bill or through your provider’s online portal) and comparing the effective rate across providers at that usage level is the most direct way to identify whether you are overpaying. LightCompanies publishes provider-level analysis that includes complaint rates from PUCT’s quarterly reports and effective rate comparisons at the 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh usage tiers.
For gas, water, and internet, the comparison set is smaller because each service typically has one or two providers at any given address. For gas and water, the main lever is consumption management (insulation, efficient appliances, irrigation scheduling) rather than provider switching. For internet, active negotiation or provider switching at contract end produces the most direct savings.
PUCT only publishes complaint data in quarterly snapshots, so the figures referenced in this analysis reflect the most recent published quarter. Provider rankings based on complaint rates should be treated as a trailing indicator rather than a real-time measure.
Summary
The average cost of utilities per month in Texas lands near $350 for a typical household, driven primarily by electricity, with natural gas, water/sewer/trash, and internet contributing the remaining 55 percent of that total. Electricity is the category with the most variability, the most consumer control, and the most potential for savings through active plan selection. Water consumption in summer and gas consumption in winter produce the largest seasonal swings. Internet service is the category where periodic renegotiation reliably reduces spending.
For electricity specifically, the provider you choose and the contract structure you select (fixed vs. variable, rate structure per kWh vs. rate plus monthly fee) have a larger effect on your annual bill than almost any behavioral change short of installing solar or replacing an aging HVAC system. Provider-level analysis for the major Texas retail electricity providers is available in the LightCompanies provider directory.