Propane, NG, heating oil etc are subject of swing in the price due to demand, speculation etc. Because the electricity generation and distribution is highly regulated (and is generated mostly from coal) it doesn't suffer unpredictable price swings.
Considering the cost of hydrocarbon fuels in the past several years my geo already paid for the difference in installation cost geo versus propane furnace. My cost was significantly higher due to installation of floor heating and air-conditioning.
We paid in average (and that is very rough estimate) about $70/ month for heating between December and January. Since the utility charges .041/kWh for the heating we have used about 1700 kWh/month. That is equivalent of about 58 therms, or about 41 gal/propane or about 5.8 million BTU. Heating the house by direct heat it would require about four times as much energy. We heat about 3700 sqft and the system was installed in fall of 2004.
I don’t do such calculations for living so, please, check the numbers before you take them as face value.
Last edited by Ladia; 02/14/09 10:59 AM.
