[JoeW]

just guesstimates...the prices are volatile, so it's always changing.

gasoline (two cars, two drivers): $3500/yr
fuel oil (heat): $3200/yr
electricity: $700/yr

if you put that in monthly terms, it's close to $600/mo on energy.

[Ludi]

Power goes up in summer a lot with air conditoning, last Sept. bill worked out to $136 per month,

AC? In Canada?

[cephalotus]

now:

~60m² flat:
~1700kWh/a electricity (1000kWh for my plants, 700kWh for the rest) = 440€/a
~ 600€/a for heating and hot water

= >1000€ for one person

future:

~ 55m² flat with my girl friend in an old building
~ 3000kwh/a electricity and warm water (just a guess) = 700€/a
~ 200€/a for heating (wood + coal)
~ 100€/a for natural gas (cooking)

=~1000€ for two persons, maybe even less.

[Specop_007]

Bought 4 to 500 a month I figure for all utilities. We also have 6 in our house so that adds up to lots of showers, lots of cooking and lots of lights.

[cephalotus]

Our rates are around 14 cents per KWH. On a small island where we live in the summer they are around 28 cents per KWH making them the most expensive I know of anywhere. It makes solar attractive, though.

Top that!

I pay 440€ for ~1700kWh per year, which makes 25,8 Euro-cent/kWh.

That's a typical price here. The price per kWh would be even higher, if I would use less energy (1000kWh out of those 1700kWh is from my hobby).

I think it is quite inteesting, that I need as much electricity per year as many people here need per month. 8O

[Denny]

Power goes up in summer a lot with air conditoning, last Sept. bill worked out to $136 per month,

AC? In Canada?

Check this: Toronto climate

Lots of summer days over 30 degrees - and humid a lot of the time. Last September we had days in the mid-30's.

[perdition79]

$40 a month for electricity (I don't like air conditioning) and $120 a month for gasoline.

[pictishbroch]

3 years ago I bought and installed a wood burning stove at a cost of €4000.It heats the bottom half of the house no problem in Winter.The last two winters here in North Germany have been extremely mild.As a result we got a rebate of €180 for our Gas.
I am seriously thinking of Solar Panels but will wait to see if the state will soon provide grants towards The costs of installing panels etc(I estimate between €15,000-€20,000)
An interesting case in Germany is that of Marburg where they are trying to make it Law that new builds must have solar panels installed.

http://www.focus.de/immobilien/bauen/ba ... 36028.html

If energy price continue to soar I am sure the German government will provide grants as an incentive for more people to install Solar Panels.

[pictishbroch]

Here is the Marburg article in English.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,214 ... 73,00.html

Marburg, a German college town of about 80,000, has become the first in the country to make solar heating obligatory for newly built or renovated buildings. The green bill has some residents and politicians up in arms.

The law, passed on Friday, June 20 by a coalition of Social Democrats and Greens, has sparked a storm of criticism in the town of Marburg in the state of Hesse in western Germany.

The law stipulates that, from October, a 1 sq metre panel must be built for every 20 sq metres of surface area. It applies to new homes or existing buildings undergoing renovations to heating systems or roofs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... enbuilding

[Plantagenet]

Central Alaska is one of the coldest places on earth (-40 to -60 lows) and has some of the highest energy costs on earth.

With heating oil already over $4.40 gallon, I project heating oil costs of about $1000 USD per month in the winter---and I use a woodstove in addition to the oil stove. Electricity, gasoline etc. will cost still more.

I can afford it, but a lot of people here in Alaska can't. There will be big trouble here this winter.

[mrobert]

Romania / Europe
44 sqm apartment.

I pay about $200 / year for electricity, and $600 a year for heating gas.

Gas for the car is around $250 - $300 a month. But that's a different story

[retiredguy]

$145 a month for gas and electricity for about 3000 total square feet. 80% of heat comes from wood. The 3000 feet includes my woodworking shop.

Less than $50/month for gas. Prius for general driving, Tacoma for hauling (mostly wood).

[Stealth]

I live alone in a small apartment (35 square meters) in Germany and pay 76€ for natural gas and electricity per month currently. I expect this figure to rise with the next annual check of my meter, though. My current rates are still based on the gas prices of last winter.

I notice that heating costs do not really decrease much if you live in a smaller apartment. Previously I was living in a flat almost double the size of the current one and was paying only about 15% more for heating.

