Cost of natural gas

[Coldfront]

I got my gas bill yesterday, in the details it says I am spending about $57 per month in natural gas. And all I use is for the hot water heater and the stove top and oven. Family of 3. I will not turn on the gas furnace at all this winter, thank god for free or cheap wood. :greenchainsaw:

 

[husky455rancher]

i rid myself of oil heat 2 years ago and this year i shut the oil burner off completly and drained the tank, i switched over to electric water heater. do it cheap baby!

 

[Coldfront]

How would you calculate if electric hot water heater is cheaper than gas? 30 gal hot water heater. But I can't stand cooking on a electric stove.

 

[HittinSteel]

I got my gas bill yesterday, in the details it says I am spending about $57 per month in natural gas. And all I use is for the hot water heater and the stove top and oven. Family of 3. I will not turn on the gas furnace at all this winter, thank god for free or cheap wood. :greenchainsaw:

I am in the same boat in Ohio. We will live in the parts of the house that the stove keeps warm. I am not touching the thermostat.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I got my gas bill yesterday, in the details it says I am spending about $57 per month in natural gas. And all I use is for the hot water heater and the stove top and oven. Family of 3. I will not turn on the gas furnace at all this winter, thank god for free or cheap wood. :greenchainsaw:

Sounds a bit high but not by much. Are you sure there is not a service charge or special assessment added in? That's what is going on locally to fix the pipeline infrastructure. When I worked for the gas company, we used to figure that the annual usage for a 40-gallon gas water heater was about 35 mcf (350 therms) and a gas range was about 20 mcf or 200 therms.

So, divide 550 by 12 and you should have used at most 46 therms. At a rate of $1 a therm, your gas usage portion of the bill should have been about $46.

 

[avalancher]

I have tried to convince my wife to cook on our woodstove in the winter to save on the gas bill. She said sure, if you want cold sandwhiches for dinner.

 

[mga]

Sounds a bit high but not by much. Are you sure there is not a service charge or special assessment added in? That's what is going on locally to fix the pipeline infrastructure. When I worked for the gas company, we used to figure that the annual usage for a 40-gallon gas water heater was about 35 mcf (350 therms) and a gas range was about 20 mcf or 200 therms.

So, divide 550 by 12 and you should have used at most 46 therms. At a rate of $1 a therm, your gas usage potion of the bill should have been about $46.

you may be almost correct, but around here we're charged for a "delivery" fee. my "low" gas bills are always added an additional +$40 or more for that "delivery" charge.

 

[avalancher]

you may be almost correct, but around here we're charged for a "delivery" fee. my "low" gas bills are always added an additional +$40 or more for that "delivery" charge.

Is that "delivery fee" for natural gas or propane? Seems kind of wild that they would charge a delivery fee for piped in natural gas.

 

[mga]

Is that "delivery fee" for natural gas or propane? Seems kind of wild that they would charge a delivery fee for piped in natural gas.

natural gas.

yea...imagine that. and the state lets them get away with it.

 

[ray benson]

I got my gas bill yesterday, in the details it says I am spending about $57 per month in natural gas. And all I use is for the hot water heater and the stove top and oven. Family of 3. I will not turn on the gas furnace at all this winter, thank god for free or cheap wood. :greenchainsaw:

Clothes dryer?

 

[Wood Doctor]

you may be almost correct, but around here we're charged for a "delivery" fee. my "low" gas bills are always added an additional +$40 or more for that "delivery" charge.

That "delivery" fee might be a duplicate for the pipeline maintenance or "infrastructure" repair fee that we are paying here. Many of these piplelines are at least 60 years old now and they just plain rust or rot out over time, especially if soil conditions are right.

I recall visiting the Kansas area NG office one time back in 1983. They were tearing up the line and replacing it. "It" no longer existed. When the crew dug the "pipe" out, all they ran into was a hollow tube in the ground. There was no alloy steel remaining--just a cavity. Nevertheless, the gas still managed to get through and no customer had complained of interrupted service. Gasp!

 

[irishcountry]

My wife and I pay $389 a month year round just for utilities and we get the "delivery" charge for natural gas also crazy!! Its funny how complicated our utility bill looks all kinds of things to decipher its almost like they don't want you to "really" be able to figure it out at least without a mathematician HA HA!! We finally had to switch to the budget plan cuz we got tired of getting 800$ bills through the winter especially around Christmas!! The energy thing is crazy then you read about EPA's restrictions on burning and it makes you even more sick hopefully that stuff becomes a bit more lax with the state of the economy (at least here in Mi. it is far from great!!) Wood heat would help tremendously but for us right now its not doable for the house I already posted asking some opions on that one awhile back and nothing has been resolved as of yet maybe next year eh!! Good luck hang in there

 

[thombat4]

I got my gas bill yesterday, in the details it says I am spending about $57 per month in natural gas. And all I use is for the hot water heater and the stove top and oven. Family of 3. I will not turn on the gas furnace at all this winter, thank god for free or cheap wood. :greenchainsaw:

$57 does sound high. We use natural gas for hot water and cooking only. I completely shut the furnace off last winter and will not use it this winter either. Our average monthly charge is around $28 to $37 even during the winter. Thank God for free wood alright!! Amen to that!!

 

[Booshcat]

Hmmmm.
You've got me thinking about that electric hot water heater now, or maybe propane.
I wish we had gas piped into our house.

 

[Locoweed]

My wife and I pay $389 a month year round

Wow!! That adds up to $4,668

Thanks to my wood stove, modest insulation and using a swamp cooler for cooling my total utility bill for last year was $1253.43. That is for both electricity and propane. I encourage you to think ahead to the future, when you retire, are you going to be able to afford that?

 

[Wood Doctor]

Hmmmm.
You've got me thinking about that electric hot water heater now, or maybe propane. I wish we had gas piped into our house.

I hear you. I lived in CT for seven years heating back in the '70s with fuel oil heating coupled with water heating, cooking, and clothes drying with electricity. The wood stove I installed saved $600 a year in fuel oil back then.

Natural gas at one time was an enormous bargain, and it looks like it will be more of a bargain this year than last year, even with the extra service fees. Many gas appliances are now more efficient than ever, especially water heaters and furnaces. I imagine a new 40-gal gas water heater would only use about 25 mcf a year, and perhaps less. The 2-stage furnaces have reduced the heating load to less than 25 mcf per month for the average house (say 2000 sq ft) even in the dead of winter.

Regardless, I save about $600 a year burning about 5 cords in a wood stove, even after variable costs. Thus far, the furnace is still waiting for the thermostat.

 

[046]

my natural gas bill is the min charge every month... wish I could eliminated completely... city codes prevents me from switching to propane within city limits....

 

[dustytools]

Wow!! That adds up to $4,668

Thanks to my wood stove, modest insulation and using a swamp cooler for cooling my total utility bill for last year was $1253.43. That is for both electricity and propane. I encourage you to think ahead to the future, when you retire, are you going to be able to afford that?

What is a swamp cooler?

 

[lh3]

I work for the gas company operating and maintaining gas transmission lines and we cant even get a contractor out for less than $10,000/day for repairs or replacements. And that doesnt even cover materials etc.. Also, illegals have infiltrated and contractors charge whatever they want. MOST of our lines are from the 20's and 30's. They've held up well!

 

[Locoweed]

What is a swamp cooler?

Also known as a evaporative cooler. Google either term.