Home heating costs

[REWahoo]

My conclusion is that there is no inflation in home heating costs.

Check back with us next May...

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Average price per gallon of home heating oil where I live here in New England is currently $4.40 (last year I locked in at $2.60). According to my oil dealer the average usage in his area here is 800-1,000 gallons per home per heating season. So if that holds it will be $3,500 to $4,400 next year to heat. I'm already working on my 2009 budget. Some fun stuff has to go.

I'm also in the North East. I just checked fuel oil total for the last 12 months. About $3300. I can imagine the following 12 will easily be north of 4k. This is for a house about 2800 sq. ft. for which in winter I keep at 62 degrees during the day (while there) and 58 while sleeping. At 4.2k this will be 3X my 2003 actual $1400.

 

[Zoocat]

My heating/electric bill for my 1200 sq ft condo here in Colorado averages about $63/mo. Less than I've been paying for my gasoline/mo since prices went up to $3.65 + gallon. My highest utility bill was $75 for January. I live in a new development with high efficiency heating/air and gas appliances. Also, the building is very well insulated. I keep the temperature about 70 during the day and 65 at night.

The rental (same size but vintage 1985) I had three years ago had electric heat and appliances and the highest bill in winter was $150.

 

[Nords]

Just means a lot more northerns moving to the year round warmth of sunny San Antonio.

Pray for a mild winter

Well, we're just going to close our windows (if we can find them all), put on our socks, pants, & sweaters (if we can find any of them), and also pray for a mild winter.

Hopefully it won't get all the way down to the 60s like it did last winter. And that winter a couple years back, the one with a few days in the 50s, boy that was almost a killer.

When I get older I think I'm going to need to buy a neoprene rash guard for January's surfing...

 

[REWahoo]

Well, we're just going to close our windows (if we can find them all), put on our socks, pants, & sweaters (if we can find any of them), and also pray for a mild winter.

Hopefully it won't get all the way down to the 60s like it did last winter. And that winter a couple years back, the one with a few days in the 50s, boy that was almost a killer.

Nords, we're all aware you never stoop to using emoticons, believing that the written word is far better way to express yourself. I might beg to differ with you in this particular situation. Seems to me you could have used this to convey your message much more succinctly:

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Tiger sharks gonna eat him for that.

You'll notice I've stopped blabbing about the 60 degree winter weather now that the 100 degree stuff is right around the corner...

 

[Nords]

Sorry, it's hard to hold back on these winter threads!

Seriously, for the upcoming heating prices it might be cheaper to buy a plane ticket...

 

[FIREd]

Living in the deep south, we use an electric heat pump to heat the house. Electricity has increased *only* 25% in the past 3 years but we just installed a new heat pump 33% more efficient than the old one so it will help control heating costs. With the old heat pump our monthly electric bill in the winter was $160 on average.

 

[chinaco]

The large suburban home may be a dinosaur if energy costs keep rising. The cost of building and maintaining it could substantially more. Not to mention the cost of driving 60 miles back and forth to work.

Do you think home values in the burbs will drop? And City dwellings increase?

 

[W2R]

My last electric bill was only $51.40, on May 16th. My last natural gas bill was just $25.51 on May 13th.

Since my heat is via natural gas, and my A/C usage results in a higher electric bill, I can only conclude that last month was SPRING!

Lately, we're all about heat and (especially) humidity, but that's a New Orleans summer for you. I expect my next electric bill will be much bigger.

 

[Zathras]

The large suburban home may be a dinosaur if energy costs keep rising. The cost of building and maintaining it could substantially more. Not to mention the cost of driving 60 miles back and forth to work.

Do you think home values in the burbs will drop? And City dwellings increase?

Price of existing homes may for the reasons you mention.
For new homes, I don't think so. It will require that builders:
Build smart.
Use cheaper alternatives.
And that society improves
Mass transit .
High efficiency vehicles.

 

[HFWR]

I have natural gas heat and water heat; electric everythng else. This is some data for my 1650sf shack in north Texas. The 2008 data is skewed, of course, since summer has just begun...


NATGAS ELECTRIC
YEAR AVG HIGH LOW AVG HIGH LOW

2005 38 87 20 127 240 64
2006 35 96 16 165 323 77
2007 35 81 18 134 253 48
2008 52 79 23 84 101 74

 

[REWahoo]

HFWR, so your total monthly energy cost average was:

2005 - $165 ($0.100/SF)
2006 - $200 ($0.121/SF)
2007 - $169 ($0.101/SF)

For comparison, my numbers (2,350 SF [-]Northern Mexico[/-] South TX) were:

2005 - $181 ($0.077/SF)
2006 - $156 ($0.066/SF)
2007 - $158 ($0.067/SF)

EDIT: The above numbers also include the electricity costs for water and sewage (2 water well pumps and 2 aerobic septic system pumps).

