My town is planning to install new electric meters.

[Paper Roses]

They will monitor your usage and your rates will vary depending on time of day usage and amount of electricity used.

I just heard about this last night. Today I will can my independent electric company and ask what is going to happen to those of us who, unfortunately, heat whole or partial parts of our houses with electricity. As it is, I go from $30-40 a month in those months where no heat is needed.

Come Dec, Jan, Feb, March, my bill goes up monthly. January is usually the worst. Last year a shocker. Jan's bill was $270.00 I will call the light department this AM and start looking for an alternative heat today. I cannot tie in the 1 room with electric heat, there is no access to get pipes in from the cellar.

Shoot!

[pipi_k]

1. Pellet stove...

I've been heating my entire house (less than 1400 sq. ft.) with a pellet stove for 13 years. The kitchen and living areas are connected and open. The stove is in the living room, near a set of stairs that go up to a spare bedroom. In the winter the door up there is closed, and the heating duct we put in at the top of the stairs takes the hot air that would have gone up there and shoots it through the attic and down into the master bathroom (with the aid of a small blower).

That helps the master bedroom to stay warm but not too warm.

Beneath the master bedroom is a cellar/rec room area which is open via a spiral staircase. Down there is another pellet stove which only goes on a couple of hours a day to help warm the bedroom a bit.

The sun room has a small propane heater we can turn on if we want to sit out there, or we can open the sliding glass door to the living room and heat it by the pellet stove.

We keep the heat pretty high...75 or so during the day, and maybe 65 at night and we typically go through 3 tons of pellets a season (September to April or May). The heating bill for 7 to 8 months is maybe $600 to $700.

Worth looking into, maybe...