Reply #92: $180 for gas and electric on a 1400 sq ft house in Lafayette.

[politicat]

Single level, lots of insulation, compact design. Excel, too.

We sealed the windows in October with plastic, and added thermal window coverings to all but a couple (currently inaccessible due to moving boxes in the way). All of the vents in the west end of the house are closed, and we're using space heaters in those rooms when we're in there. There are 3 eheaters in the house that use 425 watts each when they're on - the bedroom one is on most of the time, and the office ones are on when we're in the offices (though I need to get a timer for DH's office - he complains about his cold office and I forget to turn it on for him.) The eheaters are the key, I think....

We have a dryer heat diverter on the electric dryer.

The thermostat is set at 58 for most of the day, but goes up to 65 during the morning when DH is getting ready for work and for a couple hours after sunset while we're awake. I'm baking with the gas oven usually once a day. The furnace isn't running all that much....

All of the lightbulbs are CF, all of the computers are low usage - laptops or Energy star machines (no 350 watt power supplies in this house). The fridge, washer and dishwasher are all energy star rated.

And we're wearing sweaters, using lap robes, and doing a lot of passive solar - the windows on the south and west face of the house are letting a lot of light in to help warm up.

The house was built in the 20s, but the previous owners had done a lot of work to make it efficient - replaced the windows, added insulation, replaced the furnace for efficiency, re-wired, etc. And we've done a lot, too.