I looked into a pellet stove last December. They do not work when the electricity is off. I understand that they put out a lot of heat. One of my friends was going to get one this year because her oil bill was so high.

Have you considered having a wood stove to cook with? When I was a child my step-grandparents had both an electric stove and a wood cook stove in the kitchen. It put out a lot of heat.

Virginia Power here also.

I guess I'm getting use to everything going sky high but at first when I heard this I had a little 'panic moment'.

Do any of you have the option for a wood stove or fireplace? My grandparents had a wood stove when I growing up. It at least kept their downstairs relatively toasty. I spent many a winter month curled up next to it. Likewise in my home growing up my parents had a fireplace. It doesn't keep too much warm, but it kept their huge living room warm and I remember wood was only around $100-150 for the winter.

No wood stoves or anything in my apartment, but we use gas to heat, cook, and warm our water where I live and generally, I don't mind this, too much.  And with DH needing the house to always be on the cool side I'm usually the cold one in the house.  Even my DD, who is 4, prefers to be on the cool side.

My mom bought these electric heaters a couple of years ago -- from Sam's Club, I think -- that are very cute and easy to move around the house.  She has two b/c my dad runs cold and once the temps hit the 60s he's complaining that the heat must be turned on.  This way she can heat just the room he's in without heating the entire house.  A smart idea b/c in VA the temps can stay in the 60s much of the "winter".

Sorry I haven't gotten back too everyone sooner but DSL from Embarq is having issues & I'm more offline then online for the past week or so! 

I kinda wish I had listened too DH when building our sunroom last year & put a wood burner in rather then gas(propane) stove but the con's was longer then the gas in our case.

DH is disabled so he'd be of no help with stove & possible hurt himself if he got pigheaded about it!  We would have too buy all our wood.  I'm not sure I can really do a wood fire.  I am prone too broncitis & wood stoves bother me at times(parents had one)  The list goes on but cost wise we should have went with the wood!

Back in May of 2006 we had too put a whole new heat pump a/c system in it cost us $9,000 but it's proved too be worth every penny.  With the old system in order too keep the house warm enough for DH I had too run ceramic heaters in his room pretty much 24/7 once temps dropped too 60's.  Well with this new system I have put the house thermostat up too 72 or 74 & the electric bill (B.incr in rates) was less!  I run the heaters for one month & kept the thermostat down & the bill was $40 higher so those heaters can be pricey too heat your house.

Hopefully your parents will have good luck like we have.   Of course now with this rate increase no matter which method used it's going too cost a lot more!  ugh 

Hi, I'm new to the forum....I just got my new "budget" rates for LP gas and I about died.  I kinda knew it was coming but was hoping I was wrong. 

 My monthly budget went from $200 to $425 a month.  I'm renting the house - so my options are limited.  And I just renewed my lease for another year. 

 Luckily my electric company is not Dominion...I have NOVEC and their rates are very reasonable.   

I live in an old 2 story farmhouse.  The windows have been replaced.  I'm sure it could use more insulation.  It does have a split air/furnace system.  The upstairs is all electric and the downstairs is Propane.  I also have a gas water heater and kitchen stove.  I would love to switch out the water heater and stove for electric appliances.  There is a gas fireplace too but I was warned about the pilot light burning quite a bit of gas when it's not being used so I turned that off too.

I do have a wood stove that cranks out the heat. It heats 1 side of the house well.  I was thinking of getting a couple more of the Oil Filled Radiators to help warm my kids rooms. 

I'm half tempted to forgo the budget plan and just put the money aside to fill the tank up when needed.  And say a prayer that the expectation of rising propane costs don't materialize.  I would really hate to commit my budget to that much extra money.  Yikes.

We winterized last year, but this year we're going to have to get pretty drastic. The good news is that starting about now, we won't have to use the A/C as much because the nights start cooling off; so, we'll get some relief between the cooling and the heating. What we'll do:

-Visqueen & caulk all the windows except 1 in each room (for emergencies, we can't really do them all. Fire hazard).

-Put "snakes" at the edge of all of the doors to keep in heat, and keep out drafts.

-Shut the vent in the back room, and heat it only for guests.

-Shut off the back door with a blanket, so the back hallway isn't heated.

-Consider how to apply heavy curtains to at least some of the side windows. This isn't as easy as it sounds, because that wall is brick with a thin veneer of plaster. You can't really anchor things to it very easily without brick anchors, which can hurt the plaster. But, I am going to give it some thought.

We're on the third floor, so we do have the advantage of having all the rising heat :-) 

Jayme:

Do any of you have the option for a wood stove or fireplace?

I don't now, but I heated and cooked with wood until about 8 years ago.  I had propane backup on the perimeters of the house, but mainly used wood. We used a lot of scrap wood, including free pallets from the newspaper. Our heat averaged $50 a month for a four bedroom two story house with a wrap around enclosed porch, living room, dining room, kitchen and laundry large enough for a sewing station and crafts room. 

Sounds unreal now.  

Falconinburgundy:

Consider how to apply heavy curtains to at least some of the side windows. This isn't as easy as it sounds, because that wall is brick with a thin veneer of plaster. You can't really anchor things to it very easily without brick anchors, which can hurt the plaster. But, I am going to give it some thought.

Can you make them longer and hang them from the ceiling?  I know it would cost more to make the curtains (or have them made) initially.  But you could put the curtain rod holders in the ceiling just a couple inches out from the wall, put the curtain on the rod and then hang the whole thing from the curtain rod holders (do those have an official name?  I think you'll know what I'm talking about!  At least I hope so!  LOL).  Oooh, I'm thinking about how dramatic you could make it look having ceiling to floor curtains....

VNW, my favorite outfit when at home in the winter is sweat shirt, sweat pants, and those thick slipper socks! They are the best! I have 7 pairs, all disney lol!