-31Deg F????????

Anonymous Poster · Feb 13, 2003

Thats a chunk of change /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gifI do not know that ladys living needs etc..but if it was I and anyway possible.. I would close every door to the rooms that heat was not needed(IE to keeps water lines from freezing) in and move to one room of the house and just sleep etc in the one room and heat it only and put a jacket on if I needed to go to the other rooms.Even if water lines were a concern,if there was plenty of water to be had...I would turn the taps on a small amount just enough to keep the lines from freezing. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Trev · Feb 13, 2003

( I almost fell out of the chair when she told me that she has spent, to date, 4000$ CDN in heating. )

My wife's dad lives in Quebec City, and he heats with electric. They say the power is cheap up there. I know.. "cheap" is a relative term. But I was under the impression that most Canadians heated with electric? I don't know what his bill is.. he's a veteran and I gather they get really good benefits compared to here. Hmm. Wish that were the case here!

Bob

WVBill · Feb 13, 2003

Several years ago I was in the Navy stationed in the Pentagon and we had a meeting scheduled with our Canadian counterparts in Quebec city in February. A week before the meeting they sent us a message telling us to not bother to try to pack/bring heavy winter coats - we probably did not own gear that would be enough protection and they would provide us with CAN Forces Winter gear on our arrival at the airport.

I don't remember the temp but the word "cold" does not do justice!

looch · Feb 13, 2003

Cheap? Nothing is cheap up here. My "take-home" is about 60% of my salary, the CDN dollar is trading at around 64 cents US, and we are charged 15% tax on almost every purchase (makes that new diesel pick-up less attractive I'll tell ya).

I don't have an electrical bill handy, but I don't think it's cheap. For heating, I pay in oil and fire wood what my sister pays for her electric furnace. Right now, using a rough estimate, I'm paying about 1.28 US per gallon for heating oil.

hwp · Feb 14, 2003

I think you got some wrong information about the cost of energy in Canada. My electricity and gas bills are equivalent to about $US2000 each per year for a 3000 sq. ft. home. Not cheap by my standards. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Wingnut · Feb 14, 2003

Bob ... I can't speak for "most" Canadians
 But I was under the impression that most Canadians heated with electric 
but in Western Canada, most everyone heats with natural gas. Alberta has a policy of ensuring that anyone who wants it has access to gas .... I was WAY out in the boonies .. closest neighbor was almost 5 miles away ... and I had a natural gas line running across part of my pasture.
I don't know anyone in Western Canada (I have relatives in all western Canadian provinces) who is not on natural gas.
Most months, the greatest part of my bill was the fixed $10 maintenance charge, but the highest bill I ever got was about $120 (for a month of REALLY cold weather. Never worried about keeping the thermostat down to "save money".
I freaked when I moved to Michigan and found there was no access to gas ... and saw the cost of propane.
I can understand Quebec being "more" electric .... they have that huge James Bay project that they are still paying off ...

Wingnut · Feb 14, 2003

I may soon start heating with wood too ... that bill was "monthly" ... basically, the contract that I have is that they come by and fill f it needs it. During (comparitively) cold weather like this, that pretty well is every 4-6 weeks. During the summer ... wee, they fill it in May and it usually lasts till November.
Having experience with electrical prices in Alberta (me) and Texas (my wife) ... we opted to get gas "everything" ... stovem furnace, dryer, water heater. Knowing what I know now ... I would opt to have the appliances as electric ... the rates are comparatively cheap ... runs me $75-100 a month for all the stuff we use.

The only things stopping me from just going ahead and installing an outdoor wood furnace are:
1) large capital outlay
2) no wood on my property
3) no real room for the building

PitbullMidwest · Feb 14, 2003

Wingnut,

Does your propane supplier offer contracts? We contract 900 gallons during summer months when prices are lowest and just pay it off with monthly payments.

I don't remember the year (1994 maybe?) that the propane refinery blewup in Louisiana on Christmas Eve but we received a letter from our supplier later blaming the explosion for the sharp increase in LPG. Sounded good but the problem was they charged me $1.65/gallon 5 hours before the explosion /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif. We changed LP companies after that and started contracting.