Insane Electric Rate Increase $508.68/1522 kWh

While we’ve been lucky to be able to keep the heat mostly off, it will need to be on to maintain at least 50-55. I’ll likely have to run a space heater in the basement if it gets too low, for freeze protection.


Is this a daylight basement? A regular basement will maintain temperature no matter what it is outside.
 
Is this a daylight basement? A regular basement will maintain temperature no matter what it is outside.

We‘re on a slight grade, so about half is below ground. One wall is against the garage and another is open to the backyard. Luckily the open side faces south, so that helps in the winter.

You are right, though, the temp is a lot more stable than upstairs, especially in the summer. It usually doesn’t get much above 70F in the summer, is around 50F now in this relatively mild weather, and into the upper 30s when it’s in the teens or lower outside. If it gets close to zero or below a heater MUST be run, sometimes in more than one section of the basement.
 
That’s what I do. Before I got the office gig my clothes would get pretty dirty, but now the quick wash on cold is all that’s needed. My wife doesn’t use that setting though and she won’t.

I also need to monitor how much water is used. I read somewhere recently that the quick cycle is shorter, but uses more water.
You can set the water level, for each wash, on the machine. I set mine to the Low setting to save water.
 
I did forget to mention the wood stove, and it is a consideration. We actually just had the badly damaged chimney to the stove repaired last year and I have a couple of trees that are too bit and should probably come down, but I don’t have experience with that. I’ve only ever cut down smaller trees, like mature apple trees that were easy to limb and take apart.

The stove is also in the basement on the other side of the house from the room, with the only airflow via a small grate and the stairs to the basement. I’d have to use fans to really get the heat to the rooms I believe. With that said, every house I’ve ever been in with a wood stove this size (and smaller) put out a TON of heat.

This solution will likely make it warmer overall, but with such little use of the heat as is, I’m not sure it makes financial sense. I guess I could save the wood for when family is over and emergencies.
You have to close the stove flue vent, when not in use, to prevent your conditioned air from escaping up the flue vent to the outside.
 
We always wash in cold water . Been doing that for years . I hang jeans and towels to dry since they take the longest in a dryer . Give them a 15 minute tumble in the dryer to soften them up . LED bulbs except for a couple of fluorescents .
 
We‘re on a slight grade, so about half is below ground. One wall is against the garage and another is open to the backyard. Luckily the open side faces south, so that helps in the winter.

You are right, though, the temp is a lot more stable than upstairs, especially in the summer. It usually doesn’t get much above 70F in the summer, is around 50F now in this relatively mild weather, and into the upper 30s when it’s in the teens or lower outside. If it gets close to zero or below a heater MUST be run, sometimes in more than one section of the basement.
One side is open to the Backyard???? Well, you have to seal all air infiltration routes, from the "basement", into the conditioned part of your home.
 
I have a tiny house and just 2 of us here 1200 sq ft.
Electric everything Except the big one.. 60k btu natural gas furnace.
typical electric use is 400-900 kwh. Natural gas 0 for 6 monthes heavy for 3 months the other 3 months are about the same as 1 heavy month.
last month gas bill was $69 total 3.39 per 1000CU ft. connection charge was 44$ out of the 69$
One side is open to the Backyard???? Well, you have to seal all air infiltration routes, from the "basement", into the conditioned part of your home.
I think he just means its walk out style basement.

Sounds like the OP would HIGHLY profit from a mini split. you could end up cutting 30-40% off your heating easily.
My heat pump hot water tank saves me (20-30)monthly too.

Last year my natural gas went from 2.99/mcf to 8.xx had to eat that for the 2 highest months which is about 50% of my total yearly gas usage.
electric was 4.9/kwh(generation) it was going to go upto 12.9cents. I'm back on 5 year contract for 5.xx/kwh
of course with our electric billing that means 14-15cents after fees, taxes, distro etc.
 
Units: Watts

1. Basement Humidifier (Standby/Fan Only/Run): 0.3 / 51 / 236
- I usually run it all night and turn it on at night

2. Bedroom Humidifier: 1.1 / 20 / 201
- It usually only runs for any period of time when we shower. I usually then it off of the RH is sufficiently below 50%

3. Basement fridge (Off/fan only/run/run + door open): 0 / 68 / 203 / 243

I have a meter for the entertainment center, which includes the modem, router, TV, speakers:

4. Entertainment Center (modem, router, filter on low, TV off, speakers off): 46
- TV is around 10 years old; 60” Samsung 1080p

5. Entertainment Center (All of Item 4 + TV At 0/7/15/20 Level of Backlight Brightness: 119 / 160 / 206 / 234
- I usually keep the backlight at 7 for everyday use, up to 15-20 for movie night or as necessary for dark shows, like Game of Thrones or while playing challenging games.

6. Treadmill (in living room - Standby/5 setting out of 10): 7 / 154
 
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You have to close the stove flue vent, when not in use, to prevent your conditioned air from escaping up the flue vent to the outside.

The stove is in the basement. The basement isn’t conditioned. The door for the bottom of the flue is in the garage (the chimney runs between the garage and basement). No damper.
 
- Add insulation
- Possibly replace the hot water heater, although prices are pretty high right now and I'm not sure I can use a hybrid tank at this moment due to such a cold basement.
1) While insulation is always important, remember a couple of points. Heating a house is always about creating a temperature differential. 0 outside and 70 inside is a large temp delta. It takes energy to create this, gobs of it. That differential also means it is difficult to maintain as heat transfers more readily. Also note that air exchange is a factor. The dryer exhanges air, as does a range hood and bathroom fans, opening a door, etc.

