A second "Oh, dear." Utility costs

[militaryman]

Natural gas: $10.50 per month if you use nothing plus about $1.24 per one-hundred cubic feet (CCF). For August we used 12 CCF and the bill was about $27. We have gas water, gas dryer. We won't run the gas heat until December. February gas bill is about $200.

Electric averages about $160 a month with as high as $220 in summer and as low as $50 a month in winter.

This is for a 3000 sq ft McMansion near Houston. Our bills in 2007 and 2008 have been lower than in 2006.

Your about where I am at (utility cost and house size)

I have often thought that, with my houses high ceilings, if heating and cooling costs ever got ridiculous I could put up some walls and ceilings (portable and temporary) to heat and cool only the livingroom and a bedroom or two.

I mean selling a 3000 sq ft house if utilities doubled again would get harder and harder. (just like people trying to dump their trucks today)

What would others do if your utilities started to run 500/mo ?

 

[OAG]

Your about where I am at (utility cost and house size)

I have often thought that, with my houses high ceilings, if heating and cooling costs ever got ridiculous I could put up some walls and ceilings (portable and temporary) to heat and cool only the livingroom and a bedroom or two.

I mean selling a 3000 sq ft house if utilities doubled again would get harder and harder. (just like people trying to dump their trucks today)

What would others do if your utilities started to run 500/mo ?

Ceiling fans on LOW and set for Winter (air coming down the walls) - would do a better job IMO.

 

[militaryman]

Ceiling fans on LOW and set for Winter (air coming down the walls) - would do a better job IMO.

Hmm with a 3000 sq ft house that has ceilings varying from 10 up to 20 ft in height I think that if I was able to change my heated/cooled space from 3000sq ft to under <800 sq ft (and bring ceiling height of that 800 to <8ft) I would drastically cut my bill.

Just talking about doing it if utilities went crazy ...

Existing gasfireplace could easily heat living room and bedroom by using a fan or two for circulating/dispersion of heat (window a/c unit in summer) Therefore the House heat and a/c could be set at say 82 in summer and 60 in winter and hardly come on.

 

[al_bundy]

my wife and i saw a few homes with vaulted ceilings

i told her no way because the heating costs will be sky high

 

[militaryman]

my wife and i saw a few homes with vaulted ceilings

i told her no way because the heating costs will be sky high

It does make a difference. I Heat to 70 degrees at a height of 5ft. If I put a thermometer on a stick and check it at the 20ft height it is 86 degrees up there!

 

[Zathras]

Yeah, ceiling fans will help a ton, circulating some of than 86 degree air back down to the floor.
We specifically made a choice for no vaulted ceilings for that reason and an open floorplan air flows well from downstairs to upstairs so we only need to use the in-floor heat in the winter).
For an existing house, the most effective things may be better insulation and ceiling fans.
Most utilities will offer cheap 'energy audits' which will give you a better idea of where your biggest losses are happening.

 

[militaryman]

Yeah, ceiling fans will help a ton, circulating some of than 86 degree air back down to the floor.
We specifically made a choice for no vaulted ceilings for that reason and an open floorplan air flows well from downstairs to upstairs so we only need to use the in-floor heat in the winter).
For an existing house, the most effective things may be better insulation and ceiling fans.
Most utilities will offer cheap 'energy audits' which will give you a better idea of where your biggest losses are happening.

Ok, Agreed. And that might save you say 20-30% (maybe) on your utility bills but what if a year from now your bill is 400/mo average and it looks like that will continue that way.

What drastic steps could you take other than downsizing the McMansion that noone wants to buy?

 

[OAG]

Look at #19. These costs are for a VAULTED three level home; with one ceiling fan (which we mostly only use on extreme days, in the summer for cooling). These costs are well below the AVERAGE costs as provided by the local Utility Companies. However, someplace like Florida (where we lived for 19 years) I definitely would never purchase a two level home or one with something called a BONUS room as the summer heat can be tough even with extensive insulation.

 

[eridanus]

Yep, that's the only accurate way to do it. If all charges aren't included in your calculation you're just fooling yourself.

Ah, good point.

That puts me at $.072/KWH.

Gas comes to $2.32/CCF. Most of that is due to fixed costs.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Funny how wildly different the gas and electric rates are around the country. Electricity makes a lot more sense than gas...you'd think gas rates would be pretty darn close.

 

[Zathras]

Ok, Agreed. And that might save you say 20-30% (maybe) on your utility bills but what if a year from now your bill is 400/mo average and it looks like that will continue that way.

What drastic steps could you take other than downsizing the McMansion that noone wants to buy?

Depends on your area, and house. Insulation could save you as much as 50% and the fans another 5%,10% percent?

If you are looking at truly catastropic costs, it is always easier to plan in advance than fix it once it happens. Good windows, geothermal system, heck a granite hallway next to a south facing windows that open the entire south side of the house (with good blinds for summer).

If you didn't plan ahead, turning the thermostat down (in the winter) or up (in the summer) 10 degrees should help quite a bit.