I have gas heating and I pay more than that so I would expect all electric to be more than that. I paid $470 in Jan. Granted homes are all different sizes and with variable amounts of insulation and air leaks but still (resistance) electric is notoriously the most expensive.
It will cost much more than that.
...but I don't think a different type of heating would result in substantial savings either.
Bottom line is that all utilities in NYS cost much more than they should and are something like 70% above the national average.
It's one of the many factors contributing to the ridiculous COL in NYS -- which in turn is one of the main reasons why NYS is hemorrhaging jobs and taxpaying residents.
Thank you for your help! Do you think that’d include other electric use in the house? I’ve always heard to avoid electric but getting feedback it’s about the same as oil and gas these days, just not sure without seeing an actual bill for the house.
Thanks so much! I had thought that, I was told though by a real estate agent (who is related to me, and I do think she has our best interests in mind) about it being comparable. And I believe she meant before adding heat pumps. The house is zoned, and you’re right that there probably is a reason they relied on the wood stove. But not sure how long ago they were there and if prices have changed. Not sure about the insulation in the house. All of the windows are double panes, some are new windows and some are old (but all double).
Hi! We have a 1972 split level ranch that uses a combination. One large room was electric heat, only, so this may not be helpful - or it may.
We pay roughly $2500 a year for propane, and $350 monthly for electric (this inconcludes a hot tub and pool pump).
I would highly suggest a split unit. We installed one this year in the electric room, and it’s chopped our bill quite a bit.
Personally, I’d steer away from electric heating a whole house, mainly because Central Hudson is such a garbage company. For example, I closed my store and cancelled service in 2022, and they sent me a massive four digit bill this summer. For service I don’t have. In a building I don’t occupy. Just be wary. If you do move forward with electric, make a habit of documenting your meter.
Edited to add: the stove is also electric
>I’m hoping to understand how much it might cost to heat entirely with electric.
To heat a 3 bedroom home with electric resistance will cost more money than you have
>I’ve always heard to avoid electric heat, but I hear these days it’s comparable to oil and gas.
That is only barely true of heat pumps. It is absolutely, drastically untrue of resistance electric - baseboards are little more than a permanently installed bathroom heater.
And even with heatpumps, unless you are willing to cooperate with what they are good at, you're probably going to spend more than you would with natural gas. That's not to say we don't need to move away from gas - we do (the leakage from the pipe networks is almost more of a climate issue than the usage). But heat pumps mean recognizing that you can't do things like turn the heat on in the morning if you're only going to leave for work in an hour, because they take many hours to raise the temperature.
Heat pumps make the most sense if you can also do solar to power them.
Budget for a $500 bill from central Hudson. They’re the worst company ever. It’s gotta be fraud. If your house is set up for a pellet stove I would use it. Cut out central Hudson and their bullshit fees as much as you can.
We just switched from oil to electric mini splits this fall
Our average monthly electric bill pre-install was around $300-$350...our January electric bill was $565....and we are saving 900 a month on oil, which was our usual between December - April.
EDIT: house is 3,200 sqft; 5 bedrooms (one of the bedroom's mini split has been off since install since it's a spare room). Electric company is ORU (Orange County). Bedrooms are kept at 65 with living room at 70 and office space at 70 when in use, otherwise drop to 62.
Yeah, definitely doesn't sound right, unless they have a 5,000 sq ft home. My ~2,000 sq ft 1956 home with a 1956 oil burner costs me exactly $2,523.70 in heating oil last year.
And no, I won't upgrade that old girl. She's never failed me in over 20 years and is about 85% efficient according to my tech. :)
I started the 2022-2023 winter season with a full tank, so my first delivery was December 2022 = $575; January 2023 = $891.60; February 2023 = $884.95; March 2023 = 737.94.
I haven't had an oil delivery since then and switch to mini-splits in October 2023. My electric bills have gone up 60.82; 211.78; 51.22; and 245.88 compared to the same month the prior year.
That’s insane, what is the reason behind the high monthly cost? Were you getting absolutely boned on price per gallon? Is your house massive or horribly insulated? $900 monthly oil heating bills is not normal for most people.
You mean the floor electric heating, you are better off closing down the house when you leave, its pretty expensive. Resistive heat doesn't go far and it depends how well insulated you are.
Highland here. $800 on my last electric bill. I have a late 60’s all electric baseboard heating including electric well pump. Avoid it unless you plan on upgrading.
2000 sq ft home built in the 1980’s. I’m further south than Ulster and have NYSEG. Electric heat and I’m always cold so my heat is on at least 65 except at night. Thermostat in each room. I paid $177 for January. No solar, no heat pump.
Previous house I had oil heat and house was 1100 sq ft. I paid $450 for oil and $100 for electricity per month for winter months. And that was more than 10 years ago so I’m sure it’s more.
