Cost of oil heat this winter (Lynn, Lynnfield: 2014, apartment, condo)

[Parsec]

This is my first winter in my new house and I have to admit I got sticker shock when my oil delivery bill came in the mail. I keep my house very cold, so I didn't expect the bill to be so high. I am wondering how much other people here are paying for their oil heat.

Cost of oil: $700-800/mo for the first 2 months of winter (oil delivery is scheduled every 30 days)
Supplemental heating: 1 space heater in the MaBd which increased my electricity bill by $100/mo
Heated area: 3200sf on 3 levels
Insulation: Well insulated. 12-18" in the attic, basement is sealed, walls are insulated
Temperature: 57 for 6 hours during the day, 62 at night

[gf2020]

We burn 1200 gallons per year in our 2300 sq ft house. At $3.80 per gallon that's $4560 for the year.

[Parsec]

Good point. Gallons would be a better indicator than price because we all pay different amounts. Looking online, I actually see I missed a month:
~150 gallons in December (it included part of November so I approximated)
180 gallons in January
155 gallons in February

gf2020: I'm projecting approximately 1000 gallons per year, so it looks like I am burning significantly less than you are per square foot.

[gf2020]

Originally Posted by Parsec

gf2020: I'm projecting approximately 1000 gallons per year, so it looks like I am burning significantly less than you are per square foot.

Sounds like your house is better insulated, we basically have none, and you are keeping your house a lot cooler. We are at 67 when we are in the house and awake and at 64 at night or when we are not home. Is your hot water off your boiler too? With a family of 4 we use plenty of hot water year round, so that adds up too.

Switching to gas this year, however, and I anticipate cutting our costs by 40-50% per year.

[Cape Cod Todd]

You are lucky you don't heat with propane, that is even more expensive.
It has been a cold Winter so we are all paying more and of course if a butterfly sneezes in Brazil that upsets the crude oil flow in the middle east which drives up the price of goat cheese in Nepal and home heating oil for us.
We have a 4 bedroom Cape and we use about 600 gallons a year but we are also heating our water with that. We keep the thermostat at 65 and supplement with a wood stove in the evenings.
Parsec you are heating a good sized area at 3200 square on 3 levels. How are your doors and windows are they old and drafty? You can get a energy audit done that might help you. Look to Mass Save or Mass Energy websites.
Your cost doesn't seem that far out of line, it has been very cold.

[Sweetbottoms]

Originally Posted by Parsec

This is my first winter in my new house and I have to admit I got sticker shock when my oil delivery bill came in the mail. I keep my house very cold, so I didn't expect the bill to be so high. I am wondering how much other people here are paying for their oil heat.

Cost of oil: $700-800/mo for the first 2 months of winter (oil delivery is scheduled every 30 days)
Supplemental heating: 1 space heater in the MaBd which increased my electricity bill by $100/mo
Heated area: 3200sf on 3 levels
Insulation: Well insulated. 12-18" in the attic, basement is sealed, walls are insulated
Temperature: 57 for 6 hours during the day, 62 at night

and the people in the NH boards essentially call me a liar and that I exaggerate when I said my heating bill for my apt was $400 a month..... that was in 07 when gas was $5.00 gallon, and we had gas heat...we kept it warm enough so that there was ice in the dog bowl when we woke up but the taps that stayed dripping at night didn't freeze over.

[Shizim]

Originally Posted by gf2020

Sounds like your house is better insulated, we basically have none, and you are keeping your house a lot cooler. We are at 67 when we are in the house and awake and at 64 at night or when we are not home. Is your hot water off your boiler too? With a family of 4 we use plenty of hot water year round, so that adds up too.

Switching to gas this year, however, and I anticipate cutting our costs by 40-50% per year.

Gas in Lynnfield? I am jealous.

[charolastra00]

Just called to get our 4th fill since November. Sure, it's only 400 gallons for the whole winter but that's for an 800 sq foot top floor apartment keeping the heat on 61 when we're there and 55 when we're not. Normally we can get by on 200 gallons.

[SpringMom3]

We have a 1300 sq ft ranch and have not been heating the lower level (although if temps drop below 50, it does heat the lower level.)

We used about 100 gals for Dec, 120 gal for Jan and I think it a little less for Feb. We keep it at 62-65ish while we are home, 60 from 10PM-5AM, and 50 (although it doesn't drop to that) from 7AM-when it starts to warm up for us to be home at 6.

House is very well insulated.

I am also suffering major sticker shock.

I should mention I WFH 2 days a week, so those 2 days, the heat is on.

[Louisville Slugger]

I just bought my first place. 963 sq-ft condo with electric baseboard heat. I knew this going in that my bills would be high during the winter. I usually keep it around 58-59 when I am not home and 62-64 in rooms that I am in. I wear a fleece and have a blanket.

National Grid is my electric provider. Would an energy audit be worth it? Not sure how much I could do given it's a condo. I've already replaced the appliances (had to), replaced all the bulbs, and moderate the temperature. It's the heating the place that hurts. I can afford it, no worries. I plan to be here a while. If there's any low cost options that could help me reduce my bill that would be great.

01/16/2014 - 02/14/2014: 1,811 kWh, $317.
12/16/2013 - 01/16/2014: 1,587 kWh, $277.
11/14/2013 - 12/16/2013: 1,606 kWh, $281.
10/18/2013 - 11/14/2013: 741 kWh, $119.

I also read about changing the supplier to save some money.

http://www.nationalgridus.com/massel...plier_list.asp

Is that worth doing? My bedroom is in the basement so it should stay cool in the summer. The place is also surrounded by trees so I probably won't need to use the AC (window unit) all that much.

Keep in mind my whole place is electric. Those costs are for heating, cooking, water heater, and when I use my electronics.