Hey New Englanders. How much does it cost to heat your house per year...

[Reasonable Doubt]

Hey New Englanders. How much does it cost to heat your house per year, how many square feet is your house, and what year was it built? Also what is the method of heating? (forced air gas, electric, oil etc.)


I'm thinking about buying a 2400 square foot house built in 2009. I'm trying to figure out roughly how much I should expect to spend for heating and cooling costs. I figure newer houses are probably better insulated so I'm hoping heating and cooling won't be very much.

 

[Jumpem]

The biggest question is whether it is connected to natural gas lines or if it is off the grid and has a propane or oil tank.

My current house is 1300sq.ft. I spend maybe $500 or $600 per winter on natural gas. My last house was similar in size, but used propane. I spent at least twice as much.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

First if the house is in MA immediately call for an energy audit. Free program that offer great prices on insulation, sealing and even furnaces although they usually have to be gas but there are a few oil furnace rebates. Great prices on thermostats too.

http://pages1.nextstepliving.com/Br...utm_device=c&gclid=CN7LmaHZ9cgCFVUTHwod_PgOjA

I have an 1100 sq foot ranch built in 1959. Cost of oil has been all over the place however now its pretty cheap (about $2 per gallon) we generally use 250-300 gallons per winter. I have seen oil cost over $4 per gallon.
When we purchased the home there was essentially no insulation (3" 1972 fiber glass I remember seeing the manufacture date on the bottom of it). MA Saves program added 12" blown in cellulose for $680, then the next year we had the walls done this was about $600.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

NE resident since 2007.

As others have mentioned it depends on a lot of factors, including the type of heat, degree to which your house is insulated, how large your house is, floor plan, how well your windows were installed, etc. Other major factors include how cold the winter is (it can vary considerably) and how warm you like the house. Also - how well you use programmable thermostats.

From 2007-2009 I owned a 2400 square foot colonial in Waltham with natural gas heat and programmable thermostats. House was built in 2003. Cost to heat from October to late may (yes, May), was about $1900.

From 2009-2010 I rented the top two floors of an ancient new englander that was poorly insulated, had radiant oil based heat, with radiators in only 3 of the 5 rooms. Cost to heat (oil alone) from Octobner to May was ~$2800. That does not take into account the large electric bills we had due to needing to supplement the heat with electric heaters. Translation - that house was friggin cold.

I now own a 3000 square foot modern colonial built in 1992. I have two heat sources, a pellet stove and an oil boiler. For the past three years I heated the house entirely with the pellet stove, at a cost of ~$1500. This year because oil is cheap I will use the oil boiler. I expect it to be about the same cost as pellets but the heat will be a lot more even throughout the house.

 

[drinkmorejava]

Probably not too relevant, but...

575 sq ground floor condo in Boston. ~1900 brick building with exposed walls. Electric baseboard heating.

Even with turning things down pretty aggressively at night and when I wasn't home, still got up to $190/month. This year will be worse because Massachusetts effed up its natural gas management and energy prices have gone up 30%.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Back in the very early 1980's, a ~600-700 square foot poorly insulated structure that was built around the turn of the century was costing my folks US$100/month to heat by NG. That's about $275/month today.

My poorly built modern home in ATL costs about the same except that we're talking about 2500-3000 square feet of living space.

 

[John Connor]

Gas bill here is around $80/month and it can jump to $180. What's fucked up is that we are the largest producer of NG and so the price should be cheaper.

Oh, I live in Colorado... LOL

 

[z1ggy]

total square footage of house is around 1500 if you include the basement. Obviously, it depends on the price of fuel at the time. Currently, oil is around 1.95 a gallon. With two people living in the home, using energy at a normal rate, I'd say from right now, til march, I'd probably go through 2.5-3 tanks of oil. Again, this depend son the temperature on average during the winter... etc etc. My tank is 275 gal, so I'd probably end up spending anywhere from $1300-1600 bucks.

 

[ultimatebob]

I have an oil fueled boiler, and I need to refill it twice (on average) during winter. The tank holds about 200 gallons, and heating oil usually costs somewhere between $2.25 and $3.25 a gallon.

It's a 1300 sq foot raised ranch, built in the 1960's. The windows are drafty, the insulation is shit, and the landlord doesn't care.

 

[Doodoo]

Have a 2300 sq ft colonial built in 2008 with NG baseboard heat in NY. Typical winter runs around 1,200 though last year it ran more like 1,700.

 

[DrPizza]

Built in 50's, insulation is only about 2 1/2 to 3" in the attic. 1300sq ft? Roughly $750-$1000 per winter. After I finish some upcoming remodeling projects, that amount should be cut by more than half.

