Propane v. electricity

hoosieroriginal · ‎03-04-2012

My house is all electric, but almost all of my neighbors have propane. My best friend (neighbor) has spent $2,000 - 5,000 a winter for propane to heat their home. I have to say, my most expensive electric bill in the winter was $300. Of course, I keep my house very cool in the winter and bundle up. Most of the time I turn heat off at night and have a little heater with a thermostat in the bedroom. My bedroom is small and it takes no time at all to heat up. If it is going to be particularly cold at night I leave heat on for the pipes. But most of the time I just leave water dripping to keep the pipes from freezing overnight. I just don't know how people afford these propane costs. I have to admit, I'm a cheapskate and very glad I have an all electric home.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

We live in the country and are all electric except for a very small propane tank for the stove/oven.

My mom lives next door and has propane for heat, stove, and water heater. She lives alone, and supplements heating with Duraflame heaters. She probably goes through about $1600 per year in propane. And those Duraflame heaters don't increase her electric bill by much either.

In our area, propane is the highest cost of heating. My mom has no other options, as we don't have access out here to natural gas. The only benefit I see to propane is that if you have those really large tanks, once filled, you have your own, paid for fuel source. No monthly bills, and no worries if the electric goes out (you can use a generator/battery system to kick the furnace on) or if there are gas line issues leaving you without heat. Allows one to be slightly less reliant on the grid and delivery systems for the time the tank takes to empty out anyway (for her that is several months, even in a cold winter).

2blonde · ‎03-10-2010

@hoosieroriginal Yes, I'm all electric too (large condo). In fact, there are no gas lines on my street. I admit I feel a little safer without any fossil fuels around me, and no need for a CO 2 detector either!

We have heat pumps with back up electric coil heating in the furnace (basement) that kicks in when the temp drops below 20 degrees. I had a friend in the HVAC business replace my old heat pump 2 years ago, and I think there must be no cheaper way to heat my home, especialy with the latest more efficient technology. Last winter, as you know, was mild, but I think my highest electric bill was a little over $100, and I keep my thermostat at 73 when I'm at home, and 72 when I'm gone for while. (Being born in December, I'm an original freeze baby!)

Laura loves cats!

hoosieroriginal · ‎03-04-2012

@Mominohio wrote:
We live in the country and are all electric except for a very small propane tank for the stove/oven.

My mom lives next door and has propane for heat, stove, and water heater. She lives alone, and supplements heating with Duraflame heaters. She probably goes through about $1600 per year in propane. And those Duraflame heaters don't increase her electric bill by much either.

In our area, propane is the highest cost of heating. My mom has no other options, as we don't have access out here to natural gas. The only benefit I see to propane is that if you have those really large tanks, once filled, you have your own, paid for fuel source. No monthly bills, and no worries if the electric goes out (you can use a generator/battery system to kick the furnace on) or if there are gas line issues leaving you without heat. Allows one to be slightly less reliant on the grid and delivery systems for the time the tank takes to empty out anyway (for her that is several months, even in a cold winter).

@Mominohio - I disagree with you on Duraflame - it made my electricity soar when I used it.

hoosieroriginal · ‎03-04-2012

@2blonde wrote:
@hoosieroriginal Yes, I'm all electric too (large condo). In fact, there are no gas lines on my street. I admit I feel a little safer without any fossil fuels around me, and no need for a CO 2 detector either!

We have heat pumps with back up electric coil heating in the furnace (basement) that kicks in when the temp drops below 20 degrees. I had a friend in the HVAC business replace my old heat pump 2 years ago, and I think there must be no cheaper way to heat my home, especialy with the latest more efficient technology. Last winter, as you know, was mild, but I think my highest electric bill was a little over $100, and I keep my thermostat at 73 when I'm at home, and 72 when I'm gone for while. (Being born in December, I'm an original freeze baby!)

