Anything different heating this winter?

[njhowie]

Energy costs are way up this year - are you doing, or planning to do anything different this year?

I saw a story this past week about folks turning off their heat and making do without it. It resonated with me as I decided to do similar weeks ago.

Our home uses oil for heat. In the spring, with our last fill, it was about $6.50/gallon, which is significantly higher than we've ever paid. When I read the total charge, I nearly fell over. Totally unexpected to be so high. Today, I'm guessing it's still between $6.25 and $6.50/gallon. From past experience, whatever diesel is at the pump, our oil company charges about 50 cents above that.

Normally, I try to hold out turning the heat on until November 1. This year was very easy to make it that far as we had extremely mild weather in October. Even now, daytime temperatures are mid-40s to mid-50s. However, I've decided to do more this year and not turn it on. We're using a couple of small electric space heaters in whichever room we're hanging out in, and the bedroom at night. I'm willing to trade a higher electric bill for not paying (so much) for oil. We still need the oil for hot water, but that is a minimal amount. I have the safety on the Nest thermostat by the bedrooms set at 40, which is the lowest it goes. The small space heater has been excellent in the bedroom with the door closed at night. At the other end of the house, the safety on the Nest is set to 45 - the fridge begins to freak out at that temperature or lower. Thus far, the safety did kick in below 45 a couple nights for about 25 minutes. So not bad at all.

If the electric bill comes in $100 to $150/month higher, maybe even $200 higher for the next few months, I'll be happy.

I've told DW and DD (when visiting) to simply bundle up around the house, throw an extra blanket on the bed at night, and wear long johns. We have better things to do with the money than give it to the oil company.

We have a fairly large home and there's no reason to heat the whole thing if we're only in a small section of it.

So, are you doing anything different this year considering the higher heating costs?

 

[38Chevy454]

I feel sorry for those with oil heating as the price this year is beyond reasonable cost. You at least can afford it if you choose, many will have to make hard decisions. Afraid to say that you are not the only one who will be living in a colder house this winter. It is sad that this is the situation, when it doesn't have to be that way except for political decisions that affect oil throughout the world. That's all I will say on that, as none of us can change the current situation,we can only deal with it.

No changes for us here, we're in the country a bit and on heat pump with propane backup. So using small elec resistance heaters doesn't really help with cost. My heat pump switches over to propane when outside temp is 25F or less. Heat pump can still make heat at less than 25, just becomes less efficient. The real fix is turning down the thermostat and heading south snowbirding for a while. Still have to heat the house, but not as much.

 

[COcheesehead]

Not necessarily related to heating, but we found we could save a lot on utilities by dialing back the regeneration on our tankless water heater. There are two settings: an economy and a comfort setting. The comfort setting delivers hot water instantly, but regenerates twice as much. The economy makes you wait a bit, but we found it cut our utilities by quite a lot.

 

[aja8888]

Nothing different as our natural gas heat is inexpensive.

What I did do different was move from the cold climate (Connecticut) in 1981 to California and now Texas.

When in Connecticut during the 70's oil embargo's (we heated with oil at that time) was put in a wood stove and heat with hardwood.

 

[Dash man]

In Pennsylvania we are allowed to shop for electricity and natural gas prices. I’m locked into a price for natural gas in a three year contract at half the current prices. It expires in September 2023, so I’ll likely pay higher prices next winter. I have a two year contract for electricity that’s good for another 18 months.

 

[Jerry1]

We're using natural gas and what I found is that the increase is not that bag. Not good, but not as expected. Yes, natural gas prices have increased significantly. However, a review of our bill shows that the natural gas cost is actually a low percentage of the total cost. The fees and taxes are a major part of the bill and those did not change much. We live in Michigan and our bill went up about $30 over the same time last year and with very similar usage.

 

[Trailwalker]

No changes here. We have a gas furnace for when we are gone overnight but otherwise have heated with wood for past twenty years.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

Haven't turned on the heater since 2015. 2, 3, sometimes 4 layers of clothes on upper body is sufficient. I used to never wear beenies, now I own a few. We keep the windows open at night as well. We'll be closing them sometime in Dec/Jan.

Last natural gas bill was $17.51.

 

[REWahoo]

Our heating costs (heat pump, all electric home) are unchanged this year. Our Co-Op has some long-term contracts with suppliers and has not increased rates.

 

[audreyh1]

We live in a mild almost non-existent winter area.

Otherwise we don’t try to save energy any more than we did before and not planning on changes even though the per kWh costs jumped 50% this year. Our energy costs are still really low compared to our other monthly spending.

 

[SnowballCamper]

We rented a place with oil heat back in about 2014...The heat was close to half the rent (in Putnam County, NY). Any other source of heat (except maybe electric resistance) is going to be cheaper and well worth the costs for conversion IMHO. Our forever home has natural gas heat and is very well insulated... heat (gas) bill is around $50-60 a month in the winter.

EDIT to add: There are lots of programs for energy upgrades from fed govt. and individual utilities, but sometimes take some research to find.

 

[pacergal]

So far, no plans to change. We heat by natural gas, and have two small electric heaters and wood insert as back up. We have a 60+ year old house with no insulation in the walls. We have insulated beneath the floors and added some to the attic.
I have the night setting at 58-60, day at 68. We replaced our furnace with a more efficient model a few years ago.
We pay via "equal pay" so the bill is the same amount during the year, so no unexpected bills.

 

[Music Lover]

We have natural gas, it costs about $500 - $600 to heat our house for an entire Canadian winter. I didn't retire to have to skimp and refuse to be cold or have to overdress so we keep the house at a comfortable temp all winter.

