Options abound as winter heating season approaches

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October 7, 2007

By FRANK SOJAK The Tribune-Democrat Sun Oct 07, 2007, 11:41 PM EDT

Home is where the hearth is, and it’s about time to warm it up.

With the advent of heating season, residents can take the least expensive, albeit toilsome, approach of cutting their own firewood. Or they can take the easier, but more costly, method of flipping a switch to get warm.

“If you have your own supply of wood, that’s the least expensive way to heat,” said Dave Somogyi, owner of Somogyi’s Coal and Supply along Route 22 near Route 219 in Ebensburg.

Somogyi, who sells firewood and hard and soft coal, said prices are increasing along with the cost of living.

Whatever the fuel, expect to pay a bit more to heat this winter – though you shouldn’t suffer sticker shock.

Somogyi sells bituminous coal for $80 a ton and anthracite for $180 a ton. He said a ton of anthracite provides as much heat as 180 gallons of fuel oil.

But coal is more work and dirtier, he said.

Electricity

For Penelec customers, heating their home with electricity will cost only slightly more than it did last year – and not much more than it did in 1986.

Penelec spokesman Dennis Platt said the only rate increase Penelec customers have seen since 1986 was the 4.5 percent hike that took effect in January.

“Electricity has been one of the best energy values for the past 21 years because our rates have been fixed by regulators,” he said.

For consumers seeking advice on how to reduce their heating bills, Platt suggested visiting www.FirstEnergyCorp.com. At the Web site, click on Penelec, then on Energy Calculator.

Fuel oil

Jim Ropp, owner of Jim’s Oil Co., 156 Henry St., Carrolltown, said fuel oil prices are increasing every day.

Currently, the price is $2.49 a gallon, he said. A year ago, it was $2 a gallon. The highest price last winter was $2.59 a gallon, he said.

“We get no warning,” Ropp said of increases from the oil companies. “The costs go up continuously. They don’t seem to have a reason.”

Customers like oil heat because it’s clean and convenient, he said.

Elmore Lockley, a spokesman for Dominion Peoples natural gas, said gas is a good fuel for heating as well as for cooking and heating water.

Compared with other energy sources, it’s a good bargain, he said.

He said using the current rate, effective Oct. 1, the average monthly residential bill will be $104.60. That’s a 1 percent decrease from the previous rate, at which the average bill was $106 a month.

Lockley said the cut is attributed to interruption-free gas production and a good supply, he said.

Dominion rates are adjusted quarterly – Jan. 1, April 1, July 1 and Oct. 1.

The best way for consumers to reduce their bills is to have a plumber check the furnace to ensure it is running properly and efficiently, Lockley said.

Heat pumps

Becoming more popular because of increasing costs of energy are geothermal heat pumps, said Stoney Rice, owner of AEPCOR-Geothermal, 9550 Somerset Pike, Somerset.

Most of the company’s installations are at new homes, but the heat pumps can be installed at existing homes.

Rice said the system is more expensive but, with a savings of 60 percent to 70 percent compared with the price of some fuels, consumers can recoup their money in three to five years.

The system, Rice said, draws warmth from the earth and transfers it to the home in winter. In the summer, the workings can be reversed to cool the home. One drawback is that when outdoor temperatures drop below -5 degrees, the system may need help to keep the house warm, he said.

Wood, pellets and coal

In the Loretto area, George McGill, a salesman for Heating World, 6590 Admiral Peary Highway, said the company’s coal furnaces, which also burn wood, are becoming more popular because fluctuating prices of other fuels.

He tells customers who plan to burn wood that it’s not as easy as flipping a switch to get heat and it’s not free, even if they have their own supply of timber. He said it takes time to cut the wood, in addition to the expense of buying and operating a chain saw, he said.

McGill said Heating World also sells wood-pellet stoves and pellets.

He said customers became leery of buying pellet stoves because of a pellet shortage two years ago, but said the supply is plentiful now.

Firewood is becoming a more popular way to save, said David Beckner, owner of Somerset-area Beckner Lumber Co.

Beckner, who heats his home with wood, said he has seen an increase of about 20 percent this year in the number of orders for firewood.

He said wood costs $125 a cord, equivalent to $400 worth of fuel oil.

“It’s a little more work. But if you can save two-thirds on your heating bill, you will throw wood on a fire every day,” Beckner said.

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