I've never heard of the city fining you for not having a green lawn. You can get in trouble for not mowing, and if you're in an HOA, maybe they require watering, but my lawn stays plenty green without any sprinkling.

My electric bill is about $80 in the summer to keep my $125k, 2000 sqft house at 72F. Not too bad IMO.

And everyone (40% of the houses in my neighborhood?) who waters their lawn does so at dawn and dusk, not 2AM. If you water in the middle of the night when the grass is cold and dormant, you can get mold.

If you think that's expensive, try living in Australia.

Air conditioning is mandatory some areas, with temperatures in Sydney peaking over 40 C (105 F) in the summer, and electricity costs 27 cents per kWh (US$0.20).

That's ridiculously cheap electricity! I assume that's just the lowest tier? Can most people make it through the month at that rate, or do the rates typically jump mid-way through?

It's not really cheap. 20 cents per kWh is double the US average.

Australia has some of the most expensive electricity prices in the world, as Australia is completely incapable of managing its infrastructure properly.

Mine starts at 27 cents for the cheapest tier, then jumps to 48 and 55 cents for higher use. I'm looking forward to paying the US average some day.

Ridiculously cheap power to me means 2 to 4 cents per kWh. I consider 11 cents per kWh (which is what Seattle's rates are) to be extremely high, especially compared to areas just outside Seattle proper.

Well, I guess I'm in for a price cut someday when I move to a different part of the country. My electric starts at $0.27/kWh, then goes up to $0.48, then $0.55 for higher usage. I have no idea what the cutoffs are for hitting those higher tiers, as I've never done it.