Winter heating costs (Anchorage: HOA, house, moving)

[SirLancelot911]

I saw a thread way below about average electrical costs, but people seemed to differentiate that from heating costs. Here in Seattle, electricity seems to still be the prime heating energy source with natural gas being close behind. Some rural areas or old homes still rely on oil, while others use massive propane tanks.

What is the most common or cost-efficient home heating source in Anchorage? What would one expect to have to spend on heating an "average" home? For the sake of example, let's use a 1500 sqft home as a baseline. For further clarification, let's not use extreme examples of cheaply built homes with minimal insulation, or expensive homes where money isn't much of an object. For my sake, let's try to stick with an "average" home... :-)

[SirLancelot911]

No one? Really? Not even ballpark estimates?

[Moose Whisperer]

FWIW, my monthly winter gas bill is about $150, roughly the same for electric. My house is ~2400 sq ft, but is very energy efficient. 8-10 in stud walls with sprayed in foam, 36" insulation in the attic, a high efficiency condensing boiler, and new, triple pane, low-E windows throughout.

[roadfamily6now]

We have our bill set up to pay a flat rate all year round. We have it at $128 a month. However, in the summer we use a lot less gas (heat) then we do in the winter. If we had to pay by the month, it would have been about $375 for January alone.

We have a 2000 sq ft home that I keep set under 70 during the day at at 63 at night. We have gas fired water too and a gas range. We don't use hot water for laundry. Our home is well insulated but has crappy windows.

[Dreams2Plans]

Mine is almost 1000 sqft, heat and everything is electric (cooking, too).
In the summer, bills were as low as $80/mo. This winter, they have been up to $290! (Nov. and Jan.) Last winter, the most was $155. December, even though Christmas month, was a bit lower - probably, due to warmer weather overall. Have all energy-saving bulbs, always turn off the lights unused, thermostat set at 65, laundry done elsewhere.

I am guessing it is terribly insulated. Need to look into that winterizing program and changing windows (if HOA will even allow that).

[SirLancelot911]

I would've expected worse bills than what some of you are quoting. Here in a suburb of Seattle we have fantastic windows, but probably sub-par insulation in the walls/ceiling. Our winter bi-monthly bill is in the $400+ range. That's for electric heat only. We don't have gas or propane. Summer is obviously quite a bit less, but even an average of $150-$200/month wouldn't be a big change from what we're paying right now. That gives me some hope about moving north... :-)

[roadfamily6now]

Our electric is usually $120 or so per month. That's lights, laundry, and tons of electronics for a house of 7 people.
so add that to the Gas bill above, your looking at around $250 for heat and light per month.

[bongo]

Our highest winter heating bill for 1800 sq ft was $230 and we keep our radiant heat (gas-fired) keeping our house at 60 degrees. Our electric was $35-$50 per month. We wear warm sweaters in the house in winter.

[AKStafford]

We've been in our house for 2 1/2 years and just got our highest gas bill yet. It was $207. Granted, we had some cold days in that billing cycle...
Our house is 2 1/2 years old, 5 star plus, 1881 square feet with gas forced air furnace, gas hot water, gas stove & oven and gas unit heater in garage.
We keep the thermostat at 64 overnight & during the day, and 67-69 in the evenings when we are home.