Put in a 95% furnace and gas will be cheaper again!
At $.06/kwh you are paying $17.76 per million BTU for resistance electric heat.
At $1.3/therm, 65% furnace you are paying $20 per million BTU
Or with a 94% furnace you are paying $13.83 per million BTU.
Don't forget all taxes and city charges! Our utility advertises $.06 per kwh, but after taxes and other misc charges it comes out to close to $.08 per kwh. Gas is similar! Advertised $1.12 per therm, but it comes out to $1.66 per therm. Also gas has gone up in price, but electric rates will follow along too. I was working at a large government owned electricity provider today and was told electric is going up soon. At this time my bet is if in your area gas has been historically cheaper it will continue to do so. Greg
Anyone considering a conversion to electric heat now that gas is so expensive. According to my utility, electric heat is now cheaper than gas when using a 65% AFUE furnace. Our gas is $1.3/therm vs 6 cents/kwh for electric.
So 65,000 BTUs output with a 65% AFUE) gas heater costs $1.30, while
65,000 BTUs of electric resistance heat costs $1.14. If you live in a mild climate, where the low temperature is rarely below 25-30F, an electric heatpump can cut the cost by 2-3. Remember that heaters are actually rated in BTUs/hour, not BTUs.
65% AFUE is unusually low by today's standards, and 90% AFUE gas heaters are very common and not particularly more expensive.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, electricity is fairly cheap (about 7.5 cents per KW), and electric heat is quite common.
However, even if electric cost more than gas, I would personally still opt for electric. It's mostly future proof, since electricity can be produced by hydroelectric dams, wind generators, solar power, nuclear plants, and even coal and natural gas generators. Gas prices may continue to soar, and who knows what future availability will be. Poor efficiency furnaces will need to be updated with newer technology. Electric is always 100% efficient, even with old heaters.
From a practical standpoint, I don't have to worry about gas leaks, carbon monoxide poisoning, etc. And since gas lines aren't available in my rural area, I don't need a big gas tank in my yard.
We heat our home with individual electric wall heaters. This lets us heat only the rooms we occupy, and set the bedrooms at lower temps than the rest of the house. No ductwork to collect dirt and blow dust all over the house, and no filters to maintain. And if I add a room or want additional heat, I can easily add another electric heater.
Yes; I was also wondering where one gets electricity for 6 cents/kWh!
But I'm wondering is that is the 'total' price.
I live in Eastern Canada (in a province where we make the stuff using hydro!) and heat electrically. Domestically we are billed a monthly account charge of around $15.69 (Canadian) , whether we use any electricity or not. Our electricity used cost is then 8.458 cents per kWh in addition to that. There is a discount of
1.5% on those two items, if the bill is paid on time and then 15% sales tax is added.
Typically taking all that into account our overall electricity cost in summer is around 11 cents/kWh; and in winter due to the higher consumption, is now around 10 cents/kWh. this all in Can. currency which is approx 0.84 US. So our electricity cost, in winter for example, is equivalent to about 8.4 cents US per kWh. (Roughly for UK listeners that's about four (4) new pence. Here there are no cheap/reduced rates, as in some European (UK) countries for electricity consumed late at night/early morning during off-peak periods, same rate, domestically anyway, during the 24 hours.
It is understood that in some jurisdictions, such as Ontario there is a somewhat different costing; so that although the cost of domestic electricity consumed was, or still is? limited by government legislation, to
4.5 cents per kWh there are other charges on each customers bill to cover the cost of 'Capital Investment'. That includes, we understand, some high costs for their aging and needing to be replaced atomic energy electrical generating plants!
It might be cheaper and with also concerns about environmental global warming (Those floods and hurricanes are getting expensive eh?), for North American utilities (Ontario, Massachusets, Maine, New York, Ohio etc.) to buy electricity to be transmitted from the proposed new hydro development called 'Lower Churchill' in Newfoundland-Labrador.
I've also read that electricity in say Hawaii is expensive at around 22 cents per? but i guess they don't have to much heating?
Yes, but a heat pump might cut than number in half except on the very cold days.
We moved from a medium sized townhouse (1200 sq ft plus semi-finished basement) to a good sized ranch home on full basement (3000+ sq ft of living space). The townhome had gas heat and air conditioning; the ranch house is all electric. The electric bill for the ranch house was about the same as the combined electric/gas for the townhouse. And that was back in 1998.
We rent out the townhouse. The vent for the gas furnace and the gas water heater is metal. IF ANYTHING ever goes wrong with that vent, we will convert the place over to ALL ELECTRIC. The vent space could be use to run electric and communication wiring for upgrades to the upper floors.
You MUST have electric service anyway so the metering charge is already built in. If you can get rid of the gas service (with all electric) you might be ahead.
You're paying $0.06 per kwh for the electricity, yes, but the chances are, you're ALSO paying $0.08 per kwh for transmission charges plus taxes.
My town own its own municipal power plant. We pay about $.11/kwh. The good news is that if we pay the bill within a fixed time frame (10 days or so) we get a 20% discount off the billed amount. MLD
Nothing wrong with a heat pump if the rates are good, and the climate is mild. in my area we see a few, in fact my dad has one in his home. Heat pumps stop producing effective heat at 10-20 degrees. If you see allot of time below that number gas may be a better choice, certainly at the prices the OP stated.
As far as the metal venting for you heat and water heater you could easily go with an electric water heater and a high efficiency furnace and do away with the old metal chimney. Again, you temperatures and energy prices will help make the decision. Greg
Ed, here in North Dakota we pay 6 cents per kWh. Now add city tax and a couple of other B.S. charges and my electric comes to a whopping 8 cents! In fact I have my last bill in my hand right now.$82.22 or 998 kWh, which equals $0.082. Listed price per kWh is $0.062. Winter that rates drops by about 8/10ths of a cent, so we get a better deal in the winter months. Greg
Had the unit a GAS stove, if would not feel the same way. (I had put in a GAS clothes dryer but that must be close to 20 years old by now.)
I have a gut feeling that 'lectric is the way to go with this unit. When the time comes to take a decision I will ask the gas company to make some recomendations. If they don't come up with a package and a price (like the electric company often does), they will have one less meter to read.
You make good point but if you lived in New England you may change your mind. Our winters are more severe and out electric rates are more than double yours.
Electricity is not truly 100% efficient. Those power plants making it with fossil fuels are much less than that. You do pay for their waste. I'd like to see more hydro power though.
Its .0605 cents CDN KWH or under 5 cents US here in British Columbia Canada. Nearly all hydroelectric power from dams built in the 60's and paid off years ago. Owned by the people of BC..not private 'money making' electrical companies as in the USA.
Yeah, I might have to rethink my position if my electric bill was doubled. :) But, I would still have a hard time switching to gas. I'd spend more time improving insulation and minimizing the space I have to heat.
I chose individual electric wall heaters in our new house, partly because the furnace in our old house broke down one year. We were without heat for nearly two weeks in the middle of winter while waiting for a part to be ordered! With the individual heaters, one or more can quit working and we still have other heaters in the house to keep warm. For those rare times when the electricity goes out altogether, we have a woodstove too.
True, but I'd rather the power plant deal with maintenance, efficiency, polution, and all that instead of me.
Hydro is common around here, but it's not a perfect solution either. Fish populations are on the decline, not only an environmental problem, but it affects fisherman making their living by fishing too.
Wind power is gaining popularity, but I thought I read somewhere it has negative side effects too?
Nuclear is nice, but has it's own risks and there's no where to store the waste.
I guess everything is a tradeoff...
Maybe hydrogen generators or fuel cells will be the answer? :)
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