@2blonde - 73 degrees sounds wonderful to me. I'm lucky if my furnace heats my house above 65, and that's running constantly. I have an A frame which has no attic to insulate and it is all roof. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

2blonde · ‎03-10-2010

@hoosieroriginal wrote:
@2blonde wrote:
@hoosieroriginal Yes, I'm all electric too (large condo). In fact, there are no gas lines on my street. I admit I feel a little safer without any fossil fuels around me, and no need for a CO 2 detector either!

We have heat pumps with back up electric coil heating in the furnace (basement) that kicks in when the temp drops below 20 degrees. I had a friend in the HVAC business replace my old heat pump 2 years ago, and I think there must be no cheaper way to heat my home, especialy with the latest more efficient technology. Last winter, as you know, was mild, but I think my highest electric bill was a little over $100, and I keep my thermostat at 73 when I'm at home, and 72 when I'm gone for while. (Being born in December, I'm an original freeze baby!)
@2blonde - 73 degrees sounds wonderful to me. I'm lucky if my furnace heats my house above 65, and that's running constantly. I have an A frame which has no attic to insulate and it is all roof. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

@hoosieroriginal I used to house sit for some friends with a beautifu A-frame home. Beautiful, but not very practical, right? They had a big ceiling fan to try and pump some of the warm air back downstairs, but I still used to wish I could sit up there somewhere near that peak!

Laura loves cats!

hoosieroriginal · ‎03-04-2012

@2blonde wrote:
@hoosieroriginal wrote:
@2blonde wrote:
@hoosieroriginal Yes, I'm all electric too (large condo). In fact, there are no gas lines on my street. I admit I feel a little safer without any fossil fuels around me, and no need for a CO 2 detector either!

We have heat pumps with back up electric coil heating in the furnace (basement) that kicks in when the temp drops below 20 degrees. I had a friend in the HVAC business replace my old heat pump 2 years ago, and I think there must be no cheaper way to heat my home, especialy with the latest more efficient technology. Last winter, as you know, was mild, but I think my highest electric bill was a little over $100, and I keep my thermostat at 73 when I'm at home, and 72 when I'm gone for while. (Being born in December, I'm an original freeze baby!)
@2blonde - 73 degrees sounds wonderful to me. I'm lucky if my furnace heats my house above 65, and that's running constantly. I have an A frame which has no attic to insulate and it is all roof. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer.
@hoosieroriginal I used to house sit for some friends with a beautifu A-frame home. Beautiful, but not very practical, right? They had a big ceiling fan to try and pump some of the warm air back downstairs, but I still used to wish I could sit up there somewhere near that peak!

@2blonde - Oh, I really do love my A frame - but not very practical is right. I love artwork and have very few walls to put art on. My favorite thing to do in the spring when the storms come through is to sleep in my loft bedroom and look out through the livingroom picture window and watching the lightning flashes.

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

We have gas heat. I hate it because it gets too hot. I used to put the heat on 60° when we went to bed but DH said he was tired of freezing. Now we put it on 63°. It's just now starting to get cold. Our gas bill has not gone up yet. Last one was only about $40. Past year history shows about $560 so that averages about $47 per month for the past 12 months.

We pay more on our electric bill since we run the air a lot more then the heat that's for sure.

SilleeMee · ‎05-22-2016

My house is heated with affordable natural gas. If I had to heat my house with electricity then I would go broke. Electricity is the most expensive part of my utility bill...like half of the total cost of electric, gas and water combined.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

When we lived in Pa we had an all electric home and my electric budget payment was $161/month for years. That was heating in the winter and cooling in the summer , hot water, cooking everything.We did both work so I'd only have the heat above 68 when we were at home , plus I would leave it low if I came home from work and was just going to eat and go to bed. I felt 68 was sufficiently warm enough for the dog all day long. In the summer we kept the AC around 76 to 78, as we do here in Fl.

Our electric bills here are less than they were in Pa. because up there we had a surcharge added to pay for building a new neuclear power plant. We have been considering buying solar panels, as many people do here in Fl., to make our own electric.