2) A hybrid water heater is of no benefit what so ever during heating season if inside a home. You pull heat from the air to heat the water, significantly cooling the surrounding air. Which then makes your heater work harder. Unfortunately, if located in cold air, like any heat pump, performance suffers and the heating elements run, just like a conventional water heater.
 
Indeed, but that wouldn’t help lower my bill, considering the heat has been off the vast majority of the time. If I had to guess, my wife has turned the heat up in only the main room for a total of 20 hrs or so over the whole month. We also might have used the 1500W space heaters during shower time the same amount. I mean, that might be in excess of 300 kWh for the two, I don’t know, because the room baseboard draw and duty cycle would be hard to calculate.

So, the heat pump solution would save us money while used in the room, but the majority of the system, which will be sized for the whole house, will go unused, based on how we’re doing things now. It would definitely save us a ton when her family visits, because every space is kept at 68-70F+, but that’s maybe 10 days out of the year.

If we decided to use the system to heat and cool, we’d probably end up spending the same amount just by using it more often in spaces we don’t currently heat or cool.

In the end, I‘m doing more than probably 99% of the population would do and I’m 100% not willing to make any other changes to things.

I should also say that I’m firmly middle class, but no where near wealthy, so major increases to bills like this are making things a lot harder. We were waiting for the kids to be in school full time for my wife to go back to work, but that’s probably going to have to change.
I'd imagine the heat pump would be less of an energy hog compared to one of the dehumidifier and improve occupant comfort.
 
We always wash in cold water . Been doing that for years . I hang jeans and towels to dry since they take the longest in a dryer . Give them a 15 minute tumble in the dryer to soften them up . LED bulbs except for a couple of fluorescents .

It sounds like hang-drying is the way to go. The tumble advice is genius!

It appears that the bulb in my basement freezer is 40W. I have a couple of old low-Watt LEDs. It’s obvious a tiny change, but it’s re-use of something just sitting.
 
One side is open to the Backyard???? Well, you have to seal all air infiltration routes, from the "basement", into the conditioned part of your home.

Two sturdy doors, three double-pain windows. The second door is all glass with a section of the same width next to it that’s also all-glass. All of the seals are good, no obvious draft. With that said, I need to be more precise and so an actual draft check is on the list. I guess it doesn’t hurt to use the removable caulk on the door I use MAYBE 3 times per year and shrink wrap the windows that I rarely open.

Good recommendation, but the only issue is humidity in the basement. It’s not conditioned.
 
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Just a thought on these new heat pumps that can provide 100% heat at 0F. There is no magic system improvement, or better working fluid. Thermodynamics and Carnot still rule supreme. What they are doing is akin to sandbagging. In other words, they build a 5 ton system, that is then derated to 2 tons, and limited to that performance at more mild temperatures by lowering the speed of the compressor on warmer days.

All heat pumps lose system capacity as the temperature drops. This is simply a clever way of making a product that performs properly all the time. Much like a turbocharged engine that can make 325HP at sea level and 325HP at the top of Pikes Peak, over 14,000 feet. The turbo just spins faster in the thin air. And in this case, the compressor and fan just spin faster in cold weather.

While it may not matter much, sometimes heat pumps can suck in light snow and clog. As the snow remains frozen on the heat exchanger. So, there is that downside.
 
1) While insulation is always important, remember a couple of points. Heating a house is always about creating a temperature differential. 0 outside and 70 inside is a large temp delta. It takes energy to create this, gobs of it. That differential also means it is difficult to maintain as heat transfers more readily. Also note that air exchange is a factor. The dryer exhanges air, as does a range hood and bathroom fans, opening a door, etc.

2) A hybrid water heater is of no benefit what so ever during heating season if inside a home. You pull heat from the air to heat the water, significantly cooling the surrounding air. Which then makes your heater work harder. Unfortunately, if located in cold air, like any heat pump, performance suffers and the heating elements run, just like a conventional water heater.

All true, but some clarification:

1. the old insulation in the attic has settled enough below the joists that I believe there is benefit to adding more. The basement and garage joists have loose bats of fiberglass that is definitely not sealed. I think adding some blue closed-cell foam and spray foam might help. I know your advice is more general in nature, because the delta-T is mostly negated by the fact that we rarely turn the heat on.

Air exchange is a real concern. There are no obvious air leaks, but I need to check more thoroughly.

2. A hybrid water heater is still an option. My heater is right near the exterior wall, so exhausting the condenser outside is an option. What I want to find out, is if I can exhaust outside during the winter, but inside during the warmer months. It will also help dehumidify the basement.

Also, the basement isn’t conditioned. No heat, no AC. I only use a space heater if the temps get below around 40F, which rarely happens.
 
I'd imagine the heat pump would be less of an energy hog compared to one of the dehumidifier and improve occupant comfort.

The dehumidifier adds heat to the space and dehumidifies. A heat pump will only add heat, so if we don’t want to maintain a warm space, the heat pump will just sit there unused, and then humidity is still a concern.

If we used the heat pump to maintain a temp higher than what we’re maintaining now, it would most certainly do so more efficiently than resistive heat, and the higher temp would result in lower RH, but the additional energy to maintain a higher temp than we want outweighs the energy used to only maintain the RH SAT.

Also, if the temp is too high and the RH too low, it’ll cost additional energy to use a humidifier.

I usually have very dry skin and eczema on my knuckles. Since we lowered the temp in the house I’ve had zero issues, even with the absurdly dry air at work.
 
You‘re probably right. Solar is looking more and more attractive.
Keep in mind that solar production in the winter months is horrific and your utility probably isn't doling out generous arrangements so you'll have a significant capital cost with a VERY slow payback. Same reason solar uptake tanked in Ontario when the FIT scheme was eliminated.

BTW, not to sound too cynical, but how is this supposed to encourage people to buy an EV?
 
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