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valkaress OP t1_j1vmtp5 wrote

Reply to comment by Chipmunks95 in How much was your electricity bill? by valkaress

Wow that's a huge difference.

According to Duquesne Light it was 1,067 kWh between Oct 26 and Nov 24. I don't know if their "Similar Homes" estimate is credible, but they say those use 688 kWh.

My main usage is for central heating. I get the feeling my apartment is poorly insulated, and my central heater isn't good. Bit of a double whammy.

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Chipmunks95 t1_j1vn85x wrote

That’s probably it. Heating is always gonna be expensive though, I have a gas furnace and my gas bill was $230ish last month while it was set on 68 degrees most of the time.

My total usage was only 282 kWh

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valkaress OP t1_j1vo8cz wrote

Oh I see. So since I don't have a gas bill your combined gas+electric ends up being similar to mine. That makes me feel better.

Are radiators a lot more efficient? I noticed Pittsburgh seems big on radiators, but I had never seen one before moving here.

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RumbleInTheJungle4 t1_j1vukhv wrote

Radiator heat is wmazing

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valkaress OP t1_j1vv085 wrote

Why though?

I've never had one before. Or met anyone that did. It's just not a thing out in the midwest.

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GottaWanna t1_j1xxn5h wrote

Forced air heating dries the air out more, so radiant heat provides a more comfortable heating solution. It can be more efficient as well, especially in older houses. My house has no insulation, but has forced air. I imagine my ducts are very cold and I probably lose a lot of heat just from that.

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Chipmunks95 t1_j1vofzb wrote

I couldn’t say anything about radiators, I’ve never lived in a house with them. They were at my elementary school when I was a kid and I remember them being able to keep the room warm pretty well. Couldn’t tell you about the cost though.

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CARLEtheCamry t1_j1we1lr wrote

It used to be with the price of gas it was cheaper to heat with it. Also a lot of older homes in Pittsburgh were built before forced air heating was a thing, so they use a gas boiler + radiator system (which was probably converted from coal to gas back in the day).

I haven't done the math on if gas vs electric is cheaper recently, but both gas an electric recently went up by like 50% because reasons.

An electric heater is pretty much 100% efficient, that's just thermodynamics. The real thing to consider is cost. And it's not inexpensive to switch from say electric to gas, or vice versa, so you're generally stuck with what you have.

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