Greater Boston, what's your last gas bill?Submitted by Miserable_Ride666 t3_10l2oqt in boston
[deleted] t1_j5udirt wrote
This is like comparing gasoline prices. If you've got a giant truck with a huge tank, your cost will be more than a compact with a small tank. Both of them pay the same $3.30 per gallon at the gas station.
Same thing, but you're comparing homes with different insulation, different heating systems, different windows' exposure to different winds, different thermostat settings & schedules. Which is not much of a comparison at all & doesn't tell you anything useful.
This is not "crowd sourcing a fair rate", the rates are all set in stone for everyone. Neither you nor anyone else is getting fleeced. Hopefully this spurs you & everyone else to take the measures you're willing & able to take in order to use less.
dyqik t1_j5uk9es wrote
Comparing the usage when you don't have a record of the seasonal usage is helpful though. If it's a warm month, then everyone's bills are low, and vice versa.
[deleted] t1_j5upiii wrote
Not really. "Warm" is pretty subjective & varies by all the factors I outlined.
My bill is lower than in the past because I learned about the rate spike ahead of time & used less, but I still pay the same rate as everyone else.
dyqik t1_j5v8awk wrote
"Warm weather" is not subjective. You can look at the National Weather Service website and get objective measurements of it.
Everyone in the same area gets pretty much the same weather, same outside temperatures, etc. Heating costs vary directly with outside air temperature for everyone, although by somewhat different amounts due to insulation, window treatments, etc.
If the weather causes my heating fuel usage to go up by 30% one month, it's very likely that yours will also go up by 20-40% for that month.
[deleted] t1_j5vb6cq wrote
"Warm weather" isn't what causes you to use more gas, you deciding to keep your thermostat at whatever level you choose is what causes you to use more gas.
I can, & do, turn mine down, & therefore I use less - regardless of what the weather is.
dyqik t1_j5wlqdn wrote
Warm weather causes you to use less gas. The gas requirements to keep a house at any particular set temperature is proportional to the difference between the set temperature and the outside temperature.
[deleted] t1_j5z3zhj wrote
Apparently warm weather causes you to use less gas. Do you understand that you can put a sweater on instead of turning the thermostat up? Like, it is an actual option that people choose?
dyqik t1_j5zc7vy wrote
That's nothing to do with the fact that you use less gas in warm weather than cold weather.
Whatever you or I set our thermostats to, whether or not you or I wear a sweater, we will use less gas if the outside temperature is higher and more if it is colder.
The amount of power to maintain a temperature in a house is proportional to the temperature difference between inside and outside.
SysAdminScout t1_j5xlhlz wrote
Eversource prints the AVG daily temperature in the monthly usage stats because it helps explain usage numbers.
Master_Dogs t1_j5zehkt wrote
It's even harder to compare than gasoline prices though. Everyone might have a different supplier of gas, or even a different source of fuel. The OP's bill is for natural gas from National Grid from the looks of it, but other folks may have Eversource as their supplier. Some people might not even use natural gas and may get oil heat, and some might not even use gas at all so they'll chime in with their crazy high electric bills but that's even more insane to compare since every town gets a different rate agreement with the power company.
And then to go a step further with your pickup truck vs compact car example, some people may drive vastly differently than others! I may drive my pickup truck at exactly 55mph on the highway, while you're off going 90mph and rolling coal at every stop light in town. My gas tank will go a lot further than yours. Just like my heating bill will be cheaper than yours if I set my heat to 60° F and you set yours to 70° F.
And in addition to all of this, we all have vastly different insulation in our housing units. So even if I have the same pickup truck as you do, my engine might be really poorly maintained and so I'll blow through diesel fuel while you're running on eco mode with a fresh oil change and tires rotated last week.
I've tried to compare heating bills to others and it just brews confusion and frustration. The only comparison worth looking at is year over year changes. Make sure you're using the least energy you can to keep the house as comfortable as you can afford. If it's widely different from year to year maybe call your landlord and ask them to service your heating system, or suck it up, or try to move to a move efficient house/apartment. Really little you can do besides turning your thermostat down as far as you can bare. Easier said than done though.
Miserable_Ride666 OP t1_j5veqrh wrote
It is like comparing gasoline prices. I'm paying $3.30, I want to know if a different supplier down the road is charging $1.50
[deleted] t1_j5vgjmm wrote
If only someone could have seen this coming
Spoiler: No more cheap gas. And to save you some time next fall, it's not gonna be cheaper then either.
Miserable_Ride666 OP t1_j5vj6am wrote
Well I'll be dipped in shit. I assumed I could shop natural gas like I could electricity.
Still frustrating that the Midwest is so much cheaper, like 40% cheaper
[deleted] t1_j5vlh4o wrote
It's not like National Grid or Eversource or whoever is pumping it out of the ground here & charging whatever they want. They pay their suppliers for it & those increased costs get passed down to us.
I happened to be visiting MN last summer on the day that Excel published their electricity rate increases for this winter in the Star-Tribune in the tiniest font possible, they're getting a big rate increase there too.
The good news is that the two easiest things you can do - turning down the heat & wearing more layers - cost you absolutely nothing. The OK news is that ditching gas & the grid with battery+solar is a little easier & cheaper than it used to be, but it'll take a bit before it pays for itself. The best news of all is that you don't live in Texas.
Miserable_Ride666 OP t1_j5vv143 wrote
Amen! That's where we were the last 9 years. Power cuts because it got below 20 was a joke
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