How much to heat house in Bel Air using electric heat pump? (new home)

[diamondgirl45]

Looking at a 2100 sqft house with electric heat pump and electric A/C. We are used to a colder climate and natural gas heat (and water tank and dryer) so I am curious about the cost involved in Bel Air area.
Can anyone give me your average winter and summer monthly cost? There are four of us living in the home.
thank you!

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

No personal experience ... but I wouldn't want to heat a 2000 sq foot house with a heat pump. Sounds expensive.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by diamondgirl45

Looking at a 2100 sqft house with electric heat pump and electric A/C.

It'll be more than with gas.

Call the electric company and ask what their "budget plan" cost would be.
Then ask them HOW they came up with that number.

Anything more specific will require more specific detail on the house and users. hth

[boomtownfunlover]

A lot depends on where you set the thermostat, how well the house is insulated and so on. Its not unusual now to see a house with two heat pumps, or furnaces.

[diamondgirl45]

Now I'm worried!

[kanling]

You know that you can ask the sellers for their electric bills, right?

Heat pumps are competitive with other forms of heat overall. That's why they are popular in Maryland. Gas would be cheaper, but if there was gas in the neighborhood, there would probably be a gas furnace installed.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by kanling

Heat pumps are competitive with other forms of heat overall.
That's why they are popular in Maryland.

Popular? Only as an alternative to dealing with fuel oil in areas without gas service.

OP there are three levels to the question:
1) the energy required (KwH vs BtU) required
2) the cost per unit for that energy
3) the subjective level of "comfortable" you get

some more reading

[picardlx]

You need to know more about the construction of the home; for example when was it built? In the old days when energy was so cheap, many builders/owners didn’t bother with things like insulation. My home has almost zero insulation and uses a 40 year-old natural gas boiler. My bill averaged ~$700/month (for ~2200sq/ft) during the winter despite the relatively low price of natural gas (compared to last decade). I would think mine would be the worst case scenario when it comes to expected cost using natural gas, given my antiquated technology and next-to-no insulation.

As far as electric goes. I know that this is a rough back-of-envelope calculation, but if you have had any experience with electric space heaters, I would recall how much it cost to operate one of those in a particular room that was always cold. I would then divide your new home's sq/ft by that room's area and then multiply that ratio by the cost of operation. So let's say you had 10ftx10ft garage and you worked in it during the winter while using the space heater. Assuming you were comfortable, figure out the wattage of the space heater and then multiply that by the number of hours you want heat at that level of comfort (let’s just say 24 hours) and then multiply by this by (2000 sqft/ 100 sqft).

Example:
Space heater set at 1000 watts

Total Monthly KWH required = 1KW * 24 HOURS/DAY * (2000 sqft/ 100 sqft) * 30 Days = 14,400 KWHs
At $0.15 / KWH that comes to about $2000/month

Now obviously you might not be at home all day (all 24 hours) and may turn down the thermostat while sleeping --both of which can lower your bill. However, this is just an estimate based on the strong assumptions above.

[diamondgirl45]

Well, I think the house is about 20 years old. There is a furnace, so I guess it is forced air. Also has A/C.
Everyone complains I keep my house on the cool side , so hopefully it won't be too pricey.