Welcome to Lake Worth, Jenny!

For my readers who don't do Facebook...On Monday our fine city of Lake Worth will gain another new resident. Here is what Jenny (I blacked out her last name) wrote on one of the city's premier public Facebook pages, Lake Worth Voice:

Following Jenny's post there were many comments. A few of which were quite unfair and not welcoming to a new resident, like this one (I'll not identify the people who commented):

All the horror stories are TRUE!!!! 1400 sq feet house with only 2 adults that are never home and my bill is $300-$400 monthly no matter how much u conserve always the same.

Another comment, and this one very positive:

My electric bills have been awesome the past 2 years. Summer the highest it got was $250.00 not bad. Just 10 days ago I paid $140.00. About 5 years ago I qualified for a brand-new central A/C unit for free!! Ever since then my bill has been low

For Jenny, and others considering living in Lake Worth, I have this information. Your electric bill is not only for your electricity you consume. Your bill is also for water usage and the sewer access. There is a common thread between the very high electric bills in Lake Worth and the very low bills in Lake Worth. And that is Natural Gas. Not all areas of the city have gas lines, however, the energy consumers who use natural gas have significantly lower bills. In my house the following appliances use natural gas: stove/oven, clothes dryer, and water heater. In the future will be getting an outside grill, also using natural gas. Currently, my gas bill hovers around $30 per month.

My house is located in the College Park area of the city. You can learn a lot about your new neighborhood by contacting your Neighborhood Association. 

Now, Jenny, more on my electric/water/sewer bill: my house is approximately 2000 square feet. Last month's bill was $122.14. Just about half of that bill is water/sewer. In the hottest part of the year, August and September, the bill for my house is just over $300. I can also say that reliability in service has improved during the past few years. There have been fewer outages.

The person in Lake Worth who pays $300 to 400/month, well, I would venture to say our Lake Worth Utility is not entirely responsible for that, especially this time of year. I would suggest this person contact the Utility and request an audit to find out why the bill is so high. For instance, the property may have a water leak or God forbid, an electric clothes dryer. It may also have an older, inefficient A/C or could do with some insulation in the attic. Some people don't have access to natural gas lines in their neighborhood.

Jenny also received this comment much more indicative of our welcoming Lake Worth community:

Jenny, most importantly, first I will give you a warm virtual hug and welcome to our beautiful city. Do not let the past experience of others predispose you to worry. We have come a LONG way when it comes to reliability of service and the excellent customer service that you will encounter when you go turn on your utilities. I moved to a new apartment in Bryant Park two years ago that is three blocks from the utility office and by electricity was on by the time I walked back home. Wishing you the best. God bless you and your new home in the New Year.

My sentiments exactly. Welcome to Lake Worth, Jenny, and contact the NAPC to find out what Neighborhood Association represents you in our fine City of Lake Worth.