Feeling a crunch?

[Judy]

Like many I talk to, we are cutting back on our "frivilous" spending because we have been shelling out money like crazy lately. We heat our home with propane and propane is now $1.75 a gallon... when you fill a 1,000 tank you can easily see the sticker shock. A 1,000 gallons will not get us through the winter's heating (.. it'll last maybe till mid Feb.) plus that doesn't include any cost for electricity.

I'm curious as to what it's being like for the rest of you now that home heating has become an issue.

Judy

[mixtymotions]

Here on the western slopes, it's not uncommon to fire up the furnace in September and shut it off (finally) at the end of May. That's (yikes) 9 months of cold! During the milder months (Sept, Oct, April & May), gas costs about $150-$225. However, during the snowy season (Nov-Apr) it costs $300-$400 monthly. So that's....around $3000 annually (NOT including the costs for electricity). The gas company raises its prices every year too, nice guys that they are. I also use a highly efficient insert in my fireplace for burning wood (burning about 2 cords annually at $250-$300 per cord). I also have portable, oil filled radiators in the basement and the sun room. A down filled comforter, a down filled pillow-top bed, four cats and a large dog keep the bed toasty as I never run the furnace higher than 65 degrees. The north wall of my home is entirely brick which is a good thing here in Colorado or I'd lose a lot of heat through north facing windows. I guess the only up-side is that I don't need air conditioning. Summer humidity is about 12%, so cooling with water through a "swamp cooler" is less expensive.

[DaveM]

I just had the oil tank filled with $3.20 per gallon fuel oil. The bill was $764--more than I spent on the entire heating season in several recent years. That oil will last until sometime in January at the present rate of use.

Thankfully I have come up with the money for at least the next tankful. But here in Northern Minnesota it's not that unusual to still be running the furnace in May. So, there's a long haul ahead.

The question of why fuel oil is $3.20 per gallon gets to me. Fuel oil is in many respects a byproduct of refining gasoline--if you make one, you get the other no matter what so supply can't be a problem. There are no "road taxes" on fuel oil--which total around 40 cents per gallon in Minnesota. Diesel fuel--which is #2 fuel oil which HAS road use taxes on it (and one more stage of filtration)--is currently selling for $3.12 at the local gas station.

So why is fuel oil 40 cents MORE per gallon than gasoline? Why is it more expensive than taxed diesel fuel? Does the Oil Fairy wave a magic wand over the tanks at service stations?

At current prices, installing a heat pump system would pay for itself in around 2 1/2 years. Not to mention that the electric company offers a good-sized rebate on the system and the county would give me a loan at 1% interest.

I think there's going to be some construction around here as soon as it warms up in the spring. After all, the only thing you need to run a heat pump is electricity....and if electricity rates go the same way as everything else, I can always put up a windmill!

[AceOn6]

Got 150 gallons today, also at $3.20. We have a 250 gallon tank, and normally go through a tank every 6 weeks during heating season. I'm looking at $3,000 for the heating season IF we have a typical winter. Used to be under $1,000 for the whole year.

I have no idea what folks with typical jobs are going to do. For the average wage earner, coming up with an extra $100 is a challenge, let alone two grand.

[hoops]

I am lucky enough to have my heat included in my rent (thank goodness) BUT i now the landlord is feeling the crunch became, well to put it mildly IT'S FREEZING IN HERE! i can't say i blame her, but why is she upset that i got an elctric radiator, just for when i'm home in the evening and only in one room? ahhh so i wasted $40 on something i can't use. it's really ca good thing i don;t have to pay for heat cause i've been here since sept. and have had to put $3000 into my car, one way or another it all goes out the window. sucks...
good luck with your heating woes, i will be praying for all of you
peace
hoops

[Dee]

Heat is included in my rent, as is electricity and water. Otherwise, I would never sign a lease on a place.

[Mimi]

Lucky you, Dee. I only had a contract like that once in my very first apartment and never found something like that ever again - and I / we moved quite a lot.

MIMI

Prices for electricity, fuel oil and gas are exploding in Germany, you pay 25% more at the moment than one year ago.

[Dee]

They are getting harder to find here too, Mimi. But paying for these basic utilities would make life far more difficult on my income.

[marjan]

What can I say .. I'm sorry that you all living in the USA finally have to pay prizes for gas, oil, benzin etc. as we all other human beings allready did for decates. It might get you think about .. well living on this planet :(

[Judy]

Yea, but Marjan, doesn't your higher fuel costs also subsidize national health care? We have no national health care and insurance premiums for an individual can conservatively run $600 monthly for a so-so policy with a high deductible.

Judy

[DaveM]

We in the U.S. also have to deal with the fact that travel often involves longer distances than in Europe (my Thanksgiving visit to my family involved a drive that could have crossed several European countries with ease), and that we don't have decent mass transit systems in much of the country. Where it would be relatively easy to find a bus, a train, or what have you that would take you pretty much anywhere you wanted in Europe, most of the United States has none of these things (mind, I'd like to see them developed and would definitely use them).

It's not so much the prices that hurt, but the fact that we have essentially no alternative but to accept them.

[lucille]

I use a gas space heater in the living room which suffices and warms the kitchen and dining area as well. The gas bill per year is about $600, but I have gas hot water and cooking. I never need to heat the bedroom as the feather quilt is more than adequate, and as every night is a "two dog night":p I am often too warm.

My house is situated at the top of a hill, and the wind is sometimes fierce and I was thinking I should get a windmill too. When I start on the renovations I will be putting in a solar hot water heater, and maybe heating as well. Of course we don't have the extreme winters here, and if it ever gets close to freezing at night, we feel we are hard done by.

[DaveM]

Must say there's nothing that can quite compare to a two dog night.

The cat does his best but it's just not the same.

[aabram]

Luckily for us it has either been cold or wet, but not both at the same time.... I use three obliging cats wisely for my knees and the dog, equally wisely if I get extra cold..... :rolleyes: There really is heat in numbers, and they keep me snug and cosy :)

[marjan]

I guess your have a point there Judy.
More than 50% of our gasprizes are tax, same for alcohol and cigarettes, but I don't think our gouvernment is spending it on healthcare, reducing traficjam, etc. as they should

It is comon knowledge that our gastaxes aren't spend on building bether highways, reducing traficjam, giving more money to public transfer systems.. when you think you pay tax just for that use.

At the same time they keep saying in advertisements that smoking and drinking is bad for your health, but oh boy what if everyone should quit at the same time.. they would be in big trouble with increasing there state income by half.. they don't want us to quit at all!!

[Dee]

... they don't want us to quit at all!!

I suspect exactly the same of our Canadian government, Marjan.

It's just a bunch of hooey.