 

[Lsbcal]

We live in northern California. For 2007 our costs were:

2007 $184/mo ($.056/SF)

Well, it's a big house . Also threw in $200 for cost of wood for fireplace. In the winter we've taken to turning off heating at around 5pm and just using the wood stove.

 

[HFWR]

Aside from needing my distribution plenum re-done (I know it's not airtight), and the ridge vents not working effectively, and needing new windows...

My son is a day sleeper, after working the all-night at Wallyworld, and he tries to keep the house 72F during the day...

And, TXU doesn't even give a kiss before I bend over...

I'm working all those issues; cha-ching!! :-(

 

[REWahoo]

And, TXU doesn't even give a kiss before I bend over...

That's where I'm very fortunate. Three years ago I took advantage of our Co-Op's offer to sign up for wind generated power at $0.08 KWh. The cost hasn't changed more than a tenth of a cent during those three years. If I'd remained on the standard plan I'd be paying close to $0.10 KWh right now. Still a relative bargain, but I prefer what I've got - for obvious reasons.

 

[tryan]

Yeah, in NH we paid $4700 last winter .... 4k in gas, 700 in wood for the stove. Thinking I need to add a second wood stove to the second chimney. NO WAY I am locking into a pre-buy at these prices.

The geothermal at the lake was $1500 (electric) and 3 cords of "free" wood (taken from the lot).

 

[HFWR]

That's where I'm very fortunate. Three years ago I took advantage of our Co-Op's offer to sign up for wind generated power at $0.08 KWh. The cost hasn't changed more than a tenth of a cent during those three years. If I'd remained on the standard plan I'd be paying close to $0.10 KWh right now. Still a relative bargain, but I prefer what I've got - for obvious reasons.

According to TXU, I paid $0.138/KWh last month.

Wind power; I'm impressed! Per T. Boone Pickens: "I'm so green, I look like a gourd..."

 

[Calgary_Girl]

That's where I'm very fortunate. Three years ago I took advantage of our Co-Op's offer to sign up for wind generated power at $0.08 KWh.quote]

I locked into a 5 year contract last spring for $0.07/kWh. I'm now glad I did because they're offering the same 5 yr contract at $0.08/kWh today.

 

[W2R]

According to the electric bill I just got today, I used 749 kWh from 4/18 through 5/19.
The "energy charge" is $42.10 so that must be $0.056/kWh
The fuel adjustment is $40.15 at $.05381/kWh.
The 2005 FRP Refund (whatever that is) is -$4.23, so my total bill is $78.02.

Certainly more than last month, but I can't complain.

Does your $0.08/kWh include the fuel adjustment? I suspect that it does, in which case it's a LOT better rate than I am getting.

 

[REWahoo]

According to the electric bill I just got today, last month I used 749 kWh.
The "energy charge" is $42.10 so that must be $0.056/kWh
The fuel adjustment is $40.15 at $.05381/kWh.
The 2005 FRP Refund (whatever that is) is -$4.23, so my total bill is $78.02.

You think slicing it into two pieces will make the $0.10417/kWh total charge look better? Remind me again, where did you go to school?

 

[W2R]

You think slicing it into two pieces will make the $0.10417/kWh total charge look better? Remind me again, where did you go to school?

Uh... $0.10417? That would be 3 parts.



Well that really sux, if your $0.08/kWh includes fuel adjustment. You are doing well in comparison with rates here!

 

[REWahoo]

Well that really sux, if your $0.08/kWh includes fuel adjustment.

Yep, it does. I pay $0.017 for the 'Availability Charge' (infrastructure, transmission lines, etc.) and $0.063 for 'Wind Power'.

But you have an excellent point as you have to include all (three, four, etc.) charges to get an apples to apples comparison of what you're paying per kWh.

Speaking of that..

I locked into a 5 year contract last spring for $0.07/kWh. I'm now glad I did because they're offering the same 5 yr contract at $0.08/kWh today.

That's an outstanding rate. Does that include all charges for your electrical service, including power generation, fuel, infrastructure, transmission, etc.?

 

[Calgary_Girl]

That's an outstanding rate. Does that include all charges for your electrical service, including power generation, fuel, infrastructure, transmission, etc.?

I wish! That's only the energy charge. D&T are separate charges ($17.88 last month) plus some other minor charges like admin fee, etc. Our TOTAL electricity cost was $63.01 last month.

 

[TromboneAl]

I couldn't resist any more.

2007-2008 Heating




2008-2009 Heating



2009-2010 Heating



All scrounged from storm-hit trees, free.