Holy gas bill!

Boy, I had read all of the recent reports about how gas prices would sky rocket this winter, but WOW! [:0] We just got our December gas bill yesterday and it is double what is was this same time last year. I'm curious as to what you keep your home temp. We have a two-level SFH (2850 sqft). We keep our main level at 65 (3x/wk during the day when nobody is home; and 70 (4x/wk during the day when somebody is home). Second level at 65 (4x/wk during the day); and 70 (during the evenings and all weekend). We just recently installed programmable thermostats on both levels and changed the temp. settings a little so we shall see if there is a difference in our next gas bill.

 

In addition to higher natural gas prices, this past December was the coldest December in years, compounding the problem.

 

Actually ours was more than double it was triple which really took us by surprise seeing as the meters or however they manage usage was much lower last year at this time. very Scary. Our house is 65-68 all the time.

 

down comforters at night.. 55 ... it's toasty =)

 

We have an electric blanket which is nice and toasty[^], but we need to keep the temp. at night warm as we have a toddler in the house and baby #2 on the way.

 

We have a three year old who likes to kick off her blankets and won't wear heavy PJs because they make her "sweaty" -- she just takes them off. So we put her in light PJ's but there are times at night or early in the a.m. I go in and her legs are like ice!

 

We got our bill yesterday and I was surprised it was not more.

I noticed the price per thermal unit is about 50% percent more then last year.

What I did was replace my thermostats with cheap programable ones from Home Depot. I set them to come on at 6am to 8am for 70 degrees then from 8am to 5pm to 63 degrees then 5pm to 10pm they go to 70 degrees then 10pm to 6am they go back to 63 degrees. It works fine for us and has saved us 30% off our gas bill from last year even though the gas has gone up. To qualify I have very large plate glass windows in the rear of our home that faces south so during sunny days I turn the fans on and it evens the hot air throughout the home that is produced from those windows. On very cloudy days I will turn the thermostat up to 70 degrees during the daytime which is plenty warm or trun the fireplace on in the library if I am going to work at home.

The programable thermostats have saved us a considerable amount of money so far this year. The nice thing is if you do raise the temp up and forget about it to turn it down, the next cycle automaticaly puts it right back in case you forget to.

The other thing that helps is to put more insulation in the attic and make sure there are no bare spots in the attic.

Lee J Buividas

 

I got a humidifier installed on the central heating unit. It takes less energy to maintain the temp since the air has more water in it. The installers say you can see up to 3% energy saving per degree from 73 degrees on down [ i.e. saving 9% keeping it a 70 degrees vs the old system]

 

I second that. I installed two programmable thermostats from Home Depot and we love it. It only took 15 minutes to install but we love the way it simplify our life. ( and savings compared to last year helps too !! )

 

Lee, we have our new thermostats programmed to settings very similar to what you have. We may have to keep the night temps a little bit warmer because of our daughter. Although, I just got a suggestion to use one of those "baby sleeping bags" on her at night to keep her warm. But, I hope to see that 30% difference in our gas bill too!

 

Although there were a couple of cold weeks in December, this winter has been unseasonably warm. I had heard the long term forecast is for "above average" temperatures for the rest of January. With that said, we should be seeing decreases with the upcoming over supply of Natural gas. (Wishful thinking)

 

I'm curious, did anyone break the $1000 mark?

-Teak

 

This is my first experience with a gas fireplace. Does it use a lot of gas? I too was surprised at the amount of my gas bill and use the programmable thermostats as well. I was thinking I might have a leak or that one of the contractors finishing my basement did something.

 

Yes, gas fireplaces use alot of gas. We actually need to insulate the bottom of our fireplace as there is a terrible draft that comes in. Are there any tried and true ways to really winterize our house that really does make a difference? ie. plastic around the windows, etc.

 

I have two gas fireplaces and I credit them with keeping my bills low. If you get good ones they are extremely efficient at burning fuel. I turn one of them on, the room we are occupying, it provides a toasty feel, is warm than other areas of the house; by having the whole house fan on, it circulates the heat from that area around the rest of the house. While doing this, I never hear the furnace come on.

Your experience my differ, but if you had a major air leak under your fireplace I would say that would effect the efficiency and your opinion of a gas fireplace.

 

[:0] Oh my stars. If anyone did, our $449 won't look nearly so bad.

 

I broke $425 and had a heart palpatations. $1,000 I would be laid flat out.

 

Ours was only $336. We're in a SF home and keep our heat at 66/67.

 

Mine was about $600 [V]. Oh yeah. I'm paying VERY close attention to this topic. Please keep those money saving ideas coming.

Mike

 

Our Dec 2005 Bill was right at $450 for 7200 sq ft of heated area. We also have all gas appliances and jacuzzi which gets a lot of use and 4 gas fireplaces which we do use on more then occasion. I did get a bill either last year or the year before, one month for around $800 and have had several $600 and $700 months over the last several years and that was when gas was much cheaper. I believe the extra attic insulation and programable themostats have helped the last dec usage quite a bit. Some of my clients have put in these geo thermo systems in their new homes and their homes are about 11,ooo sq ft and I was told their dec. gas bill was only around 400 dollars. Not sure about the pay off as their systems were very very expensive to install. It does show us there is technology out there that will reduce utility bills substancially and hopefully the cost of putting these systems in will come down substancially over the next few years.

Lee J Buividas