 

[Calico]

I grew up in old New England houses (think 200+ years old) with no insulation, and a penny pinching father, and I was always cold.

In my 20's I wasn't making much money, and I lived in a cold basement apartment in Chicago, because I could afford it. It was safe, and perfectly adequate, just difficult to keep warm.

In my 30's I rented an old house in Maine for two years - again, zero insulation. Ice used to accumulate on the inside of the bedroom windows.

I didn't work and save for 48 years to be cold at this stage of my life. My house is heated with propane, and I keep it toasty warm during the day, and slightly less warm at night. If the cost of propane skyrockets, I will cut back on other things before I start layering clothes and shivering.

I've earned my comfort, and I don't have any other indulgences!!

 

[teetee]

The thermostat is adjusted from 60 to 55 degrees and I have purchased a heating mattress pad. Instead of keeping the whole house warm, the cheaper choice is to just keep my bed warm before I go to bed.

I bundle up during the day and raise the temperature to 58 degree.

 

[Alan]

Our house is heated with a gas boiler heating water that is pumped through radiators in each room. Each radiator is fitted with a thermostatic valve which shuts off the heat when the set temperature is reached. A few weeks ago I changed out most of them with programmable thermostatic valves so as well as having a temperature set for those rooms we can now have different schedules, all controlled and monitored by an app on our phones. For example, we only need the in-use bedrooms to heat up in the early morning before the occupants get up and then be off all day until an hour or so before bedtime.

 

[zinger1457]

Propane hasn't gone up much in my area, paid $2.07/gal back in 2017 to fill the tank, could fill it today for $2.14/gal if needed.

 

[Koolau]

During oil-shock #1 our propane began its rise from 17 cents per gallon until (after oil shock #2) it was $1.20. We did all the extra clothes and 55 degrees at night (seeing our breath upon trips to the bathroom.) Then I put in a high efficiency wood stove. Biggest issue was that the house was kinda long and narrow so heat didn't travel easily from the living room (stove area) to the bedrooms. Using the furnace's recirculate function did help some.

Here in paradise today, it is cold (for us) at 71 degrees. Big cold front came through with 30 mph winds. Our windows are closed, but they don't seal well. There is no heat - even if we wanted it. So, here in paradise, we are wearing long pants and two tops. At least it doesn't cost us any more money. If it gets any colder, however, DW will run the hair dryer in the bathroom during her shower (we don't own an electric space heater.) At 30 to 40 cents per KWh that adds up pretty quickly.

 

[DektolMan]

Here in CV our home is 100% electric. Our raters are going up 100% from 12.1 kWh to 24 kWh. We are turning down our thermostat but as others have said we've worked hard to be able to afford to be warm when we want to.

 

[RobbieB]

Heating here in the Central Valley is way less expensive than cooling. Spending the difference in good eats -

 

[rk911]

Energy costs are way up this year - are you doing, or planning to do anything different this year?...So, are you doing anything different this year considering the higher heating costs?

nope. we heat with natural gas but use electric space heaters for support (older house with inadequate ducting). it is what it is.

 

[W2R]

As everybody knows, New Orleans can be pretty hot. I do turn the heat on sometimes in the wintertime. Usually, my annual natural gas bill has been about $350 (averaging about $30/month), and this includes heat, plus my gas dryer, gas stove, and gas water heater. Even if my bill doubled, that wouldn't be too bad. But if my (natural gas) heating bill became exorbitant, I'd turn off the heat and a blanket would suffice.

When I lived in Virginia, we'd hear about older people freezing to death in their homes after snow/ice storms. As I grow older, I'd rather live in the South and deal with the heat.

 

[Graybeard]

I'm doing the same thing I have done since 1991, I am heating with a woodstove. It is always warm to hot at the south end of the house. It is an open floor plan with 12' ceiling with 2 ceiling fans, the south wall is 66%+ glass so a lot of passive solar in Winter, if it is 30° or above and sunny I can let the woodstove go out.

It is typically 74 to 75° but often goes to 78 to 80 and that is uncomfortable. I will crack a window to let in the cold air unless it is nighttime. The north end of the house is usually 10-15° cooler, 60-63°, and that is fine as that is where the bedrooms are.

I watched the price of fuel oil daily from March to September and it was in the $6+ range at times. I needed oil and was almost out, typically I fill the 275 gallon tank in August when oil is the cheapest. By sheer luck I ordered it on a September day when it I felt that was as low as I could hope for it to be and it was the lowest it ever went. It cost $817 for just over 200 gallons and at $3.93 was the most I ever paid or darn close to the highest price but that will now last 12 months as it is basically used for hot water.

People have been forced to chose between food and medicine but this year heat is now in that mix. Some will have to decide between starving, going without meds or freezing, this did not have to happen and is self inflicted. There will be great misery among the poor elderly this Winter.

 

[Car-Guy]

No changes for us and we are all electric.... Actually, we haven't noticed much change in our bills from last year.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Soaring energy costs in the aughts motivated me to reduce our heating oil consumption. I had a wood pellet boiler installed, and it has been our primary heat source for 10 years. We live in an old farm house on a windy hill; at the height of winter we used to go through a tank of fuel oil every seven or eight weeks. The pellets cut our heating bill by about half, and we were a lot less stingy about warming the house.

I know a lot of easterners heat with pellets. The fuel is quite a bit cheaper out here in the Midwest. It's a chore hauling the pellets into the basement and feeding them into the heater, but I don't mind it and my labor is free.