Measuring the cost of home heating
For the past couple of weeks, my buyers are more interested when I note rooms with electric baseboard heat, rooms without heat (usually in the attic), unheated stairways, and lack of insulation. ‘Tis the season.
I use this nifty tool on the NStar site to calculate the fuel consumption based on the house, appliances and temperature settings. For my house, NStar expects my gas bill to average $112. They actually average $82. What’s your house score? How does it match your actual bills? If it’s wrong, what accounts for the discrepancy?
One problem is that the calculator assumes that you keep the house at one temperature day-in day-out. Many of us don’t do that. My house has two zones and programmed thermostats. My guess is that it would be far too complicated to ask for “night temperature, how many hours” and “day temperature, how many hours.” Maybe putting in your best guess of day and night settings is the way to go there.
The second problem is that they don’t ask for the type of central heating system (i.e. forced warm air, baseboard heat, steam, etc.) and the age or efficiency rating of the boiler or furnace. I know what my boiler is, about how old it is, and what its rating is. Is that because I am a house nerd? Do you know that info, or know where to find it?
The third is that most people don’t know how to judge their level of air leakiness. I didn’t know how to answer that one. Is my house is good, average, or leaky? For old houses around Boston, I think that leaky is average. The form asks how old my house is; for its age, it is probably better than average.
In 2008, Forbes rated Boston as the most expensive place to heat a home. They based this on the old housing stock and the prevalence of us of oil heat. We’ve had the oil vs. gas debate here already. Today, I am wondering whether you think insulation and conservation will ever compensate for our old housing stock?
