Electric vs propane heat and water

[vtallison]

Which do you find more economical, electric heat and hot water or propane. I live in Vermont so we have alot of cold. I plan to buy a very well insulated doublewide as soon as I sell my current home on 40 acres . I will also be installing a woodstove for a secondary heat source (installed by professionals of course).I would prefer propane for my cooking though.
Any ideas?

[brattsgirl]

I can only go by what I have and know. My cooking is the only thing that is propane. I don't cook as I have back injury and really can't stand but for a few minutes. My son does cook from time to time and we both prefer natural gas or propane for cooking. Hot water heater is electric as is the furnace/ac and everything else. However, last spring I purchased a wood pellet stove which I love. I can't do a wood burning stove as I can't keep carrying wood into the house. I purchased 3 tons of pellets in the spring (cheaper then) and had it delivered in September. It has kept my 1900 sq ft double wide very warm and comfortable all winter, not to mention how nice to look at. I watched my electric bill drop from $400+ to $100+ this season. I spent about $700 on pellets. All things being equal I think electricity is the most expensive, but around here propane isn't far behind as a lot of my neighbors have propane for heat and their bills run around $400 a month as well.
Good luck in what ever you use. This is just my personal opinion.
Jen

[vtallison]

Jen,
Where do you live? Was that $400 a month before the pellet stove? Did you use your electric furnace as well? I know I have alot of questions but I really need the answers. I am planning around 1500 sq ft for the house. Do you know how much roof insulation you have?
Thanks in advance!

[brattsgirl]

I live near Baltimore, Maryland. Yes the $400 was before the pellet stove. Part of that could be that I am home all day but even before winter I did all I could to prepare. I had that shrink wrap plastic on all windows. I have older single pane windows with storm windows. I insulated all outlets, not just the ones on the outside walls. I changed almost all bulbs to CFL. When it got cold enough me to need heat I only used the pellet stove, except for maybe 2 or 3 days when it was really really cold and that was just for a couple of hours to take the chill out of the air until I turned the pellet stove up. If I had kept the stove at 4 or 5 all the time it would have been way too hot in here, so I mostly kept at 2 or 3. I have no clue about roof insulation. I probably should though.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have, and if I don't know the answer I'll tell you I don't know. Good luck.

Jen