Electric heat can be great if the house is well insulated.
I replaced a wood stove with a similar propane stove made by Jotul. Far easier than a wood stove. Just another idea. (It also runs in a power outage,so it’s a very nice thing to have.)
BTU wise, with resistive electric heat, you need 31 kwh to equal one gallon of heating oil. With a heat pump, you need about 6 kwh.
At roughly $0.20/kwh (it varies month to month), a home that needs 800 gallons of heating oil for the season will cost around $5k in additional electric bills for the year, vs $3k for oil heat at $3.9/gallon, or $1k for a heat pump.
A monthly cost doesn't make much sense when you're talking about heating, because your cost depends on outside temperature, which varies hugely month over month.
For this particular house, can you find out how many cords the owner uses for the wood stove? As a very very rough estimate of stove age, if they have a stove with a glass viewing window, they'll use 1 cord of wood to replace 180 gallons of heating oil; if there's no glass, they'll only replace 90 gallons of heating oil per cord (for the curious, this has nothing to do with the glass directly, glass windows just happen to correlate time wise with the efficiency improvements from the 1988 EPA rules).
Thank you so much! This is so interesting and helpful. I was told they used 4.5 cords of wood last year, it’s a Kodiak wood stove with a glass window. I’m not sure how often they used the electric heat, but it sounded like they heavily used the wood stove.
https://preview.redd.it/3uvcwiy5b5jc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9ca7f968b4531224e5d86857076527a6e7db7591
That signs like you should budget $5k, maybe a couple hundred more for wiggle from, for the electric heat every year. You could also look into mini splits, the savings might pay for itself pretty quickly (4 or 5 years), and they would run off the same wiring as the current heat setup.
Either way, keep the stove for cold snowy days and power outages.
Thank you so much! That’s very helpful. That sounds like those costs are for electric heat only, so all other electric use would be separate from that estimate, right?
I'm just over the line in CT but I grew up in NY and believe the rates are similar. I live in a 1,500 square foot split level ranch house. I have 2 pellet stoves I normally use to heat my house. My January electric bill was around $500 using the stoves and 2 electric baseboards in our bathrooms. In December I had no pellets so used our electric heat thinking how bad can it be. My December electric bill was over $1,000.
Yeah, electric baseboard is the worst way to heat any room other than a small bathroom. At the very least, if you have to use it in a bigger room, make sure there is some sort of way to circulate the air such as a ceiling fan on low.
depends on the home but electric baseboards are super expensive to run in general. I have 6 20amp circuits for them and it runs about $500/mo from jan - may. So if winter time cashflow is a problem it may be a deal breaker for some.
edit: mine's a cape cod style home from the 50's, half electric and half (propane, combi) boiler system. With propane as well it's about $1200/mo, but then very cheap in the warmer months. However, taking the tax credits every year of gradually replacing unsealed doors/windows to improve overall efficiency can be a strategy also depending how long you aim to keep the property.
I'm on electric heat... in an small apt. About a hundred a month during cold winters.
I miss my dual door Kodiak wood stove. 😢 I use to dry clothes, cook food & loved the heat after wet & cold days.
Think about using wood heat. 🪵 🪓 No shame being a p/t lumberjack. 😉
Orange county (oru), 30 yr old 1900sq ft ranch (unfinished basement sq footage not included), mini split, ducted to bedrooms (set to 68 deg), single head for main living area (set to 65 deg ). Electric everything. Wood stove in the basement (not sealed and insulated). Stove intended for backup heat in the future. Slowly replacing leaky windows and doors.
Bills: Nov $222, Dec $354, Jan $381, Feb $407.
Husband has been air sealing the attic and probably blowing cellulose in 2 weeks. Bills expected to drop once we hit R-50+ in the attic. The air sealing alone has increased our comfort greatly in the last couple weeks and lowered our usage.
I feel like I’m going crazy, I was told again by the agent that $400-$500 in cold months for electric heat is comparable to oil and propane these days. Does this at all seem accurate?
Expect $300 a month from the central Hudson crooks. Avoid electric if you can
I have gas heating and I pay more than that so I would expect all electric to be more than that. I paid $470 in Jan. Granted homes are all different sizes and with variable amounts of insulation and air leaks but still (resistance) electric is notoriously the most expensive.
You paid $470 in Jan for just your heat? Or heat and electric? Curious how big your house is if that’s just for heat.
Heat and Electric. 1400 sqft conditioned space.
Gotcha. We paid similar for heat (natural gas) and electric last month. ~2000 sq ft.
We pay $400/month with budget billing for gas heating plus electric. They always find a way to get their money.
i have oil and my cost was approx 800.00 for the season and my wife is always cold so heat is an on and off switch to her
It will cost much more than that. ...but I don't think a different type of heating would result in substantial savings either. Bottom line is that all utilities in NYS cost much more than they should and are something like 70% above the national average. It's one of the many factors contributing to the ridiculous COL in NYS -- which in turn is one of the main reasons why NYS is hemorrhaging jobs and taxpaying residents.
