The magic number to switch to emergency heat? (Spring, Howe: rent, house)

[adpace]

I'm wondering if anyone has a "magic number" for the outside temperature at which they make the switch to using their emergency heat rather than the heat pump. I've searched & searched for this online, but it appears this is rather unique to our area given that in cooler climates, most homes have gas and that in warmer climates such as ours, the need to use the heater is usually reduced compared to what we experience here.

I've been told by several people that it would be more efficient to use emergency heat during really cold spells, but I can't get anyone to give me an estimate of how cold a cold spell needs to be before it becomes more efficient to switch over. After a $620 bill to heat an 1800 sq ft home to only 70 degrees or less, I'm trying to find ways to lower our energy bill without freezing to death!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[LQQKOUT]

Not sure on the answer to that question. However, call your utility company and ask for a smart pay or flat rate plan. Which I have, I pay the same amount every month regardless of what I use and at the end of the year I am usually even or have some $$ left over. I have an all electric home and my bill showed $580.00 last month, but my actual bill is $270.00 per month. I even out around Spring time and again around the fall when the AC/Heating use is little to none.

[derekv]

adpace - do you have a heat-pump with supplemental gas, or is the heat-pump using electric resistance for the emergency heat? If the later, I believe the heat pump will switch over automatically when it is cold enough outside. Natural gas is much cheaper than electricity, so if possible switch over to the supplemental or emergency gas.

[adpace]

It is all electric - so I suppose the second. I wish we had gas!!! I remember the days in the panhandle - our bill was maybe $150 in the winter for electric & gas vs. our $600 bill now for electric (and winters were much harsher there)! Problem is ours never switched over in the last cold spell and our electric bill was out of this world! We had the same problem at the last house lived in which happened to be a rent house. After complaining to the landlord, he told us to switch to em heat manually at certain temps and it saved us a few hundred a month in those cooler months. Just can't remember at what point we should do that. . .