Vernon Foothills

The home that we purchased in the foothills happens to have a geothermal heating/cooling system. If you aren’t familiar with geothermal systems you can get an overview of what it is and how it works at BC Hydro’s website

A few of my friends have asked me what my typical energy costs are so I decided I would share some of these costs here so that you can compare against your own.

We have a 5 bedroom house, approx 3000 square ft. in size. We have a gas stove, a gas clothes dryer, 2 gas fireplaces and a gas hot-water tank. We use a ground-source geothermal heat pump to heat and cool our home. During the winter and summer months when our geothermal system is doing a lot of work heating and cooling, our electricity bills are approx $125/month. Our gas usage seems to be fairly consistent year around at roughly $60/month. The only personal comparison that I can make is with our former home located in the lower mainland. It was built in 1998 and is similar in size to our current house but is heated with a high efficiency gas furnace. During the winter months, which are not as cold as Vernon’s, our gas costs alone would reach over $300/month while our electricity usage was typically $70 to $100/month.

If you would like to share your energy usage numbers please post a reply.