I was doing my household budgeting and realized my heating costs have increased quite a lot. I thought that I might have a slow leak, but my usage is fine...
I am on propane for heat. There are four costs we pay before tax:
- Fuel Price (per L propane)
- Federal Fuel Charge (per L propane)
- Hazmat fee (per delivery)
- Transport Fee (per delivery)
All of these have changed over time, as has my usage. So I made a few charts to help me understand where the increase has come from:
(imgur link in case you can't see the charts here)
First is where my total cost comes from, also plotted with total fuel delivered. You can see the cost in the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 heating season was higher than 2021-2022, despite using less fuel.
Next I looked at the cost per L. I am in a fixed price plan, but that rolls over mid-heating season (in February). I rolled in the Federal Fuel Charge because I was interested to see if that was outpacing the price per L from the supplier.
Finally, I broke down the year-over-year increases by source. While there was a big jump in contribution from the Federal Fuel Charge increases, the majority of the price increase comes from the supplier increases.
There will be some repairs to the electrical grid near us soon, and perhaps when that is done we will have a more reliable electrical supply and can seriously consider a heat pump...
I just installed a heat pump to replace my heat strips, I'm so curious to see the price difference come next winter
That should make a pretty massive difference! I am also looking at my electricity usages and costs, but that gets so much more complicated to figure out. My desire to switch to a heat pump is primarily about lowering my carbon emissions, which in theory should work out here because our electricity is low carbon in general.