Estimating your electric and heating costs in DE (for sale, 2014)

[Mary2014]

I found a great tool on the Delaware Electric Cooperative web site to estimate your electric and heating costs in DE. It is a great way to try out various options to see how it impacts your electric and heating bills.

Based upon the size of your home, the number of occupants and the type of appliances you can see your additional costs or savings by making various updates to your home. For example, a one person household with an electric hot water heater, I could expect to spend $40 per month for hot water. Heating with propane the standard water heater costs run about $12 per month. With a propane tankless water heater the estimate is $7 per month. I actually spend just over $6 per month for propane with my propane tankless water heater- so the tool seems to be quite good in estimating actual costs.

I had not planned to buy a condo with a tankless propane water heater - just so happens the former owner opted for this when her regular propane water heater had to be replaced. Not all of the homes in my condo community have access to a propane hookup, just the buildings that also have garages. So, I think knowing it might cost an additional $396 per year (every year) if you buy a home with an electric hot water heater might factor into evaluating various homes for sale.

The heating costs in the tool are based upon Delaware's average temperatures for specific months. It is most likely a rolling average calculated over several years of data. Since this past winter's temperatures were well below the average it did understate my actual propane costs for heating this year. But, otherwise it seems to be a very good tool.

You can find it by Googling Delaware Electric Cooperative>manage energy use>home energy calculator>comprehensive report.

Mary2014