This is our energy saving update for January 2011. With the extra cold weather that has been hitting our region, we were a little bit worry that our energy costs were going to be a lot higher than last year. Lucky for us, our energy usage was very close to last years with a slight increase in natural gas and a slight decrease in electricity.
Electricity Savings:
| Month | kwh | Cost | Avg. kwh* | Avg. Cost* |
| January-2011 | 641 | $92.26 | 718 | $97.01 |
| … | ||||
| January-2010 | 690 | $90.46 | 585 | $71.56 |
* This is the monthly average over the previous 12 month period.
We ended up using less electricity than last year at this time, even with the space heater running at night for the baby. Our costs ended up being slightly higher due to the increase in electric rates that happened last year. Unfortunately, it is going to take a while for our average monthly usage to get back down to where it was last year. Our goal this year is to get our average usage back down under 600 kwh per month.
Natural Gas Savings:
| Month | kwh | Cost | Avg. CCF* | Avg. Cost* |
| January-2011 | 312 | $235.21 | 130 | $119.70 |
| … | ||||
| January-2010 | 304 | $336.30 | 114 | $117.45 |
* This is the monthly average over the previous 12 month period.
Even with the colder than normal weather for January, we only used 8 CCF more natural gas than we did last year. But with the drastically lower gas rates, our bill was over $100 less than last year. Again as with electricity, our average gas usage has gone up from last year. We want to get it back down to last years usage, because we know that natural gas rates are not going to stay this low forever.
