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Only $66/month for gas and electric for 2600sqft and 4 people! Our first home of 1700sqft averaged only $47/month. Below are actual energy costs for our home and several others in our area. The data was taken from 2000 to 2002. We estimate about 7 years to payback the additional building costs, assuming energy costs do not rise further. Total KWhr for the year was 9079 and total CCF of gas was 250. In hind sight we should have gone with an all electric house. The main reason is gas has a minimum charge of $6/month even if no gas is used. With our low usage the minimum more than offsets any savings we gained in efficiency of gas. We show the comparison two ways. Below are two online systems to estimate your efficiency. According to the one model our house is an abnormally low $743/yr in energy consumption. Our actual was a bit higher, but that could be due to colder than normal temperatures and higher than normal gas prices the winter of 2001. The second is a comparison of total energy costs showing this home to be in the top 5%.
Here are actual costs in comparison with our neighbors BEFORE solar panels. Now we are net 0. That means we can produce all of our power.
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