So Cal Gas Bill

[angelwolf326]

Did anyone get an out of control bill?

My bill went from $46.00 to 105.00 in one month.

That's bs because my stay at home mother, uses a small electric heater in her room all day and we keep our heater on 62 at all times......

I guess I have to call them.

[Stitches]

Maybe last month they had to guess because of the amount of snow we had they couldn't get to the meter.   This month they probably took a real reading and that's why your bill is higher.

I'd kill to have a $100 gas bill this time of year.  I wish I could talk my family into putting the thermostat on 62.   Once everyone leaves the house, I put it at about 65 and then when they get home they turn it back up.

Our summer bill is about $100 for gas.   Mostly to run the dryer and the hot water heater.  Most of my cooking during the summer is on the bbq or electric appliances out in the garage to keep the house from getting too hot.

[Bob C]

I don't have mine handy, but I think I remember seeing it being an "estimated" bill

[RennMan]

Our GSWC water bill was estimated, but I haven't seen the latest gas bill yet...

[snwbnny]

I haven't gotten my gas bill yet, but my Edison bill doubled this month. Can't figure out why yet . . .

[liz]

A friend just mentioned that Amish heater advertised in last Sunday's LA Times. A friend of his family's in the East has had them for a while, likes them and they are supposed to be low wattage.

[3PinkRoses]

My So Cal gas will was pretty good but my SC Electric bill went from about 50 to $130.00! IMO it was the Edison bill that has shocked me!

[KW]

A friend just mentioned that Amish heater advertised in last Sunday's LA Times. A friend of his family's in the East has had them for a while, likes them and they are supposed to be low wattage.

Interesting you should mention this. My mom (who doesn't have the internet) called me about them. Her friend got one and loves it. (She hasn't received her electric bill yet, but it warms the room)

I went online and looked for reviews. It seems to run about 25% positive and 75% negative. Many of the posters said this fireplace puts out the same heat as one of those portable electric heaters. If you convert the BTU's to wattage, they are the same. You can get a nice electric heater for $30-$60.

My mom saw her friend's heater and said it seemed well made (this from a woman who buys cheap stuff, so not sure she's a reliable source). She also said the picture of the fire on the front looked quite real, and when the woman put the heater on high and got really warm in the room.

I recommend doing your own online checking into this before you spend that kind of money. I believe they start at around $300. My mom called them and they told her her "coupon code" had expired and wanted to charge her $450. She said they were very hard sell and she ended up just hanging up on them. That's when she called me.

I have a small portable heater (Vornado) in my office and it works great. Cost me about $55, but of course, there's no ambiance of a fireplace.

Good luck!

[Rumpled]

[superMom]

Interesting you should mention this. My mom (who doesn't have the internet) called me about them. Her friend got one and loves it. (She hasn't received her electric bill yet, but it warms the room)

I went online and looked for reviews. It seems to run about 25% positive and 75% negative. Many of the posters said this fireplace puts out the same heat as one of those portable electric heaters. If you convert the BTU's to wattage, they are the same. You can get a nice electric heater for $30-$60.

My mom saw her friend's heater and said it seemed well made (this from a woman who buys cheap stuff, so not sure she's a reliable source). She also said the picture of the fire on the front looked quite real, and when the woman put the heater on high and got really warm in the room.

I recommend doing your own online checking into this before you spend that kind of money. I believe they start at around $300. My mom called them and they told her her "coupon code" had expired and wanted to charge her $450. She said they were very hard sell and she ended up just hanging up on them. That's when she called me.

I have a small portable heater (Vornado) in my office and it works great. Cost me about $55, but of course, there's no ambiance of a fireplace.

Good luck!

I actually own one of these and although I was really skeptical when I was given it as a gift - I am now quite impressed with it.  It is made with real quality, and looks nice in a room, and yes the simulated fire bugged me a little at first, but that was soon overcome by the fact that I could push a button and have instant heat - we also have a wood fireplace, but this is great to pop on in the early am when you just want to get people ready for school/work. 

