With
winter and heating season on us, the good folks over at Yukon Housing Corp
have updated the their home heating energy cost graphs. Check them out at:
People
are always asking "what is the cheapest way to heat my home" - these
graphs give the up-to-date answer. It is important to watch these trends,
because things are always changing. What we "knew" about home heating
5 years ago no longer holds true - so keep you eye on our energy cost trends!
These graphs show the all-in cost of energy, including the efficiency of the
appliance that give you the actual heat delivered, allowing you to compare
apples-to-apples. Probably the most useful two graphs for Whitehorse homeowners
is graph #1 - Home Heating Costs vs. Heating Appliance Efficiency.
The other one to check out is graph #13 - Whitehorse Historical Residential Heating Costs at 80% Fuel
Use Efficiency . This latter one is important because it show energy
cost trends we've actually experienced over the last 10 years.
What are
some key observations?
· Pellet prices have been steadily
rising. If you have a low efficiency pellet stove, it could actually be more
expensive than electricity.
· Oil and propane remain the
highest cost option, especially if you have a low- efficiency furnace- even
with the increase in electrical rates.
· Propane costs have dropped a lot
lately and now are similar in energy cost to both oil and 2nd block electricity
(Propane used to be the most expensive option).
· Overall, oil fuel prices have
tripled since 2000 and continue to show high price volatility.
· We've moved to the 3-tier
electrical pricing and electricity costs have jumped slightly, although still
remain the lowest cost energy, especially first block energy. Remember you get
the first 1,000 kWh at the low rate, then everything above that is higher. I
think most people if using electric heat will definitely go into the second
block, but won't be using a lot at the top rate.
· Another interesting thing is to
look at the energy costs, particularly electricity and propane, that other
customer classes pay (government for example) are vastly different that what we
pay as home owners. Look at propane - the government is only paying $0.38 / L
where homeowners are paying $0.84 / L - wow, that's a big difference!
Posts
2 comments:
Thank you for this information. My family and I are looking to relocate to the Yukon sometime in the next couple of years, employment dependant, from Nova Scotia. We have family (great grand-parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.) who live/lived in the Yukon and have looked fondly at the opportunity to not only live there as well but also to take in everything it has to offer to ourselves, especially our children while becoming part of the community. The heating arrangements, though understandably more expensive, are also set-up differently. Through the pluses and minuses in terms of a home budget, the over all impact, though more expensive, wasn't as bad as we thought thus making the decision much more plausible. Hopefully the employment side will work out. Between the two of us we'll import seven degrees, two undergrad and post-grad university certificates, nine professional designations and 31-years of private industry and public service experience, etc. so ... this being said, we have our fingers crossed that someone is looking for our talent:) Thanks once again!
Sandy
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