Thanks Brandon. Just got my electric bill today fir January The highest bill we have ever had in 26 years in this house was 376.45 February of 2017 it didn’t get above freezing here the entire month had 5 days it was below 10 that year But I have central heat and air House is 2400 square ft counting an all seasons patio room
Opened up the bill 578.45
That seems pretty outrageous even compared to northern climates.
I have to agree with others that insulation is your best option along with a wood stove.
But I also encourage you to look at your lifestyle. Simple things like closing off duct work to that patio room....or any other room without plumbing or that you don't use much. Also......is your house 2x4 or 2x6 construction ?
I am certain that I see greater temperature fluctuations than you do.
My only source of heat is wood and my only real draw on electricity is water heater and lights.
I use a switch to turn my water heater on for one hour every 24 hours. That provides enough hot water for dishes, showers and hand washing for two people....30 gallon heater.
I also almost NEVER have lights on. Even in the winter. I have mentioned on here how much I dislike daylight so my windows are constantly covered with blinds. The kitchen window s provide enough light to see well enough but that is the only room that I open the blinds.
Be a nazi about turning switches off.
Perhaps cut some styrofoam to cover all those windows in the patio room and close the door to it.
My electric bill for January usage was $154.16 for 372 KWH of usage. That works out to $0.4144/KWH. That is likely close to 5 times what you pay per KWH
My point is, you can make small changes in the way you live but you can also make big changes in the way your house functions.
Get that ceiling up to about R60 and your walls to R 21-30. Caulk around all windows and doors and maybe get some thermal curtains for your windows. You can still lose a lot of heat through glass even if it is triple pane and low E.
I also wonder if you have uninsulated ducts in an uninsulated crawlspace ?? I'll bet you do. Open foundation vents ?? Close them for the winter.
My guess is that your house may not have a vapor barrier installed either. That makes a huge difference in northern climates but some states and counties differ on their usage.
I'll bet there is a lot of cold air infiltrating through your electrical outlets too. You can check this with a "smoke pencil". A little device that you squeeze next to an outlet. It emits a puff of "smoke" ( some sort of fine dust).........if the outlet sucks in that "smoke" it means that warm air is exiting and cold air is entering through that outlet.
It's a lot of work but you can change those all to airproof boxes. Caulking the openings inside the existing boxes may help some too.