The heat they produce is really quite amazing!  They say they only use about 7 cents an hour to operate and I can say that is really true.  Our electric bill only went up about 12.00 the first month we used it this year - before we were using the furnace.  It puts out a different kind of heat that your standard hot portable heater.  You can touch the front/top/sides of it and they are not hot, but the fan puts all the heat into the room. 
We have a cabin home - that means without double paned windows, proper insulation and a very old furnace, so this little heater has been a real lifesaver to lower our heating bill.  It can easily be rolled from room to room so you only need to add extra heat to rooms you live in.  I would definitely give it two thumbs up

ps lately I have seen several full page ads for them in the Sun, and they were advertised for 249 I think - that is what mine cost. 

[lagomorphmom]

I was curious, so I looked up "Amish heater" on Amazon. This brand came up, had cheaper price point than you discussed, and amazingly good reviews:

http://www1.dimplex.com/listproducts.aspx?id=73&bid=DIM

Whatever you get, just make sure the wiring & breakers can handle 1500W.

[tlc]

ReL the Amish Heaters. DO YOU RESEARCH. They aren't much different than a regular heater you can buy at Lowes except they look nicer.

[Buckett]

Our gas bill has been much higher also but we aren't going to be fooled by those ads.  1,500 watts is 1,500 watts no matter how its' packaged and you can't make it produce more heat.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectID=15&articleID=20080228_1_E3_spanc47057

http://ezinearticles.com/?Amish-Electric-Fireplace-Review---Magic-Heat-Or-Marketing-Magic?&id=1633998

[Moose]

Here is another one that I know is being used in WW by a local resident.  Again, 1500 watts is what it is.  You choose a higher electric bill for a lower gas bill. 

And this does not look like a fireplace either.  Very portable and can be moved between rooms that you are occupying.

http://www.edenpurestore.com/edenpure_heater_info

[Wrightwood]

we keep our heater on 62 at all times......

Why? Use a setback thermostat and save a great deal of money on heating costs. Turn the temperature down at night and turn it back up before you get up.

In regards to the fancy so-called fireplaces:
Mt Hardware sells 1,500 watt heaters without the fancy Amish cabinet for $23.99 with free shipping.

http://doitbest.com/Electric+Space+Heaters-Holmes-model-PUH680-U-doitbest-sku-428256.dib

[ChattyCathy]

How much does this cost to run a day?

[BikingBrian]

Why? Use a setback thermostat and save a great deal of money on heating costs. Turn the temperature down at night and turn it back up before you get up.

Or if you're a weekender, you can get real fancy and adjust the thermostat via the internet:  http://www.proliphix.com/

[Bob C]

How much does this cost to run a day?

Depends on what you pay for electricity, of course. But if its 1500 watts, and the thing was running non-stop, that would be 1.5 times whatever you pay for Kilowatt hour. Most heaters aren't running constantly, but cycle on/off as needed (maybe 30-50% running time?)

[Wrightwood]

I'm looking at two electric bills we just paid. One very high and the other a minimum bill. The average SCE rate being charged is between 14 cents and 17 cents per kWh.

So if the the heater is turned on to the 1,500 watt high setting and ran for one hour without turning off, it would run between 21 cents to 26 cents per hour to run.

That would be between $5 and $6.24 per day or between $150 to $187 a month if it didn't shut off.

And those figures wouldn't change if it's Amish or Chinese made 

[BikingBrian]

To compare with gas - a electric heater running at 1500 watts x 24 hours = 36,000 watt-hours for the whole day.  Let's assume it's a 100% efficient, so all the heat it generates makes it into the room.

My gas bill works out to $1 a therm (maybe a little less).  A therm is 100,000 Btu, which is 29,300 watt-hours.  Let's say my ancient floor furnace is 70% efficient (modern forced air furnaces are well over 90% efficient).  So I would need to burn 1.8 therms (36,000 / 0.7 / 29,300) of gas to get the same amount of heat as a 1500 watt electric heater running all day.

That's $1.80 a day or $54 a month for gas on the same basis as Wrightwood's numbers for electric.  Of course, there's no such thing as a gas space heater, so an electric space heater is better than nothing at all!