COLD CLIMATE AMERICANS: How much you pay for heat?

[Chicago Democrat]

I have just discovered my grandma is paying $450 EVERYMONTH, yes, thats like $5500 year to heat her home with natural gas for like 5 months of actual usage!! (she's already on the payment plan!)


its a two bedroom house in Joliet, rural area..


How much you pay? What type of energy?


I have to get this back under control..... She is literaly going to starve.

[Chicago Democrat]

1. My grandpa built the house himself, I'm guessing its an

efficiency problem...

[LSK]

2. the most i ever paid was $190 for one month

Most of the year its under $100. Only Jan and Feb get over $100. This is natural gas heating a 2 br townhome in Chicago burbs.

[Chicago Democrat]

4. Thats sounds right, we pay 160 on payment plan and

never use up our credit. I have to help them soon...insulation...

[tjdee]

3. I'm on the budget and pay about $180/mo.

I got on the budget when my bill was about $400, so they put that on top of what my bill would have been (I still think I'm getting screwed somehow).

But I do all kinds of stuff like have the heat on in the bedrooms only, stuff like that. We are really bad about the lights, and leave the computer and tv on a LOT of the time.

Maybe your grandmom needs to energy efficientize her home? Sometimes in old houses you get drafts, etc.

[Chicago Democrat]

6. Grandpa built it himself, all bricks.. It must be something like a

an insulation deal... can you imagine having to pay 450 a month in the summer too!?

[WeRQ4U]

5. 200 bucks this month.

It's the damn gas fireplace though. Natural gas is a LOT more expensive this year. But we love that thing and use it every day.

[conflictgirl]

7. About $180 a month

Gas heat, we're in the mid-Michigan area. Last year that's what we paid for a very small but incredibly poorly insulated house - the utility company said that's about what we'll pay this year in our new house, which is considerably bigger but better insulated, and accounting for the increase in gas costs.

[Chicago Democrat]

8. I don't know how anyhouse can possibly cost 450 a month...

there is something very wrong here..

[conflictgirl]

15. I think it depends on a few factors

How well it's insulated (that's a huge part of it - the house we were renting last year was only 1000 sq ft and we had the temp set at 67, and our bills were $180 BEFORE the big rate increase), what you set the thermostat at, and local rates. Some areas are being hit with greater increases than others. :(

[Inspired]

9. 250.00 a month on budget billing

all year round.

[skygazer]

10. Grandma needs to talk to an energy efficiency expert

I would suggest calling the local housing authority and asking if there are any free or low cost winterization programs out there - the one in my Vermont town came out and put in weatherstripping and other insulation devices as well as put a jacket on the water heater (which saves a lot of energy) and put in those flourescent bulbs that are long life and low energy usage.

You should also help her seal her windows (double thick plastic sheeting works best) as well as advise her to use doorsocks under all exterior doors.

[Chicago Democrat]

11. These are the things we are doing first, Thank you so much for the advice

thank you dear democrat

[KitchenWitch]

12. We are paying about $120 a month on the budget helper plan

meaning we pay that year round...It may go down this year, since we got a new energy efficient furnace.

[Bzzzz]

13. New Castle, Indiana...

$64.00 residence buget monthly...$138.00 investment property budget monthly.

[Chicago Democrat]

16. Gas? I heard heating oil is cheap now

ever hear of that?

[Blue_In_AK]

14. Our gas bill is never more than $150 in the winter

Closer to $50 or $60 in the summer. I think your grandma needs to check into some weatherization. Does your state or city have any kind of program to provide weatherization for fixed-income or other less affluent people?

[HeeBGBz]

17. I paid $300 for my tank fill up

I heard it was $2 a gallon now.

[Mizmoon]

18. Oil is $2.79 per gallon

Just got a bill for $310. That's on top of electric which is $280 per month on the budget plan.

The most I ever paid was $550 for one oil delivery after Feb and March last year. It was a very cold period and our furnace was inefficient and tettering on the brink of functionality. Now we have a new furnace and I hope that we'll never see one that bad again.

I must love New York because I sure don't stay here for the affordable living.

[Chicago Democrat]

19. How often you hafta buy oil?

Once a month?

[Mizmoon]

20. every six - eight weeks in winter

maybe just once over the summer. So about six bills per year in all. I'd guess it totals at just under $3,000 per year.