Electric Heat Cheap - no way they say! Well here are some numbers that surprised me when helping a young entrepreneur develop his business plan to save homeowners with electric baseboard heat from the poor house. Ontario’s cost of electricity has doubled over the past 10 years and will continue to grow, particularly if nuclear energy’s share of the generation mix goes beyond 50%
Based on September 2011 unit cost of energy here is the top to bottom ranking of heating costs for a therm or 100,000 BTU’s by energy and technology.
|
ENERGY / TECHNOLOGY |
UNIT COST OF ENERGY |
COST PER THERM + HST |
EFFICIENCY |
|
Natural Gas – Forced Air |
$0.32 per cu. m. |
$0.97 |
90% |
|
Electric – Mini Split Ductless Heat Pump – |
$0.15 per kWh |
$1.60 |
275% |
|
Heating Oil – Forced Air |
$1.08 per litre |
$3.28 |
90% |
|
Propane – Forced Air |
$0.80 per litre |
$3.63 |
90% |
|
Electric Baseboard Heaters |
$0.15 per kWh |
$4.40 |
100% |
Technology comes to the rescue and does make electricity with current technology a good heating alternative if your home does not have ducts and/or access to a natural gas line!
