How Much Should a Condo's Utilities Cost, by Building Size?

Condo Book Research · Updated Oct 12, 2026 · 7 min read

Part of every common charge pays the building's own utility bills: water, the hallway lights, the elevator and, in some buildings, heat. We read the first-year budgets in NYC condo offering plans to see what those utilities cost per unit per year, and why they climb so steeply in bigger buildings.

Your common charge pays the building's own utility bills: water and sewer for every apartment, the lights in the halls and stairs, the elevator, pumps and fans, and in some buildings heat and hot water. Every NYC condo offering plan budgets these in its first-year budget, Schedule B. We read 518 of them, from plans accepted Oct 20, 2021 to Aug 24, 2026, to see what they cost per unit per year.

The Short Version

• A typical new NYC condo budgets $1,440 per unit a year for building utilities, about $120 a month. Most fall between $1,200 and $1,870.
• Water is the bigger half: typically $920 per unit a year, and nearly the same in a 3-unit building as in a 100-unit one.
• Electricity, gas and heat is what changes with size: $330 per unit a year in a building of 5 units or fewer, against $2,280 in one of 51 units or more, about 7 times as much.
• The heating system matters most. Buildings with a heat pump in each apartment typically budget $340 per unit a year for building energy. Buildings of 11 units or more heated from a shared plant budget $7,360.

Utilities by Building Size

Per unit per year: the median, then the middle half of buildings (25th to 75th percentile) and how many budgets. Electricity, gas & heat is the building's own use (hallways, lobby, elevator, pumps and, where it's central, heat and hot water), not the apartments' meters.

Up to about 10 units, building utilities stay near $1,430 per unit a year, and most of that is water. From there the energy line grows: bigger buildings have more hallway to light, elevators, lobbies, amenity rooms, and more often a central boiler or cooling plant. In buildings of 51 units or more, utilities typically reach $3,250 per unit a year.

Why Water Barely Changes

New York City bills the building for water and sewer, and every apartment uses water. So the water line tracks the number of homes, not the size of the lobby: $1,020 per unit a year in buildings of 5 units or fewer, $850 in buildings of 51 or more. Most buildings fall between $800 and $1,090. Who pays water in your building, and how, is covered in who pays utilities in a NYC condo.

Individual Heat Pumps vs. a Shared Plant

Most new NYC condos heat and cool each apartment with its own heat pump: a split or ductless system, or a through-wall PTAC. It runs on the apartment's electric meter, so the owner pays to run it and the building's energy line stays small. Other buildings heat everyone from a shared plant: a boiler feeding radiators, chilled and hot water piped to fan coils, or a water loop that serves heat pumps in each apartment. Then the fuel, and the electricity to run the plant, are building bills.

A third group uses a VRF (variable refrigerant flow) heat pump system. It can serve one apartment or many from shared outdoor units, and the plans don't always say which, so it gets its own row. Of the 518 budgets we read, 402 come with a plan that says how the apartments are heated.

The building's electricity, gas & heat line per unit per year (median, rounded to the nearest $10) and how many budgets. Heating systems are as each offering plan describes them; a dash: fewer than 5 budgets.

• Each apartment with its own heat pump: $340 per unit a year across 269 buildings. Most are small: $330 at 10 units or fewer and $630 at 11 or more.
• VRF systems: $870 across 98 buildings. That's $520 at 10 units or fewer and $1,890 at 11 or more.
• A shared plant: $860 across 20 buildings. In buildings of 10 units or fewer it's $480. In buildings of 11 units or more it's $7,360. Few buildings are in this group, so treat those figures as a rough guide.

The cost doesn't vanish with individual heat pumps. It moves to your own electric bill. A low building energy line next to a heat pump in every apartment means you'll pay for heating and cooling yourself. A big line in a shared-plant building should mean smaller apartment bills. Compare the two together.

What Makes the Energy Line Big

Medians, rounded to the nearest $10. Who pays for heat is as each offering plan states it; few recent plans put heat in the common charges, so that figure rests on a small number of buildings.

• Heat in the common charges. Where the plan says the building pays for heat, the energy line is several times larger. Your own utility bills should be smaller to match.
• Staffed lobbies. A staffed lobby is lit and conditioned around the clock, and doorman buildings tend to be the large ones with amenity spaces: $3,260 against $430 in buildings without a front desk.
• Elevators. Among buildings of 6 to 25 units, those with an elevator budget $710 per unit a year for building energy, against $340 in walk-ups. See what a condo elevator costs.

What's Not in These Numbers

Your apartment's own electricity. In the 467 plans we read that say who pays it, 467 have owners pay their apartment's electricity themselves, directly to the utility or through a submeter. Budget for that on top of common charges, and for gas too if your stove or heat runs on it.

What to Check in a Budget

• Is there an engineer's estimate? Many budgets base the electricity line on an engineer's letter with the expected kilowatt-hours. The note under the line says.
• How are the apartments heated? The plan's description of the building says. With a heat pump in each apartment, budget for heating and cooling on your own electric bill. With a shared plant, expect a big energy line in common charges instead, and don't count heat twice when comparing buildings.
• These are first-year estimates. Rates change. Ask the managing agent for the building's actual bills once it's running.

Compare a building with similar ones on our operating expense benchmarks, or see the other running costs per unit in how much a condo should spend on supplies, management and staff.

Common Questions

Are utilities included in NYC condo common charges?

The building's own utilities are: water and sewer, common-area electricity and, where the building has central heat, heating fuel. Apartment electricity is almost always the owner's bill.

How much does water cost in a NYC condo?

New NYC condo budgets typically set aside $920 per unit a year for water and sewer, paid through common charges.

Do individual heat pumps lower common charges?

They lower the building's energy line: $340 per unit a year with a heat pump in each apartment, against $860 with a shared plant. But you pay to run your own heat pump on your apartment's electric bill.

Why do utilities cost more per unit in bigger buildings?

Water stays about the same per unit. The energy line grows: bigger buildings have elevators, lobbies, amenity rooms and more often central heating or cooling.

Where this comes from: the projected first-year budgets (Schedule B) of 518 NYC condominium offering plans accepted Oct 20, 2021 to Aug 24, 2026, the same buildings as our operating expense benchmarks, whose expense lines add up to the budget's total. Each line is divided per residential unit, using the homes' share of the budget where a building also has stores or offices. How the apartments are heated, who pays heat and apartment electricity, and whether a building has an elevator are as each plan states them. Figures are medians, rounded to the nearest $10, in dollars as filed. Budgets are sponsor estimates at filing, not actual bills.