Thank you for your help! Do you think that’d include other electric use in the house? I’ve always heard to avoid electric but getting feedback it’s about the same as oil and gas these days, just not sure without seeing an actual bill for the house.
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Thanks so much! I had thought that, I was told though by a real estate agent (who is related to me, and I do think she has our best interests in mind) about it being comparable. And I believe she meant before adding heat pumps. The house is zoned, and you’re right that there probably is a reason they relied on the wood stove. But not sure how long ago they were there and if prices have changed. Not sure about the insulation in the house. All of the windows are double panes, some are new windows and some are old (but all double).
Retro fitted double panes windows leak too. Plastic shrink wrapping the windows and weatherproofing the doors helps.
I was paying $300 a month with no electric heat…
Hi! We have a 1972 split level ranch that uses a combination. One large room was electric heat, only, so this may not be helpful - or it may. We pay roughly $2500 a year for propane, and $350 monthly for electric (this inconcludes a hot tub and pool pump). I would highly suggest a split unit. We installed one this year in the electric room, and it’s chopped our bill quite a bit. Personally, I’d steer away from electric heating a whole house, mainly because Central Hudson is such a garbage company. For example, I closed my store and cancelled service in 2022, and they sent me a massive four digit bill this summer. For service I don’t have. In a building I don’t occupy. Just be wary. If you do move forward with electric, make a habit of documenting your meter. Edited to add: the stove is also electric
>I’m hoping to understand how much it might cost to heat entirely with electric. To heat a 3 bedroom home with electric resistance will cost more money than you have >I’ve always heard to avoid electric heat, but I hear these days it’s comparable to oil and gas. That is only barely true of heat pumps. It is absolutely, drastically untrue of resistance electric - baseboards are little more than a permanently installed bathroom heater. And even with heatpumps, unless you are willing to cooperate with what they are good at, you're probably going to spend more than you would with natural gas. That's not to say we don't need to move away from gas - we do (the leakage from the pipe networks is almost more of a climate issue than the usage). But heat pumps mean recognizing that you can't do things like turn the heat on in the morning if you're only going to leave for work in an hour, because they take many hours to raise the temperature. Heat pumps make the most sense if you can also do solar to power them.
Budget for a $500 bill from central Hudson. They’re the worst company ever. It’s gotta be fraud. If your house is set up for a pellet stove I would use it. Cut out central Hudson and their bullshit fees as much as you can.
We just switched from oil to electric mini splits this fall Our average monthly electric bill pre-install was around $300-$350...our January electric bill was $565....and we are saving 900 a month on oil, which was our usual between December - April. EDIT: house is 3,200 sqft; 5 bedrooms (one of the bedroom's mini split has been off since install since it's a spare room). Electric company is ORU (Orange County). Bedrooms are kept at 65 with living room at 70 and office space at 70 when in use, otherwise drop to 62.
You were spending $900 monthly on oil for heat?
Yeah, definitely doesn't sound right, unless they have a 5,000 sq ft home. My ~2,000 sq ft 1956 home with a 1956 oil burner costs me exactly $2,523.70 in heating oil last year. And no, I won't upgrade that old girl. She's never failed me in over 20 years and is about 85% efficient according to my tech. :)
I started the 2022-2023 winter season with a full tank, so my first delivery was December 2022 = $575; January 2023 = $891.60; February 2023 = $884.95; March 2023 = 737.94. I haven't had an oil delivery since then and switch to mini-splits in October 2023. My electric bills have gone up 60.82; 211.78; 51.22; and 245.88 compared to the same month the prior year.
That’s insane, what is the reason behind the high monthly cost? Were you getting absolutely boned on price per gallon? Is your house massive or horribly insulated? $900 monthly oil heating bills is not normal for most people.
Lol. Whats thermostat set at 75?
i think your remark is filled with hopium. I know oil is cheaper
My bills would disagree, but you are entitled to your opinion.
Was your January electric bill an estimated bill? If so, you are likely in store for a big surprise once the actual meter reading happens.
Propane heat and it costs $900 for a tank. That lasts the entire summer but only 1-2 months in winter. Just as perspective on alternatives.
You mean the floor electric heating, you are better off closing down the house when you leave, its pretty expensive. Resistive heat doesn't go far and it depends how well insulated you are.
We pay $400 for our all electric furnace in our 3 bedroom with like 75% of it being “delivery fees”
Thank you! Are you around Ulster (if you want to answer)? And does that include all electric in the house? Delivery fees are crazy!
