Glenn FleishmanI now have almost four years of electricity and natural gas use for my house via our utility companies. We put in a heat pump in May 2022. Previously, we had two window ACs in bedrooms that we ran almost entirely at night (and only some nights) and a bunch of fans. Last summer, with intense heat, you can barely see an increase in usage—particularly when you factor in inflation and a slow climb upwards in rates. (These are all two-month billing periods and average temps.)
This winter, with some bitter cold temps for Seattle last month, it looks like we paid about 5% less with the heat pump than the same period last year. But it's likely we used substantially more therms to heat the house. (Still compiling that data; it's hard to get apples-to-apples.) This chart shows hours used for AC, heat pump heat, and nat-gas heat. (We're still using the nat-gas furnace a bit; need to consider whether turning it off turns into a maintenance problem.)
Wes@glennf how are you tracking the data?
@Justwes My utilities offer this as downloadable and chart-based info!
@Justwes oh, the hours used comes from the smart thermostat's app
@glennf that is very useful. The heating app I have for our gas heating has some ok tracking detail but the data is trapped in there and not as robust what you’ve shared
@Justwes I was really pleased when I stumbled across the history tab in the app—it's a little downplayed. I love seeing the hours per type.
@glennf reading stats is fun and a rabbit hole that is great to follow