Electric heat will never be as efficient or cheap as oil heat for a large square footage. And as oil has been above $5 all year I think, compared to $3 or less in past years, it's gonna hurt.

I've turned my whole house, except for two small rooms, down to 50 degrees on the thermostat. On most average days this has substantially reduced the amount of time the furnace is running, but it also means I need a jacket to stay in most of the other rooms. I've also stopped some wasteful washing habits w.r.t. hot water.

In a very small room I use electric heat which works reasonably well for that small space, not least because the hot water furnace radiator is in the floor and works very inefficiently.

Anyway, electric won't be your answer to heat the whole house. Good luck.

Oil/heating is no more expensive in Vermont than any other northern state, in fact our electricity is cheaper than many states because of its source. If you want to know how much your next oil fill-up will cost, look at the price of diesel at the pump, subtract about 80 cents per gallon, and that's probably what you'll pay for home heating oil.