I do not own a car so 912€ are my annual expenditures for energy.

[AZpeaker]

2,700 sq ft in Scottsdale, AZ (Phoenix) 2 high efficiency AC units installed when I remodeled this 1981 house with super insulation, solar tubes for daytime lighting, double pane windows and 30 solar panels on the roof. Our electric company just started a new rate plan for solar equipped homes like this where we get full retail credit for electricity sold back to the grid. We keep the AC at 75/76 degrees becuase both of us work out of the house. That means minimal driving too. Max Electric bill in summer is $150 per month The taxes delivery charges etc on each bill total about $70 per month which are fixed. I love Feburary, March and Nov, Dec becuase we don't use that much heat. I almost get electricity credit from the utility at the end of the month.

[cephalotus]

I am seriously thinking of Solar Panels but will wait to see if the state will soon provide grants towards The costs of installing panels etc(I estimate between €15,000-€20,000)

thermal solar => www.bafa.de (>40m² >> www.kfw.de)

photovoltaics => "just" the EEG (-8% for <30kWp in 2009 compared to 2008!)

If energy price continue to soar I am sure the German government will provide grants as an incentive for more people to install Solar Panels.

very unlikely for photovoltaics. We do have the EEG there. For solarthermals system there are grants from BAFA and maybe additional local grants.

Btw, 15.000-20.000€ for a solarthermal system? That's very expensive.

[Minvaren]

Got my new bill, wanted to post about my pain.

2000 sq/ft, Houston Texas. Not a lot of winter, but a lot of summer. All electric, no gas. Oh, and electricity is deregulated down here.

I've gradually been replacing appliances with more efficient units, sealing everything possible, and upgrading insulation and other things around the place. For the last 3 years, my balanced-billing amount has stayed at $180/month, even as the rate has climbed, so my efforts haven't gone unnoticed.

However, since January of this year, my rate for electricity has gone up nearly 40% to 18c/kwh. The utility company has helpfully bumped my balanced billing amount by $100 a month to help me out with this.

The new windows get put in next week. After that... time to start turning the thermostat higher. There's nothing else left to turn off.

[dragonlady]

[align=right]I save a lot on my gas by using cold water only to

every load of wash for my clothes washer. You do not need Hot

or warm to get your clothes clean. Mine come out just as clean

as they did when I used warm. I also use an earth friendly soap

and I never put in the recommended amount.

Not only am I saying on my gas bill but I am also saving on my

clothes soap.

[criticalmass]

Has anyone recently installed an on demand, electric water heater? It seems vastly more economical to me than a gas heater, especially because the water doesn't have to be hot all the while it sits in a tank. Just superheated when you turn the "hot" faucet on.

For as little as I use hot water, it seems like an awesome and money saving idea.
I'll have to calculate and see what it would save me over the course of a year.

[BaBaBlackSheep]

September 1--88 degrees F outside. Inside 77 degrees F at 4PM. This is with no AC. Well insulated 1500 sq ft house. We open windows at night and close them, as well as draperies, in daytime. Keeps the heat out. Never have less than 10 degrees cooler in house than outside.

The last 3 months our electric bills were $27 each month give or take a few cents. $16 of that is actual electric usage, 150 KWH and the rest taxes and customer charges. Looks like this month is shaping up to be the same. Winter will be higher with fans, igniter (pellet stove) and circulating pump for boiler. I expect an additional $10 - $12.

Propane: Already prepaid in one lump sum, but works out to be $95 a month. This will cover winter heat and year around hot water and kitchen cooking stove.

Additional $200 total for winter in pellets for stove.

Vehicle gas: $120 to $150 per month. That's too much, but DH is a "goer" not a "stay-at-homer". That is even with our 2 main vehicles each getting over 30 mpg. We are quite a ways out in the country.

Average $20 per month additional for gas for either lawn mower or tractor to push snow off driveway.

Our food expenditures for a month are less than the above mentioned vehicle gas. I garden and have freezer and am a frugal shopper. There is something wrong with that ratio. Vehicle gas should NOT be more than food!! We are retired and the gas is not spent getting to jobs.

Gotta work on that.

[bratticus]

So the price of oil used to power the mining equipment and transporting equipment for coal is going down. Less cost.

The amount of kWh being consumed by industry (probably residential too) is going down. Less profit

The amount of fossil fuel required for generation is going down. Less demand.

Other factors.

What is the bottom line for electric companies look like now?