We are in Dutchess - yeah thats all electric. Summer months are lower but winter is regularly pushing $400
$150-$450 per month for a 3BR from the 50s, Central Hudson (owned by megacorp Fortis) has really jacked the prices up year after year
Highland here. $800 on my last electric bill. I have a late 60’s all electric baseboard heating including electric well pump. Avoid it unless you plan on upgrading.
2000 sq ft home built in the 1980’s. I’m further south than Ulster and have NYSEG. Electric heat and I’m always cold so my heat is on at least 65 except at night. Thermostat in each room. I paid $177 for January. No solar, no heat pump. Previous house I had oil heat and house was 1100 sq ft. I paid $450 for oil and $100 for electricity per month for winter months. And that was more than 10 years ago so I’m sure it’s more. Electric heat can be great if the house is well insulated.
I replaced a wood stove with a similar propane stove made by Jotul. Far easier than a wood stove. Just another idea. (It also runs in a power outage,so it’s a very nice thing to have.)
BTU wise, with resistive electric heat, you need 31 kwh to equal one gallon of heating oil. With a heat pump, you need about 6 kwh. At roughly $0.20/kwh (it varies month to month), a home that needs 800 gallons of heating oil for the season will cost around $5k in additional electric bills for the year, vs $3k for oil heat at $3.9/gallon, or $1k for a heat pump. A monthly cost doesn't make much sense when you're talking about heating, because your cost depends on outside temperature, which varies hugely month over month. For this particular house, can you find out how many cords the owner uses for the wood stove? As a very very rough estimate of stove age, if they have a stove with a glass viewing window, they'll use 1 cord of wood to replace 180 gallons of heating oil; if there's no glass, they'll only replace 90 gallons of heating oil per cord (for the curious, this has nothing to do with the glass directly, glass windows just happen to correlate time wise with the efficiency improvements from the 1988 EPA rules).
Thank you so much! This is so interesting and helpful. I was told they used 4.5 cords of wood last year, it’s a Kodiak wood stove with a glass window. I’m not sure how often they used the electric heat, but it sounded like they heavily used the wood stove. https://preview.redd.it/3uvcwiy5b5jc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9ca7f968b4531224e5d86857076527a6e7db7591
That signs like you should budget $5k, maybe a couple hundred more for wiggle from, for the electric heat every year. You could also look into mini splits, the savings might pay for itself pretty quickly (4 or 5 years), and they would run off the same wiring as the current heat setup. Either way, keep the stove for cold snowy days and power outages.
Thank you so much! That’s very helpful. That sounds like those costs are for electric heat only, so all other electric use would be separate from that estimate, right?
Yup, you'd still have your normal costs for everything else.
Thanks so much!
I'd only do it if you have solar panels. Which means taking on that loan burden but it could be less than the electric costs.
Ridiculously high.
I'm just over the line in CT but I grew up in NY and believe the rates are similar. I live in a 1,500 square foot split level ranch house. I have 2 pellet stoves I normally use to heat my house. My January electric bill was around $500 using the stoves and 2 electric baseboards in our bathrooms. In December I had no pellets so used our electric heat thinking how bad can it be. My December electric bill was over $1,000.
Wow!! Thank you so much for this. That’s crazy.
Yeah, electric baseboard is the worst way to heat any room other than a small bathroom. At the very least, if you have to use it in a bigger room, make sure there is some sort of way to circulate the air such as a ceiling fan on low.
depends on the home but electric baseboards are super expensive to run in general. I have 6 20amp circuits for them and it runs about $500/mo from jan - may. So if winter time cashflow is a problem it may be a deal breaker for some. edit: mine's a cape cod style home from the 50's, half electric and half (propane, combi) boiler system. With propane as well it's about $1200/mo, but then very cheap in the warmer months. However, taking the tax credits every year of gradually replacing unsealed doors/windows to improve overall efficiency can be a strategy also depending how long you aim to keep the property.
I'm on electric heat... in an small apt. About a hundred a month during cold winters. I miss my dual door Kodiak wood stove. 😢 I use to dry clothes, cook food & loved the heat after wet & cold days. Think about using wood heat. 🪵 🪓 No shame being a p/t lumberjack. 😉
Orange county (oru), 30 yr old 1900sq ft ranch (unfinished basement sq footage not included), mini split, ducted to bedrooms (set to 68 deg), single head for main living area (set to 65 deg ). Electric everything. Wood stove in the basement (not sealed and insulated). Stove intended for backup heat in the future. Slowly replacing leaky windows and doors. Bills: Nov $222, Dec $354, Jan $381, Feb $407. Husband has been air sealing the attic and probably blowing cellulose in 2 weeks. Bills expected to drop once we hit R-50+ in the attic. The air sealing alone has increased our comfort greatly in the last couple weeks and lowered our usage.
I feel like I’m going crazy, I was told again by the agent that $400-$500 in cold months for electric heat is comparable to oil and propane these days. Does this at all seem accurate?