Electric Heat

[lazarru]

We're looking to move to Hunterdon Cty NJ and most of the house have electric heat. From looking at people's bills it seems that they are about the same if not lower than what I'm paying now for Gas & Electric. What are people's feelings on EH and how it works, especially those that had gas in the past?

Thanks

 

[ducklite]

I've had both over the years, and up north it was my experience that it was far more expensive to heat with electric baseboard heat than gas hot water (baseboard or forced air).

Your milage may vary...

Anne

 

[Blondy876]

We have electric heat. With gas/oil prices so high we are paying less than most.

 

[MScott1851]

We've had both...I believe that our gas bill this winter will far eclipse anything we've ever paid with electric, due to the increase in gas.

For comparison, though, my parents have electric heat in a 1800 square foot house, and last February, their bill for heat and water was $278.

My house is almost 2900 square feet, my bill includes gas (for heat and the hot water heater), electric, sewer, water, and a $25 county fire department fee, and it was only $331 in February last year.

So it's a toss-up. I am scared to run our heat a lot, and it has been below freezing here the past week. Dh and I are keeping our thermostat downstairs on 67, the upstairs unit on 65 (the heat from downstairs rises and the upstairs is actually warmer), we have a space heater in the bathroom for morning showers, a heater in the bedroom at night, and one that we turn on in the living room in the mornings. I am living in sweatsuits, we put on the flannel sheets, and have basically resigned ourselves to a cold winter. When we get the next bill, I'll see what adjustments I need to make.

 

[jipsy]

Sadly, electric heat this year will be cheaper than gas/oil in the NE.

In the south, I always had a heat pump for both heat and air. It was cheap.

 

[EthansMom]

I had electric heat pump in Maryland and natural gas heat in Utah, both of which were far cheaper than our oil heat in Connecticut. Of course, our electricity prices in Connecticut are also far more expensive than what I'm accustomed to paying elsewhere.

 

[KarenAylwood]

I have a question about electric heat. DBF and I are in our own apt for the first time and now have to worry about paying bills and whatnot. We have electric heat- my friend told me that her parents had electric heat and unknowingly turned it on and off (ie, off when not home, back up to 70 when home) and said that their bill was incredibly high because whenever they turned it on to 70, it "kicked in the reserves" and started using a ton of electricity to heat the house.

We're in an apt, and when I initially turned the heat on, little lights lit up by the thermostat "Em heat" and "aux heat". They went off once the place was heated, and I haven't seen them since... except last night when we were watching a movie w/ the lights out and we both noticed them go on. Then they went off a bit later, and again- have not seen it since.

What does this mean?? Is it better to keep it at a constant 68 degrees or turn it down when we're not home and up when we get home?

We live in southeastern, VA and just recently it got cold (first freeze last night) and is in the 40s/ low 50s during the day.

Please HELP! It would be much appreciated.

 

[mudnuri]

It really depends on your KWH price. Certain places have very high electric rates, if thats the case, then fuel oil will be cheaper.

For instance here, I can tell you that if i had an electric hot water heater, I would pay about 150-175 a month in electric. With a oil hot water heater, I pay no more than $50.00 per month. Thats a minimum savings of 100 a month. From April 1st to October 2nd, I used 176 gallons of oil. Thats 6 months, so I spent $300 on oil, where I would have spent a minimum of $600 on electric for that same hot water.

If you have low electric KWH rates, then electric would be cheaper...but not where I live. #2 fuel oil is cheaper than electric- even at 2.50 a gallon

Brandy

 

[ducklite]

Sadly, electric heat this year will be cheaper than gas/oil in the NE.

In the south, I always had a heat pump for both heat and air. It was cheap.

I agree that while this year might be an anomoly where it's less expensive to heat with electric, electric is unfortunately generated primarily by fossil fuels (unless you live in one of the few areas that uses nuclear, wind, solar, or hydro resources) and the cost will eventually catch up as they pay more for fuel as well.

BTW--I use an electric heat pump. We had to weigh the costs of heating being less efficient with electric v. gas and cooling being less efficient with gas v. electric, and determined that we'd be cooling more than heating, so the electric won out.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

MScott1851 -- Great Picture!!!

Anne

 

[LuvN~Travel]

It's changed so much! When we owned a house about six years ago, I had the gas bill down to about $35.00 a month on the budget plan. We then rented for four years in an all electric house. That bill for the electrity did go above what I had for the two in our hold house, by about $40.00 or $50.00 a month. However, in the house we are renting right now, there is NO insulation to speak of, and our gas bills last winter were $300.00 a month! I almost died when I got the first one. However, we bought a couple of electric heaters last night, and I'll be buying some more fire logs for the fireplace tonight. I am trying so HARD to not turn that heat on. Of course if my family ever gets together they may lynch me.
As of this moment, when we hopefully can start looking for a house in the next year, I am seriously thinking of all electric now. Never thought I would, but after these gas bills.....
Kim

 

[zippeedee]

One other thing is whether the house has a heat pump or baseboards.
We had a heat pump in our condo (whoever decided that was appropriate for winter in MA was loopy) but we loved that central air in the summer.
We now have baseboards with individual thermostats in each room. We keep rooms that aren't used often (guest room, office/craft room) at 60 unless we are using them. It does help to keep a more consistent temp rather than cranking it up a lot which takes more energy. The electric company did a weatherizing project a few years ago and we got free set-back thermostats that adjust based on the light in the room. It cost $138 for my electric bill last month (all electric house, 2 people). The month before was $65. I hated putting that heat on. Holiday baking and lights usuall put my January bill around $200, I think we'll need to cut back on some of that this year.