In these days when heating costs have nearly doubled in just a few years utility costs have become a rather important factor in renting an apartment. In fact, one of the reasons my roommates and I are moving out is due to excessive utility bills.

Madison's main gas and electric company has a web page where you can LOOK UP a particular address's electricity and heating average annual/monthly costs. I haven't been able to find such a service with NStar however (assuming that's what you use).