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Gas stinks

Sho'Nuff

Sho'Nuff

Diamond Member
Gas prices, that is.

Got our Unitil bill yesterday. $366 smackeroos this mornth. And that 's just for hot water and to heat three of the six rooms in our 1200 square foot second and third floor apartment.

At this rate, I'm seriously thinking about turning the thermostat to 0 and relying on ceramic electric heaters.

And before anyone says anything, we keep our thermostat at 60 degrees 21 hours a day during the week, and 12 hours during the weekend. It goes up to 67 degrees between 5 and 8PM on the weekdays, and between 9AM and 9PM on the weekends.

Also note that last year, I heated a 2600 square foot single family house in Massachusetts on natural gas for $180/month in the dead of January. And the kicker is that house was warm! By contrast, my apartment is freezing ass cold. When I walk from my son's playroom (which has a radiator) to our kitchen (which has no heat whatsoever), the temperature drops at least 15 degrees.

To make things more interesting, I discovered last night that there is a natural gas leak at one of the couplings from the pipe that brings the city's natural gas supply into the basement of our house. I thought that might be the source of the high monthly bill, but the tech told me that it wouldn't affect our usage reading because the leak is before the meter.

Ah well, one more month of this bullshit and we're outta here. Can't wait till we're nice and cozy in our new house.
 
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My thermostat is at 65° and our gas bill is about $60/month. And we cook with gas as well. 2BR, 2 story townhome too.
 
Numenorean said:
My thermostat is at 65° and our gas bill is about $60/month. And we cook with gas as well. 2BR, 2 story townhome too.
Click to expand...

Location?

FWIW, our apartment is on the top two floors of a house that was built in 1800. I would be surprised if there is any insulation whatsoever in the walls. I know for a fact that there is almost no cap insulation.
 
soxfan said:
To make things more interesting, I discovered last night that there is a natural gas leak at one of the couplings from the pipe that brings the city's natural gas supply into the basement of our house. I thought that might be the source of the high monthly bill, but the tech told me that it wouldn't affect our usage reading because the leak was before the meter.
Click to expand...

Are they going to fix that???!
If that gas gets into your basement and finds a standing pilot light you could get the new look!
That is nothing to mess around with! 😱
 
Natural gas bill for our 2,400 sq ft house during October was $72. That included gas clothes dryer and water heater. However, with the bitter cold November we had, I'm sure the bill I'll get in a couple days will be closer to $100.
 
Rubycon said:
Are they going to fix that???!
If that gas gets into your basement and finds a standing pilot light you could get the new look!
That is nothing to mess around with! 😀
Click to expand...

Yeah, they are fixing it today. I'm glad I called the gas company. It is a very, very small leak. Every now and then, I'd get a whiff of natural gas when I was standing on our front stoop, but it was so slight and intermittent that I didn't think much of it. Maybe I'm just conditioned to it from my time in Mass (where it seemed that there was a gas leak under every other street). But yesterday, the smell was MUCH stronger, and I called right away. Unitil responded in record time. Had a truck at our place within 15 minutes.
 
Do they not offer a budget billing plan?
Right now my winter bill is about $350/month for gas and electric (split about 60% electric 40% gas)
I'm on a budget plan though where it is just averaged out $200/month for 12 months. It is reviewed twice a year for adjustments too.
 
How much insulation are in your walls and the ceiling?

The state and energy company may have rebates for upgrading the insulation that will come close to covering the overall cost.

/edit
Noticed that you are bailing next month in the middle of a snow storm.

Since this is just a rant thread; enjoy the final bill!:twisted:
 
Numenorean said:
My thermostat is at 65° and our gas bill is about $60/month. And we cook with gas as well. 2BR, 2 story townhome too.
Click to expand...

We are at $150 with a 5 bd house, thermostat at 74. Need it for the grandkids. Just reinsulated the walls ($1200):thumbsup: - waiting for the rebates 😀

Exel is supposed to be 6-8 weeks; who knows when Colorado will come in
 
Try 64 daytime when you are up. Switch to 58 overnight when you are sleeping. Use a programmable thermostat to bring heat back to 64 for when you get up.
For ex: 64 at 5AM / 58 at 7AM / 64 at 4PM / 58 at 9PM .. so it is warm when I get up at 5:15AM then goes down daytime when I am at work. Back to 64 when I get home, 58 when I turn in around 10PM .. Sat/Sun it stays at 64 all day, 58 at 9PM again.
 
Common Courtesy said:
We are at $150 with a 5 bd house, thermostat at 74. Need it for the grandkids. Just reinsulated the walls ($1200):thumbsup: - waiting for the rebates 😀

Exel is supposed to be 6-8 weeks; who knows when Colorado will come in
Click to expand...

That's not bad for 74. We don't have any kids yet and we like it colder anyway. Eventually this will probably be a rental property for us when we get a real house, so I'm not too keen on spending money on much of anything here.
 
