Debra,

That is an interesting picture of yourself.

Steven, By far electric heat is the cheapest! Just look at the prices of oil lately, and there is not even a demand.

Hello Steven,
10 years ago that was an easier answer. I paid .599 per gallon for heating oil, yes 60 cents per gallon. Now oil is around $4 per gallon. It was cheaper to heat with oil than electric. Now oil is up 666% and it doens't seem electric has gone up 666% or even close to it. At some point electric has to be cheaper. I have not crunched the numbers but I would guess it may be cheaper with electric. True electric is electric baseboard or maybe radiant in the ceiling or floors, but some think of heat pump as electric heat which it isn't but it could have electric elements as a back up for really cold days. The main benefit of electric heat is each room is zoned individually so you can heat some areas less, saving energy.

It seems every year you see at least one home on the news that explodes due to a gas leak. The odds are extremely low but still there. Have you ever heard of a home with oil or electric heat blowing up, I have not. All heating systems have some risk of fire as they all use electric or flame in some fashion.

If I were looking for a home today, I would be looking for one with a cental ducted system so that I could hook in geothermal. Geothermal, similar to a heat pump does not create heat. Geothermal gathers heat from the ground. Because you are not using energy to create heat, it is much cheaper to opperate. It uses energy to transfer existing heat either to your home in the winter or away in the summer. Imagine your A/C in the summer. It is trying to disperse heat from your home into air that is 90+ degrees, now imagine a geothermal trying to disperse heat into the ground which is close to 50 degrees. The same happens in the winter. A heat pump is trying to pull heat out of air that is 32 or lower. It doesn't work well so the electric elements kick in. geothermal is pulling heat out of the steady ground temp in the 50 degree range, very easy to do.

If you are worried about heat right now, you should be worried for the future. Oil and gas are fading fast, very expensive and rising. I don't see us hitting a new oil well and solving all our energy problems. Electric is not totally tied to gas and oil. There is much potential for wind, hydroelectric, solar, nuclear etc. These sources are renewable so the supply and demand should not be as volitile as for fossil fuels once they come online. Hope that helps.

Utility expense is often a question posed by my clients. The answer: it depends. Depends on personal preference, usage, and efficiency. The first is self-explanatory. The second is dependent on your household and their consumption of, for example, hot water, thermostat settings, appliances, including electronic equipment, etc. The third focuses on the efficiencies of the subject property involving insulation, including but not limited to windows, roof, siding/walls, etc., and maintenace of the major mechanical components of the house.

Energy costs are high across the board, but, through a few proactive decisions, you should be able to maintain a comfortable outlay for utilities. Get annual checkups for your HVAC. Perform maintenance items as they become warranted, rather than delaying. After a year with a utility, for example PECO, you can apply for budget billing which will "fix" your monthly expense, based on your prior year's consumption. With oil, take advantage of contracts that allow you to fix the price per gallon.

Hope this helps.