Don't know if you all get pestered by energy suppliers to change supplier, I let one waffle on for ages today until I eventually told them my winter gas bill . Ten quid a month but with my electric included we can save you 82 pence per week . Don't bother I evaporate more than that in jd with my free heat
Gas and electric aren't bundled in NH, don't know about other states. Theres only one natural gas supplier, but dozens of independent electric suppliers. We can save some money by surfing the promo rates, switching between suppliers.
We use fuel oil for the wood backup. Used maybe 50gals last year. We use propane for hot water and cook top. We can surf and change propane suppliers, but they charge at least $125 to swap out tanks. ~sigh~
I don't get them calls. We are on Co-Op electric and the rates are way cheaper than the major electric companies. The electric company can't compete. Gas is not available in my area. The house is an old farmhouse, not well insulated and all electric. I got a $600 electric bill about 7 years ago. Something had to be done. I had a chimney company come out and install a SS liner in an existing chimney and a used stove. Total cost $1600. Since then my electric bill runs $120 +/- $10 year round. I figure I have paid for the installation many time over. I have my own woodlot but haven't cut from it in over 5 years. My son-in-law works for a land clearing company and brings me semi loads of logs for the asking. So my wood doesn't cost me anything except for processing equipment and time.
That's where owning your own tank cones in handy. I have three 275gal fuel oil tanks at my disposal but most of the time they are empty. I use fuel oil as a backup. I should have bought more oil when the price was low but it's hard to know what low is anymore.
Can't switch electric here and no natural gas available to us but if so that would come from the same company. As for propane, there are probably a dozen companies around and we're constantly getting offers.
We don't swap out the propane. The change "fee" is too high. To heat our 1750sp ft house, I figure it this way - 3 cord of wood - $375, when logs are bought. Chainsaw gas, oil, chains, maint... ~$75 50gals of fuel oil @ ~$2.00/gal $100. So.... ~ $550, give/take. The price of oil is current pricing. I believe we topped off 2yrs ago at about $1.60/gal. The $525 will drop some for this year. I doubt I'll be buying any wood... time will tell. We're happy with the total heating cost.
I think you have a few years supply of wood at least. If you process it minimally, like just keep the chunks off the ground, maybe cover them, the wood should stay good for as long as you need it to.
Oh yeah - I have my 3yr supply, and want to maintain it. I got there by the buying 3 cords of log length wood last yr. So, if I can now scrounge 3cord/yr, I'm good! Per my other thread, I'm off to a good start for having inventory to re-fill my stacks as they empty out over this heating season.
We get cold calls and mailing to change electric suppliers. Sometimes cheap rates for 3 months and then bend over after that. Our town government is pushing their aggregation program which is supposed to save a few bucks but I'm pretty sure I'm paying the same rate from Eversource. It's been a penny less and a penny more than the aggregator. I've played the propane game. Won't do that again. I'm too far from the street for nat gas unless I want to pay for lines. I've paid as much as $100/cord for oak logs but right now I have plenty of my own dead trees to process. I burn HHO for heat and hot water and firewood heat about half my house, my mom's house since dad passed. House is all electric otherwise and we got the electric bill down to $19.69 for the month of September. 2500watts /day. Won't happen again except for maybe a three week vacation away. You have to turn a LOT of things off to do it.
The savings never came into it to start with iv just always wanted a real fire or log fire I just love em. But after my tenner a month bill my ears are trained to the sound of the boiler. Even my two lads are " turn boiler off old man will be moaning"
Wood splitter chainsaw chaps visor and gloves were birthday gifts off her indoors and kids. Oil and fuel are part of my hobby ( obsession) so they don't count so I class the lot as free . Electric I can't say owt , iv too many garden lights ponds filters and pumps running 24/7
For many years I just cut tree length wood, sold it and bought propane. It worked, but I was cutting what amounted to 30 cord of wood to heat my home. Granted I could cut 30 cord in less time then I could cut, split and stack firewood for my stove, but as others have said, something had to give. The problem was we only burned $1800 a year in propane, and when I talked to wood stove dealers, it did not make sense to spent $7000 on an inside wood boiler on something that would not net me much return, so I went in a different direction...used. With used wood stoves/boilers the return on investment is radically shorter. Now I burn 3 kinds of fuel: wood, propane and coal. I got an idea this year about converting wood to charcoal and burning that so i do not have to buy anthracite coal, but I am not sure how well it will work out. I hope pretty good.
Lots of propane use here in the north east. The infrastructure needed to make natural gas more available, is continually contested by NIMBY folks who are against the installing of new gas lines. Sent from my SM-T280 using Tapatalk
I'm in Alberta Canada. We used to get the contract peddlers coming to the door once or twice per month, but I haven't seen one in about 2 years. They managed to burn (no pun intended) enough people over the years with their hidden fees and word got around. Everything in my house that can, runs on natural gas. Furnace, dryer, hot water heater, and stove. My monthly gas bill in the winter is usually around $250 Cdn. That's without running the wood stove for a few years. I'm going to see how much of a dent I can put in that this year.