Numenorean said:
That's not bad for 74. We don't have any kids yet and we like it colder anyway. Eventually this will probably be a rental property for us when we get a real house, so I'm not too keen on spending money on much of anything here.
Click to expand...
I would prefer for it to be down to 68, but am overruled by wife and daughter; and I understand. 😎
 
Common Courtesy said:
We are at $150 with a 5 bd house, thermostat at 74. Need it for the grandkids. Just reinsulated the walls ($1200):thumbsup: - waiting for the rebates 😀

Exel is supposed to be 6-8 weeks; who knows when Colorado will come in
Click to expand...

How did the reinsulation process go? We are closing on a house at the end of February, and our state offers a similar rebate. Did you use blown in?
 
I'm heating close to 5000 sq/ft once you count the basement. My average temp last month was 24 degrees. We keep the thermostat at 70. No programming. Water heater, stove, and dryer are on gas.

My bill was $100 for gas.
 
soxfan said:
Common Courtesy said:
We are at $150 with a 5 bd house, thermostat at 74. Need it for the grandkids. Just reinsulated the walls ($1200):thumbsup: - waiting for the rebates 😀

Exel is supposed to be 6-8 weeks; who knows when Colorado will come in
Click to expand...

How did the reinsulation process go? We are closing on a house at the end of February, and our state offers a similar rebate. Did you use blown in?
Click to expand...

Because I already had finished walls, the insulation people (had to have a licensed contractor for rebates) cut a 2" hole between each frames stud. Blew in the insulation and packed it down using the nozzle. Repeast and rinse for 1000 linear feet. They would then tap in a pine plug into the hole and rough spackle over the hole.

I had to go back and clean the edges, finish spackle and paint. It took about 6 hours total.

I could have rented a machine at Home Depot and got the insulation for 2/3 the cost. However, the effort to get the insulation done, cutting holes and not getting the rebates for any labor help made it impractical. As it is, if all rebates come through, my net cost is zero.

And I am saving over $100/month on heat right now as it is. In two years it will have paid for itself even without the rebates.
 
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Is your apartment insulated at all? How old is your building?

My place was built in 2007, double the square footage and my gas bill last month was $150.
 
Common Courtesy said:
We are at $150 with a 5 bd house, thermostat at 74. Need it for the grandkids. Just reinsulated the walls ($1200):thumbsup: - waiting for the rebates 😀

Exel is supposed to be 6-8 weeks; who knows when Colorado will come in
Click to expand...

how did you reinsulate? tear down the drywall and put new fiberglass insulation up? Or have someone come by and make small holes and spray the expanding foam? My townhouse is really badly insulated! My Dec bill was $267 for the gas portion alone!! And this is for a 2 bedroom 1700 sq ft townhouse with a basement. Keep the house at 63 during the day and 66 when we're home.

I want to know how effective those spray foams are. I'm afraid that if the contractor does a bad job, or doesn't put enough, I'll never know since it will be behind the drywall.
 
vi edit said:
I'm heating close to 5000 sq/ft once you count the basement. My average temp last month was 24 degrees. We keep the thermostat at 70. No programming. Water heater, stove, and dryer are on gas.

My bill was $100 for gas.
Click to expand...

the benefits of having your house built - you make sure it is built right! That's very impressive. There's hardly any heat loss
 
Wow people have some low gas prices. We just paid $300 for Nov. to heat our 1800 sq ft house from the 60's, this is after new windows, last year it would have been closer to $400.

This is heating at 68 after 4 pm until 9am, and 62 for the remaining.
 
Aharami said:
how did you reinsulate? tear down the drywall and put new fiberglass insulation up? Or have someone come by and make small holes and spray the expanding foam? My townhouse is really badly insulated! My Dec bill was $267 for the gas portion alone!! And this is for a 2 bedroom 1700 sq ft townhouse with a basement. Keep the house at 63 during the day and 66 when we're home.

I want to know how effective those spray foams are. I'm afraid that if the contractor does a bad job, or doesn't put enough, I'll never know since it will be behind the drywall.
Click to expand...

I was told to not use foam behind drywall. The expansion will stress and possibly crack. Fiberglass bats should be used if not finished with drywall; blown in cellulose (paper/cloth) when the drywall is already up.

Foam can be used if you are not using drywall.

The rest of your question is answered above
 
Aharami said:
the benefits of having your house built - you make sure it is built right! That's very impressive. There's hardly any heat loss
Click to expand...

Yep. That's using 1" XPS foam on the outside, 2x6 studs with conventional bat insulation and a little bit of spray foam insulation around floor joists in the basement and where the roof trusses in the attic. The real kicker comes in with the attention to sealing up the place. I've got what probably accounted to mile worth of spray foam in every joint, seam, crack, seal, window jam, door jam, and nook and cranny you could find.
 
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