How do you estimate utilities?

[Lloyd Stein]

So I've built this excel document that does rough calculations of 2% test, Cap Rate and CoCROI and while I'm pulling most of the numbers from sources I can find (realizing they are not exact, but in the ballpark), the one thing that keeps tripping me up is how to estimate utilities.

I know that every building will have their utilities set up differently. Sometimes the landlord just pays for water, sometimes water and gas, etc, and then each state is gonna be different (I'm looking in Ohio), but is there anyway to get a decent handle on utilities...at least enough to get a number for initial calculations?

I have a feeling the answer was "no", but figured I would throw it out to the experienced investors to see how they do it.

Thanks,
Lloyd