We're paying $1.165 per therm including all delivery and metering charges. Avg temp this yr 30 degree. Last year 36. Used 317 therms last year. 363 this year.
Bill I quoted includes electricity at $.104 per KW hr.
I don't think many people use heating oil around here. I've never even seen a heating oil delivery truck in Denver.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Stop right there.

All of my posted info has no electricity included in the numbers. This is for domestinc heating and hot water, exclusively.

In your specific case, it's difficult to take a reading on a monthly basis. What's the total consumption, in therms, for a calendar year? This comparison would be of greater benefit. From my experience with a small rental house (650 square feet!!) that is heated with gas, the use of 363 therms does not seem all that high for a month with 30 degree average temperatures. The rental would use approx. 275 therms in the dead of the winter (January or February). It's a stucco over wood frame house with limited insulation in the attic only.

Additionally, does the gas also serve to heat the domestic hot water? How many family members? In my specific case, I live alone, so the use of hot water is limited. Another significant variable in the equation.

I've never calculated yearly therm usage. I realized yours did not include elecricity. Of the $509, $86 was electricity. We have a gas hot water heater independent of the boiler. Three adults and one child. Includes washer and dryer for two adults and a child.

I'm not sure how useful the daily averages in different parts of the country are for comparison. I suspect that in NY the differences between day and night temperatures is much less than in Denver. Since we usually have clear sunny days and clear nights there is typically a big difference between day and night temperatures. I think this means that less energy is required to heat the home in the daytime when we have the heat on.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Our bill is a combined gas and electric and was $245 for the one due now. We keep our house at 60 when we are gone or asleep and 65 when we are awake. This is a brick house built in the 40s with newer windows, freshly tuckpointed and good attic insulation. No sidewall insulation thogh. Our furnace is a 90+ gas forced air. Our house is 1600 sf. Last year we kept it between 68 and 70 but cant afford it these days.

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

OK, since this was brought up....my gas quote for last month included..hot water, furnace and stove all of which are gas......I have an electric oven, dryer and the usual stuff....I believe the fact I live in a low lying area I am spared most of the wind related stuff in the winter...and R-39 in the attic DOES make a HUGE difference as my next door neighbor with the same heating habits but only 4" blown in insulation in the attic uses exactly twice what my house uses...and he has the exact same house only with a gable roof instead of a hip roof.

According to my bill the Utility Purchase Gas Charge including a balancing charge (so this is inclusive price I guess) was $1.26430 so it appears you are paying less per therm than I am here in VA...if local taxes are included in your price.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Interesting thread!!!

For some international comparison - I have reverse cycle airconditioning, only turn on the heat maybe 3 times a year. Run the air con upstairs all night every night - on cool, downstairs only when the humidity gets unbearable.

Electric everything except for stove top which uses bottle gas which costs $30 per 6 months (ave).

House is 5 years old, well insulated with cyclone rated laminated gless in all windows aand doors (heavy, thick).

Electricty is about $350 per quarter.

Our ave temps are 18c in the winter and 28c in the summer.

All $ AUD.

Looks like our electricity is quite cheap compared to the US.

__________________
1988 W126 420 SE

beware of fundamentalists!

500 bucks for 195 gallons of oil last month. Furnace is 40 years old. I guess I should look into a new burner.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

Dang, maybe you should loo into some altenitives like building a wall and insulating it. @ $400 a month you could residualize the cost pretty quick.


Around here Fuel Oil is very rare, if you own a house with a FO system replace it if you want to sell it. The norm is gas forced air or propane if NG is not available. My new house is on propane but I'm going to look into a large outdoor wood furnace or Geothermal system before next winter.

tell them LOL!
"heating bills" - that sounds scary. I manage to stay below $30 a month. Even in summer with the A/C running constantly my bills always show 2-digit numbers. I live in a small apartment though.

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quoting 240DieselDog: "...the 115/240D is a better car than any that have since been built - that's *any* car from any automobile manufacturer."

So, you have a cost of $423. to heat the house and make domestic hot water for four people.

This would equate to 192 gallons of oil for the month if you were heating with oil. This does not seem like an extraordinary amount of fuel for a month where the ambient temperature is 30°F. and the house is 2000 square feet, and hot water needs to be made for four people.

I'm quite sure that I will use 125 gallons of fuel for the same month and I have a system that heats only one room in the house. Furthermore, I only need hot water for one person.

The cost of both gas and oil is up significantly this year. The cost in dollars is sobering, but, once you break it down into therms or gallons, the consumption is not excessive.

Thanks for that comparison. It's good to know I'm not the only person in this situation. I've reset the program so I'm only heating our living space (apart from our kitchen which is on the same zone as the apt) in the evenings, avoiding having to heat it up on cold mornings. How do you convert from therms to gallons?

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

One therm will provide 100,000 BTU of heat.

One gallon will provide 139,000 BTU of heat.


But, be careful with these figures. They don't take into account the efficiency of the furnace. Mine is currently running 80% or so. Some of the new gas fired condensing furnaces run 90%.

How about going solar to supplement your heating. I have experimenting with one similar to this and it works well.http://www.coloradosolarsystems.com/
You can buy nice ones to go on the roof or the side of a house that are totally automated. Denver is sunny enough for a quick return on investment.

What is a solar supplement? Here on the west coast of Michigan, we're having our 11th day in a row with 0% of potential sunshine...

I did a heat loss calculation on our house, and then calculated the heating season BTUs from NOAA data on degree-days for our area.

When I then compared this total to the gas bills over the last 4 years, the calculations corresponded exceptionally well.

Unfortunately, the calculations verified that I have very little attic insulation and leaky, junky windows!

That is a very interesting concept. Ugly, but interesting. We have a couple of large south facing windows and since we almost always have sunshine this might be a useful tactic.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13