Cost of energy in a ~2000 sq foot house

[staceychev]

I'm really curious as to what other people are spending every month for energy bills in a medium-sized (approx 2000 square foot house). This came up for me a couple of months ago when we were considering converting our boiler from oil to gas, and then hit me again reading a reaction on another thread to what I pay for oil each month. So, if you're willing to share, can we compare notes?

House: 3BR/2.5BA. ca. 1885, only a few rooms are insulated, original windows with storm windows installed, no A/C unless we put in our window units.

Climate: Normal average cold weather is in the 30's, summers are warm and humid.

System: oil boiler with water-filled radiators (the old-fashioned kind). We keep the temp at 68 when we're here and awake, and 64 when we're asleep or gone.

Costs: $200/month for a level payment plan over 10 months for our oil. Last year it was $280, but we came out $900 ahead so we lowered it considerably. Our g/e bill, which covers electric, cooking gas, and hot water heater, is about $120 if we're not running any window A/Cs.

[SleeplessMommy]

Check out the home energy yardstick:

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?...showGetStarted



You can have insulation blown into the walls of your home - assuming there is no knob and tube wiring there. Dense packed cellulose insulation in the walls, more cellulose in the attic space. It is even tax deductible Adding insulation is the first step, before you upgrade a boiler - that way the replacement boiler can be smaller.

A good book on the subject is Insulate and Weatherize, by Bruce Harley.

We are about 4 hours west of you, similar climate. We have a newer house, our heating cost per square foot is about half of yours. (high efficiency natural gas furnace, well insulated attic, lightly insulated walls, large window area).

[nd_deadhead]

We live in North Dakota (cold in the winter, hot in the summer), and have natural gas heat; everything else is electric. Both are paid in one bill, so I don't usually pay that much attention to how much is heat and how much electric. But our annual averaged amount is $140/month for both. Our house is about the same size as yours, and we have two teenaged boys (so lots of electronics, laundry, long showers, etc).

[Denvergirlie]

1650+ sq feet

Denver, CO - summer highs around 92, winter lows average 20

1900 is when the house was built - orginal windows, no insulation in walls (2 layers of brick with plaster), very old, not effective insulation batting in roof, with some small holes the balast/ eves....

Keep heat no higher than 65 in the winter, might bump up to 70 when we have guests for a few days over the holidays.

Combined electric/ gas bill - averages $75 in summer and $185 in winter
** No AC in the summer

[kittywitty]

Ours is around 1500-2000 sq. feet, I believe. Newly insulated ~100 year old house give or take. It's one story which also makes a difference. Over the summer, we had no gas bill other than just for "maintenance fees" and no c/a. Our bill was under $100 including our electric brand new water heater. We also have a gas boiler, but it's 10 years old. Last year, the previous owners told us it cost between $100-300 a month (including a gas water heater before the new electric one was installed), but they also kept their heat on 74 and kept the window units in the windows which decreases efficiency. We keep our heat on 68 and haven't had a bill yet. We should get one soon and I will update.

[Kristine233]

If we heat with the primary heat source (municiple steam) the way it was intended... our monthly bill in winter ranges from $900-$1100 a month. 2400+sqft 5 bedroom 3 levels and a full basement. Built in 1912, fully reinsulated just a couple years ago. Summer is about $200 (or less). With wood being burned fulltime in the winter our bill ranges form $300-$400 a month.

[chirp]

Originally Posted by staceychev

I'm really curious as to what other people are spending every month for energy bills in a medium-sized (approx 2000 square foot house). This came up for me a couple of months ago when we were considering converting our boiler from oil to gas, and then hit me again reading a reaction on another thread to what I pay for oil each month. So, if you're willing to share, can we compare notes?

House: 3BR/2.5BA. ca. 1885, only a few rooms are insulated, original windows with storm windows installed, no A/C unless we put in our window units.

Climate: Normal average cold weather is in the 30's, summers are warm and humid.

System: oil boiler with water-filled radiators (the old-fashioned kind). We keep the temp at 68 when we're here and awake, and 64 when we're asleep or gone.

