It's very high, but what I experienced in Newport too, unfortunately. I was in Newport ~5 years ago in a small 1br, and those winter electricity bills were double what I'm currently getting charged in a good sized 2br over in downtown (Columbus towers). They definitely had much worse insulation in my Newport apt.

So to your question, they can be high in JC but not THAT high everywhere. Newport was higher than other high-rises in jc in my experience.

Depends on what you're looking for. Like a lot of commenters noted, there are a lot of good dog-friendly parks in the area. Apartments with personal/small-group shared yards are rare and fairly small in the area. But there are a lot of managed buildings with large outdoor spaces if it's financially/style what you want. I love Columbus Towers, big outdoor space and LOTS of dogs here, plus it's nice to have someone at a front desk to manage things esp if you're getting used to the area. I'd usually recommend trying the larger apartments for a year to ease into to neighborhood, but it's definitely not for everyone.