Wow, our gas bill is higher than our electric bill (Phoenix: apartment, house)

[Pink Jazz]

Looking at our electric and gas bills for the February billing period, it looks like our gas bill is higher than our electric bill.

We have a gas furnace, water heater, and cooktop, however, I wasn't expecting our gas bill to be higher than our electric bill. The furnace has an AFUE of 80%, however, our thermostat setting typically only runs it in the morning. The water heater has an energy factor of 0.62, which is considered high-efficiency.

Currently, I believe our biggest user of electricity is the pool pump, since we are not running the air conditioner.

So, did anyone here have a gas bill that was higher than their electric bill for the February billing period?

[Greatday]

Originally Posted by Pink Jazz

So, did anyone here have a gas bill that was higher than their electric bill for the February billing period?

My gas bill is higher than electric during the winter. Not uncommon

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by Greatday

My gas bill is higher than electric during the winter. Not uncommon

Interesting. I wasn't expecting that considering the relatively mild Phoenix winters and the limited runtime of heating.

FYI, I forgot to mention, we also have a gas fireplace and an outdoor gas fire pit. We were actually using the fire pit last weekend for my mother's birthday party to make some s'mores.

[Desertspiritsteve]

This is why I switched to a heat pump twenty years ago. I still have the gas range (and an electric range, too), gas water heater and gas clothes dryer. It works out well. My house is always comfortable and my heat pump only runs when the power is cheap (APS combined advantage). If you want a real shockeroo run a gas heater on a swimming pool. I used to have a elderly cowboy neighbor who liked to keep his 1120 sq. ft. house at 80 degrees in the winter. It was not uncommon for his gas bill to be $200. for colder months. To make matters worse, you must have a gas furnace vented to the attic for the carbon monoxide to escape.

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by Desertspiritsteve

This is why I switched to a heat pump twenty years ago. I still have the gas range (and an electric range, too), gas water heater and gas clothes dryer. It works out well. My house is always comfortable and my heat pump only runs when the power is cheap (APS combined advantage). If you want a real shockeroo run a gas heater on a swimming pool. I used to have a elderly cowboy neighbor who liked to keep his 1120 sq. ft. house at 80 degrees in the winter. It was not uncommon for his gas bill to be $200. for colder months. To make matters worse, you must have a gas furnace vented to the attic for the carbon monoxide to escape.

For comparison, our gas bill was $82.79, vs. $76.92 for the electric bill. Our house is a 2692 square foot one story Energy Star qualified home, and typically the highest temperature we run is 69 degrees.

BTW, our clothes dryer is electric, since we brought it over from our old house in New Mexico that didn't have a gas hookup for the dryer. Also, we have a separate cooktop and wall oven, and the wall oven is also electric.

[LBTRS]

I was shocked by my February gas bill also...normally it is in the $20 range and when it arrived the other day it was $82. I'll have to pay closer attention to the heater, I must have ran it more than usual.

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

I was shocked by my February gas bill also...normally it is in the $20 range and when it arrived the other day it was $82. I'll have to pay closer attention to the heater, I must have ran it more than usual.

I wish SW Gas would have a feature similar to SRP's "Compare Your Bill" feature. Our electric bill of $76.92 according to SRP is well below the average of $114.82 for one-story homes of similar size with pools.

[miran]

My february gas bill was $476 versus $75 electrical...using the gas to heat the pool all year... what is the point of having a $40,000 pool to stare at?

[Zeromus-X]

Originally Posted by Pink Jazz

I wish SW Gas would have a feature similar to SRP's "Compare Your Bill" feature. Our electric bill of $76.92 according to SRP is well below the average of $114.82 for one-story homes of similar size with pools.

The hell? We're paying about $75/month for our 800-sqft apartment, and we definitely aren't heating a pool.

[YAZ]

Originally Posted by miran

My february gas bill was $476 versus $75 electrical...using the gas to heat the pool all year... what is the point of having a $40,000 pool to stare at?

I'd jump in too!

Clean...clean...clean...that's all I do.

And I can't jump in cuz it's too damn cold.