An interesting electric bill
We have bi-monthly bills from Hydro-Quebec. They were vanishingly low in the summer; not in the winter. When our friend Real turned on the convection heaters in mid-October, the bill for October-November shot up remarkably. Now, he had set the basement heaters much higher than they needed to be, by accident, perhaps.
We’ve not been inclined to be overly cold in the frigid weather that we’ve had in January after we arrived. Today, it was 26°F outside, so the house is toasty, for sure, with the wood stove humming along.
My buddy shoveled snow from the outside basement entrance this afternoon — it was a good day to do it.
I’m fine at 67°-68° F in the house. When it drops below 65°F, I’m not so happy, and at close to 60° (overnight) after really low temps — well, that’s pretty darn cold, extra base layer or not.
So today’s electric bill for two months was about $580 US. It looked shocking in Canadian dollars. We have been adding extra window sealing and reduced the temps down in the basement to a reasonable temperature (around 60° F), which doesn’t drag down the temps on the main floor.
But I’m reminded that folks at home in North Carolina will spend that much on air-conditioning for 2 months, in large houses. And maybe spend that much for heat, too.
Our house in Asheville has radiant floor heat, powered by natural gas, with a mini-split AC/heat backup on the upper floor (not needed anymore after we replaced the extra tank system— the radiant floor heat works amazingly well).
So, we’re thinking about ways to decrease the electric bill up here a bit (uh, unplug the unused freezer in the basement, for starters, duh; ditto, we’ll turn down the refrigerator temperature when we leave.) But I’m thankful that we don’t have to be too skimpy with our heat; we have PILES of wood, after all.
We’ve not been inclined to be overly cold in the frigid weather that we’ve had in January after we arrived. Today, it was 26°F outside, so the house is toasty, for sure, with the wood stove humming along.
My buddy shoveled snow from the outside basement entrance this afternoon — it was a good day to do it.
I’m fine at 67°-68° F in the house. When it drops below 65°F, I’m not so happy, and at close to 60° (overnight) after really low temps — well, that’s pretty darn cold, extra base layer or not.
So today’s electric bill for two months was about $580 US. It looked shocking in Canadian dollars. We have been adding extra window sealing and reduced the temps down in the basement to a reasonable temperature (around 60° F), which doesn’t drag down the temps on the main floor.
But I’m reminded that folks at home in North Carolina will spend that much on air-conditioning for 2 months, in large houses. And maybe spend that much for heat, too.
Our house in Asheville has radiant floor heat, powered by natural gas, with a mini-split AC/heat backup on the upper floor (not needed anymore after we replaced the extra tank system— the radiant floor heat works amazingly well).
So, we’re thinking about ways to decrease the electric bill up here a bit (uh, unplug the unused freezer in the basement, for starters, duh; ditto, we’ll turn down the refrigerator temperature when we leave.) But I’m thankful that we don’t have to be too skimpy with our heat; we have PILES of wood, after all.
Comments
Post a Comment