 

[Anubis]

Built in 50's, insulation is only about 2 1/2 to 3" in the attic. 1300sq ft? Roughly $750-$1000 per winter. After I finish some upcoming remodeling projects, that amount should be cut by more than half.

NY isn't NE Doc

 

[ultimatebob]

NY isn't NE Doc

If he's near Buffalo, he's getting worse winters than most New Englanders do.

 

[NetWareHead]

We have natural gas heating hydronic baseboards. it is hard to say which portion of the gas bill is used for heating as we have a gas cook stove and gas water heater. We sometimes begin heating in late Sept and sometimes until May. Dec to April are the biggest heating months with bills between $100-200. We have a house built in 1928 with unknown insulation levels and lenty of window (newer). We heat a little over 1000 sq ft. Location: southern NH

 

[dtgoodwin]

I know I am posting outside of your request, but wow, I'm sure glad I don't live in the NE. I live 50 miles south of Salt Lake City. 3600 square feet. Natural gas forced hot air. It costs me about $300 additional cost over and above my standard gas fees and the minimal gas my water heaters use (only one is active) - which is only $25/month. Our electric is low at $.0101 fixed (no tiers), however my monthly bills get to $200+ per month for cooling. I have 4-6 inches of fiberglass in the walls and 14-16 inches of blown in fiberglass in the ceiling. I have 10-12' ceilings on the top floor and 8' + in the basement. I consider myself blessed to have such low costs.

 

[richardycc]

$500 or $600 per winter? 250-300 gallons per winter? I call BS! I have a 90% high efficiency oil boiler and still need about 3 deliveries (about 150gal each)for the winter, granted the 3rd delivery will usually last me until Sept.

guess we all make 6figures here and use little to no money to heat our homes...yup, I get it.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

$500 or $600 per winter? 250-300 gallons per winter? I call BS! I have a 90% high efficiency oil boiler and still need about 3 deliveries (about 150gal each)for the winter, granted the 3rd delivery will usually last me until Sept.

guess we all make 6figures here and use little to no money to heat our homes...yup, I get it.

We keep it pretty cool in my house. I may use more this year since my fiancee can use the nest thermostat (long story about the old one). Insulation helped a huge amount, our first not insulated few winter months was about 80 gallons per month Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb. I generally use one tank plus a bit more now with proper insulation & sealing.

 

[yh125d]

Gas bill here is around $80/month and it can jump to $180. What's fucked up is that we are the largest producer of NG and so the price should be cheaper.

Oh, I live in Colorado... LOL

Colorado isn't even close to the largest producer of natural gas

 

[yh125d]

Here in Oklahoma I spend probably 100-150 annually with a gas furnace and 1100sq ft

 

[madoka]

Having lived in CA most my life, I'm curious about the temperature your houses are at when you feel the need to heat them versus just wearing warmer clothes.

 

[ultimatebob]

Having lived in CA most my life, I'm curious about the temperature your houses are at when you feel the need to heat them versus just wearing warmer clothes.

During winter, I leave the thermostat between 61 and 63. If you're cold, put on warmer clothes!

 

[yh125d]

Having lived in CA most my life, I'm curious about the temperature your houses are at when you feel the need to heat them versus just wearing warmer clothes.

In winter I normally keep the thermostat set at 68, which makes for the bulk of the house actually being at 66 or so and I just wear sweaters. I do kick it up to 72 or so in the mornings, I hate getting out of the shower and freezing my ass off. Then it goes back down the rest of the time

 

[jlee]

Having lived in CA most my life, I'm curious about the temperature your houses are at when you feel the need to heat them versus just wearing warmer clothes.

This is where I grew up-- http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/whitefield/new-hampshire/united-states/usnh0463

For a frame of reference on what some people mean by 'winter'.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Having lived in CA most my life, I'm curious about the temperature your houses are at when you feel the need to heat them versus just wearing warmer clothes.

68-70 is perfect for comfort however the oil bill is not very comfortable I don't know why but it seems like the furnace runs a ton more at 68. We usually are around 64 degrees in the winter. Late night and day time are set at 60 degrees, Saturday night Sunday afternoon we treat ourselves with 66 degrees.

 

[preCRT]

This subject depresses me.

My parents' small home in MA was built in 1968, has shitty 3" of fiberglass insulation, mostly single pane windows, and baseboard oil based heat. They burn through about 150 gallons of oil/month during the winter. When oil prices were a bit higher, it was over $500/month, just crazy.

If you are looking for the cheapest oil prices try:
http://www.newenglandoil.com/index.asp

I miss when oil was 68¢/gallon not too many years ago.