Possible outlawing of baseboard electric heat!

[XRinger]

Ahhh, yes, I should know better than to lump all our northern friends together. Here in the states electric rates vary widely between states, it is probably similar in Canada.
So, if they do force you to do something other than electric, what do you have for options? Oil? Natural gas? 80% of people here heat with oil. Virtually no one heats with electricity. Electricity isn't cheap here. Oil would have to approach $8 a gallon before electricity would make sense.

Just how much do the charge you per KWH up there?
After adding on all the 'carrying charges' & etc. our cost is 21 cents per KWH.

Luckily, we are 10deg F south of you, and using a mini-split for electric heat,
does not cost us an arm&leg. For most of the winter, it's about $2 a day.

It also costs $2 a day to 'oil' heat our hot water.
It burns oil for about 30 minutes on most days.
We only use the oil for heating the house if it gets down under 10F for a few hours.

[waynefromnscanada]

Just how much do they charge you per KWH up there?

Not sure about New Brunswick rates, but here in Nova Scotia, homeowners are charged $0.12074 per KWH. And Nova Scotia Power has applied for another increase, this time 9%.
My last bill, for the standard 2 month period, totaled $24.89.
$21.66 of that was the "base rate" that we pay even if we use no power at all.
My 17 KWH used over 2 months, totaled $2.05, and taxes added $1.27
All the rest of my electricity came from Solar and mini-micro hydro and I love it :)
Why don't I cut the grid wires? We're all getting older, I won't always be able to look after my system, and no one else is going to do it for me. If I can't do it myself, it ain't gonna happen. That's life in the sticks.

[Frxddy]

Electric cost here, delivered: 18.7 cents /KWH


Your degrees days: 5641
My degree days, 70% more: 9651

[XRinger]

Electric cost here, delivered: 18.7 cents /KWH


Your degrees days: 5641
My degree days, 70% more: 9651

Check my annual average mean temp at the bottom of this page.
http://www.idcide.com/weather/ma/woburn.htm


Here's Bangor airports mean temps:

http://www.idcide.com/weather/me/brewer.htm


It looks like it's about 4 deg F colder up there (over the course of a year).
So, I'll bet you have a lot of hours each winter where you could avoid burning oil,
using electricity with the right technology.

When it's between 10 & 66 degrees F, Mini-splits can provide heat for 1/3
to 1/4 the price of oil..

It's just under 50F here this evening. The Mini-split has warmed the house
up to 72F for the last 6 hours. It was on for 3 hours this morning too.
Total cost was 1.7 kwh (36 cents).


Of course we needed some hot water too, so we also blew $2 on oil.. :(

[Frxddy]

Our electric, delivered: $18.7 KWH. When did your rates go up? For years we have been higher than almost anywhere.

Your degree days: 5641
Our degree days, (70% more) : 9651

Some people do use heat pumps, but it's debatable whether they save money.

[XRinger]

Our electric, delivered: $18.7 KWH. When did your rates go up? For years we have been higher than almost anywhere.

Your degree days: 5641
Our degree days, (70% more) : 9651

Some people do use heat pumps, but it's debatable whether they save money.

I'm not taking about old tech heat pumps, I'm talking about new tech hardware.
The Mini-split "Inverter" type (used all over the world) is kinda new to America.
And are power-misers compared to the old American style watt-hogs.
http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/show...ighlight=sanyo
You can run them off solar PV if you live in the boondocks..

degree days:
I have found 'degree days' numbers (for the Boston area) don't really
match up with actual power usage, since they don't seem to take solar
gain into account. My house has a few south facing windows.
Those windows help reduce my heating bill on every sunny day,
during the winter. The degree days numbers that I've found for this area
don't seem to reflect if it's sunny all day or cloudy.. (like my power bill does).

I used a TED power monitor on my Sanyo, and can read my oil bill,
so in my case, there is no question that oil is 3 to 4 times more expensive.

As time goes on, oil isn't going to get a lot cheaper either..

[TheBackRoads]

A bit off topic but you guys talk about "oil" used for heating.. I've always thought that NG is the cheapest way to heat... (obviously not avail to all) not true? Electric bill is hard to figure out exactly but were paying about $.11 KwH in MN.

[Cariboocoot]

A bit off topic but you guys talk about "oil" used for heating.. I've always thought that NG is the cheapest way to heat... (obviously not avail to all) not true? Electric bill is hard to figure out exactly but were paying about $.11 KwH in MN.

It all depends on where you are.
Up here wood is the cheapest way to heat, providing you don't mind a little labour.

[XRinger]

A bit off topic but you guys talk about "oil" used for heating.. I've always thought that NG is the cheapest way to heat... (obviously not avail to all) not true? Electric bill is hard to figure out exactly but were paying about $.11 KwH in MN.

11 cents is darn good. Have not seen kwh that cheap in many moons..

In New England, some folks use NG, but a lot still use oil burners.
We don't have gas on our street, but many streets in the area have it.

When we go for walks in Lexington, there are a few streets where the smell
of leaking NG is so strong, it almost gags you.
Last year, we had over 20,000 gas leaks in the state.
http://www1.whdh.com/features/articles/hank/BO144452/

When it gets cold, there is a great deal of oil truck traffic on my little street.
The roads take a beating. Those things are Heavy!
Kinda glad we don't have gas pipes under the street.



Anyhow, I'll bet they have outlawed E-baseboard in parts of Australia.
I've read that in some areas down-under, new homes must be built with solar
hot water systems, standard.

[techntrek]

Up here wood is the cheapest way to heat, providing you don't mind a little labour.

That's my solution! Wish there was a way to power A/C from wood, too.