National Grid customers can expect a big jump in electricity, heating rates this winter

[andywire]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

We had a fireplace insert wood stove in our previous house 30 years ago, but firewood is so expensive I don't think it'd be feasible now. Back then, it was about $120 for what they called a cord (but it wasn't - probably closer to a half cord) - no idea what it is now but it must be very expensive.

Just go out to the woods and find some fallen trees. Or if people have trees taken down, even limbs cut up and put out for yard waste. You'll have to plan ahead and let the fresh stuff season of course. I would never pay for firewood, but this year, my dad did. It wasn't a good deal since most of the pieces were small and will burn too quickly.

[EarthBound?]

Thank God we're with an Electrical Coop.

[gailjnh]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

What kind of heat did you have in New Hampshire?

NH is a heckuva lot colder than north Alabama, and my winter heating bill runs about $300 in January (2 heat pumps, 2 story house about 3,000 sq ft, R-60 in the ceiling, 19 in the walls, and 25 in the crawl space, double-pane top end Andersen windows and storm doors on all the exterior doors). I keep my thermostats set at 72 downstairs, 68 upstairs at night. Electric rates here are about 12.5 cents/KWh for the first 1400, then 13.5 thereafter.

When I bought the house in 1993, it was oil forced hot air heat. I converted it to propane in 2007 and changed the wood burning fireplace to propane as well. House was build around 1940 of 2 x 4 construction so not a lot of insulation in it. If I could have added more I would have. I did replace the window with double paned glass which helped some but not enough. Heating bill ran anywhere from $2500 to $5000 per winter. Of course, being only 3/4 mile from the ocean didn't help much with the wind. Single story ranch (very small) with storm doors I also added to the house.