energy costs in Wyoming? (Sheridan: sale, live, businesses)

[jody_wy]

Originally Posted by jody_wy

but we got 5 meters on the ranch so thats $75 before the meter even starts.....

my electric bill runs about $35/month that is with the $15 service charge, but go thru $600 (used to be $300)/year in wood pellets and around $600/year for propane to heat water and cook and sometimes the furness

[gregabob]

With all the coal available I would think more people would use it for home heating. Sure it's a little more work to get and use, but the price is pretty low if bought by the ton, right? 2 tons should keep a house toasty through the winter I would think. When I make my move next year coal will be high on my list of heating options.

[jody_wy]

Originally Posted by gregabob

With all the coal available I would think more people would use it for home heating. Sure it's a little more work to get and use, but the price is pretty low if bought by the ton, right? 2 tons should keep a house toasty through the winter I would think. When I make my move next year coal will be high on my list of heating options.

The High School in Kemmerer has a natrual gas line right next to it but I understand they still burn coal. My mother heats with a fireplace insert stove She use a lump of coal to keep the fire thru the night. I'll buy lump coal that comes out of Utah because the mines on this side of Wyoming will not produce lump coal ,cost cost around $100 ton for lump coal , don't know what stoker coal is going for will take a look when I go to thwe feed store today.

[WyoNewk]

I'm sure it is cheaper, but few people in town use coal. My former business partner burned it in his home until he built a newer one awhile back. I always thought it was a bit odd. Natural gas prices aren't that expensive here either, and with coal you've got to get it delivered every so often and put up with coal dust, flue, etc. He never complained about it, and I'm probably remembering the old coal burning furnace of my youth too much, where we had to shovel coal directly into the furnace a couple times each day. I believe most of our schools burn coal.

You don't want to burn it in most fireplaces. It gets too hot and can burn down the house.

[gregabob]

Wyonewk, I'd definitely use a stove designed for the high heat of a coal fire. I've seen some antique restored coal parlor stoves that I wouldn't mind using. Has anyone bought coal directly from one of the mines in Wyoming? With the millions of tons mined yearly it would seem one could get a pickup truck load easily.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by gregabob

Wyonewk, I'd definitely use a stove designed for the high heat of a coal fire. I've seen some antique restored coal parlor stoves that I wouldn't mind using. Has anyone bought coal directly from one of the mines in Wyoming? With the millions of tons mined yearly it would seem one could get a pickup truck load easily.

The coal mines deal in very large bulk sales. Somebody wanting a couple of tons will be directed to a broker/dealer ... at least that's been my experience when I wanted a ton of lump coal. Stoker coal seems to be a specialty product available only through the dealers.

We have a couple of cookstoves designed to burn both wood and coal and used to burn mostly wood but at night would toss on a couple of chunks of coal to last through the night. While convenient for the long burn, it wasn't an appreciable savings in the cost of fuel and we had to spend a lot more time sifting through the ashes to retrieve the coals in the AM. The only way it would have been more efficient would have been to do the firebox conversion to exclusively coal fired with the shaker grate. With the time and effort to have to travel from our SE WY location to a Colorado dealer, select appropriate sized chunks, hand load them, haul it back home, unload them, and mess with the coals buried in the ashes ... it was a net loss compared to burning wood.

[jody_wy]

Originally Posted by gregabob

Wyonewk, I'd definitely use a stove designed for the high heat of a coal fire. I've seen some antique restored coal parlor stoves that I wouldn't mind using. Has anyone bought coal directly from one of the mines in Wyoming? With the millions of tons mined yearly it would seem one could get a pickup truck load easily.

the big mines don't have time to dealk with a pickup load. most the stoker coal or lump coal comes from small mines in Utah or Colorado,and usuall dealers are feed stores that will bring in a semi load or two.

[ElkHunter]

My cabin is all electric. It runs .058020 per kwh. $25 service charge.

But the big house is coal and so is the shop. We run to town and pick up lump coal for $70 a ton. It takes about 4 ton to heat the house and another ton for the shop. The coal comes from Decker Coal about 19 miles North of town. The mine no longer sells to individuals and it's a matter of insurance not allowing you and I on the mine sight. So we pick it up at a dealer in town. You can either hand pick it or allow them to scoop it in with a loader. The loader will give you about 30% waste. So we hand pick.

Last year, MDU said they wanted to increase rates by 32%. The utilities commission shut that down and told them they couldn't do that. They come to an agreement and raised it about 14%. So they say. I don't believe them. My utilities used to be between $50 and $55 a month. Now my electricity is $80-85 a month??????? Used to be a $15 service charge to even have a meter. Now it's $25. They got their 32%, just went around it differently.

[gregabob]

Thanks Elk hunter, that's just the kind of info I was looking for.

[kaptainkommando]

Elk hunter,

Can I get the name/number of these businesses that have the coal for sale by the ton? Thanks!

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

My cabin is all electric. It runs .058020 per kwh. $25 service charge.

But the big house is coal and so is the shop. We run to town and pick up lump coal for $70 a ton. It takes about 4 ton to heat the house and another ton for the shop. The coal comes from Decker Coal about 19 miles North of town. The mine no longer sells to individuals and it's a matter of insurance not allowing you and I on the mine sight. So we pick it up at a dealer in town. You can either hand pick it or allow them to scoop it in with a loader. The loader will give you about 30% waste. So we hand pick.

Last year, MDU said they wanted to increase rates by 32%. The utilities commission shut that down and told them they couldn't do that. They come to an agreement and raised it about 14%. So they say. I don't believe them. My utilities used to be between $50 and $55 a month. Now my electricity is $80-85 a month??????? Used to be a $15 service charge to even have a meter. Now it's $25. They got their 32%, just went around it differently.