Costs: $200/month for a level payment plan over 10 months for our oil. Last year it was $280, but we came out $900 ahead so we lowered it considerably. Our g/e bill, which covers electric, cooking gas, and hot water heater, is about $120 if we're not running any window A/Cs.

hi!! we're in south jersey too...cumberland county. our home is about 2000 square feet and it costs us about 250 dollars every two-three months to heat. (we don't have an oil package cause we just bought our house...so we just buy it when we need it...so the price fluctuates). we have the same system as you...oil furnace with water filled baseboard radiators. our furnace also is a boiler system, so it heats our hot water for us instead of using electricity.

we keep our heat at 60 though. day and night. turning it off at about 58 degrees or over outside.

our electric bill, which covers lights and cooking, is about 80 per month. It would be less but my husband loves his fish tanks. lol!!

eta: our house is approximately 50-60 years old with double paned insulated windows (i would say prolly about 5-10 years old), two levels, and insulation all over the place. the previous owners seem to have be very energy efficient-conscious...which helps. the house inspector actually remarked on the "great" amount of insulation in our attic.

[tine1973]

our house is about 2000 sq feet and we live in Pittsburgh. We have two systems - boiler/ radiators on the first floor and forced air on the second and third. Both are natural gas. We keep it at 64 when home and 60 when asleep or out. I think our budget (level) amount is $160 for gas, includes gas to heat water and cook. Our electric bill is a bit ridiculous - I think its about $140 every month and we use 2 window AC units in the summer when it gets really hot.

[robin4kids]

We have a house that is over 2000 sq/feet. we live in a converted double. So we have 6 small bedrooms. 3 up, 3 down. 2 living rooms, etc. We have TWO Gas bills. One for the upper, one for the lower. We have an OLD house that is not insulated at all. All the windows are old. We keep the heat at 60-65 and it is freezing in our house all winter long. We live in NY state, so it is COLD. Our heating bills are around $200-400 a month!!!

[staceychev]

Originally Posted by robin4kids

We have TWO Gas bills. One for the upper, one for the lower.

This made me laugh, because we live in a single family house that was converted to a duplex, then converted back about 30 years ago. We've still got two electrical meters and two panels. Our electrical contractor said it'd cost abotu $1800 to switch to one... No thanks! We'll just keep paying two electric bills.

[HeatherAtHome]

Originally Posted by robin4kids

We have TWO Gas bills. One for the upper, one for the lower.

So now I'm curious... which is cheaper and by how much?

I live in southern Quebec. We have a 100 year old drafty house that's poorly insulated (we're working on it!). It's 1.5 story, 935 sq foot living space, unfinished DIRT basement with fieldstone foundation. The top rocks are a little loose in spots! But it has new windows and doors.

We just bought the house and I was SO worried about the hydro bill! Just got our first one today and it comes to $3.48/day including tax. So roughly $105/month. We've had a cold month with temps often just above/below freezing, heat on the whole time we've been here.

We have electric baseboard heaters as our only heat source. So, I guess it's not *that* bad but I do worry about later with -40C windchill temps. Hopefully we'll be better insulated by then.

ETA: We've been keeping our heat at 18C/64.4F

[UberMama]

For our old house..


House: 4BR/2BA, built in in 1920's, around 2100 sq ft, insulated well, older windows, no a/c (only window a/c)

Climate: Pacific NW - Winters are in the 20/30 at night and 30-50 during the day, summers are 60-90 degrees (though this past August, we had about two weeks of 100 degree plus days)

System: Electric/gas. Gas heat and the rest electric.

Costs: During winter, $200/month for gas and $120ish for electric. During summer, $175ish for electric if we ran the window a/c quite a bit and maybe $50 for gas, if that.

[akwifeandmomma]

Natural Gas: $138/mo., going down to around $115 in January. We're on a steady level pay plan, so I don't have outrageous bills in the winter and tiny ones in the summer.

Electric: $94/mo. Again, level pay plan.

For around 2400 sq. ft in Anchorage, Alaska, built in 1986. Winters are COLD, we keep our heat at 63/night, 67-68/day. Summers are temperate, no AC.

[Paxjourney]

Our home is 1900 sq feet. 3bedrooms/ 2 baths and one rather large family room. We have forced air as our main heating source (electric). Our home is 30 yrs old, we replaced the windows 2 yrs ago. We also live in the PNW USA.

In the winter our energy bill runs around 140 on average and in the summer it runs about 110.

[Poddi]

Our home is about 2300 sqft, three levels. Our thermostat is set to 66 all the time, though we have no A/C so there's no cooling. Our gas is usually $30 - 50 from May to Sept (probably just the hot water and basic service fee). Up to $180 - 200 per month in winter, depending on weather. We do have a bit of electric heat as well, but it's billed every two months and winter and summer difference is not huge. So I never quite figured out how much would be on heating only.

Usually it's not too cold here in winter (a bit above freezing), though occasionally we get cold spells. Last year we got 3 feet of snow. Our home is kinda on top of a hill so there's a lot of wind. Nice for summer but not so nice for winter. We never joined any kind of budget plan.