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December 1, 2008
natural gas heating costs
We are new homeowners - first winter. Just got our bill for the first month with heat on (natural gas, fairly new boiler, radiators). It was $100 for a 2 story house, about 1400 sq. feet. (There is also a finished basement but no radiators down there). Does this sound average or should we start aggressively looking for ways to save energy? We still need to weatherproof the windows and door drafts, hopefully that will help a bit too.
Comments
Don't be deceived. It is your next bill that is going to reflect your winter heating costs (and the one after that, too). Do all your weatherproofing and deal with drafts. Keep an eye on your boiler and your heat-- how often does it cycle on and off, how long does your house hold the heat once it is up to temperature, do your radiators get hot all the way to the last section, do all the rooms get to about the same temp or are there big differences? I wouldn't suggest you go beyond diligent weatherproofing until you figure out if you have a problem and what kind of problem you have. But your next bill will definitely be substantially higher.
Posted by: slopefarm at December 1, 2008 10:15 AM
easy enough to contact gas company and find out how much was used/spent last year for your house.
Heating in winter months (remember winter doesn't begin until Dec 22) will be expensive. That is why many of us use
level or budget billing - which gives flat figure througout the year based on estimated usage.
Posted by: Petebklyn at December 1, 2008 10:44 AM
$100 for a 1400 sq foot 2 level house is low. wait till next month. I live in a 2 level 1800 sq ft detached property. new windows/boiler/insulation...and for last feb I paid about $1000. my house is detached
Posted by: troll at December 1, 2008 11:14 AM
$100 is very low for winter, that was for Sep-Oct? Here's my figures for 2800sqft 4 story semi-detached for last year:
Oct:96 Dec:560 Feb:1322 Apr:1075 Jun:444
Posted by: cmu at December 1, 2008 2:02 PM
The gas company has now gone to every month billing, so your bill was probably for latter Oct., early Nov. That's wintry, but not as cold as it will get. My bills for a 2000+/- sq. ft. row house were significantly less that cmu's. I don't ever remember a 2-month bill over 1000 dollars. My guess the highest has been, on a monthly basis, 400-450, during the coldest 2-4 months of the year.
Anyway, I'd say, based on my experience, that you were about average for your place, maybe somewhat high. Depends on your house of course, whether attached (warmer), wood frame (probably colder), etc. You will really have to wait a couple of months to know.
Posted by: David Lewis at December 1, 2008 3:35 PM
Those were 2-month figures, so similar to yours, DL, when you factor in size.
Posted by: cmu at December 1, 2008 3:55 PM
That bill for a pre winter month sounds about right. For my 2900sf Victorian it was $140. My total for the year will run from $2300 - $2900 based on past usage. That includes cooking and hot water. Over the years we've reduced the usage by about a third by insulating, weather stripping and caulking.
Posted by: yaakovdoe at December 1, 2008 5:55 PM
Our small 2 story house (attached), with an ancient, jerry-rigged, former oil boiler for a furnace, runs us about $200 a month at the peak of winter, so you might not be in for such a shock.
Posted by: mshook at December 1, 2008 8:48 PM
agreed with previous posters
$100 was low
my bill each month with the level billing is about $450/month with an "oldish steam heat boiler for 4 stories- have to admit we really need all windows and like the house a bit on the warmer side - so we are definely paying for it!!!
Posted by: gemini10 at December 1, 2008 9:02 PM
also look at the bill closely. National grid has gone to every month billing and one of the months is an estimate. $100 for two months is very low....
you can save some money by buying the Gas from an ESCO through NYPIRG....
Posted by: smeyer418 at December 2, 2008 8:03 AM
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