I went to the Ontario Hydro calculator to look at switching from oil heating to electric (natural gas not available here). This calculator says that I can save about $400 per year by switching. I have much doubt about this. Has anyone actually done this switch? Do you believe this?

Edit: some more info I should have provided:

First of all, I believe this would be for a forced air electric furnace. This should easily swap in for my oil furnace, I would just have to add a 220 line.

I live in central Ontario. I don’t have or need/want air conditioning, so there is nothing to save there.

I am not sure about a heat pump for my case, since it would not be used in the summer and they become less efficient as it gets colder. I am not sure I can rely on a heat pump as my only heating source.

    • Dearche
      5·
      1 year ago

      This really is the main question. If you’re just going to use normal electric heating, the difference probably won’t be much (it’ll still probably be cheaper, but not by this much). If you’re using an air heat pump, the difference will be greater, in addition to the new system also doing air conditioning during the summer (so you can throw away your old air conditioning bill). A geo-heat pump is by far the most efficient, and may beat that price, depending on the exact system you’re comparing to. Works both in the summer and winter and even the most extreme situations, but is also expensive to install.

      That said, there might also be tax rebates for the installation. I remember the Feds mentioning this in the last bill for the east coast, and Ontario might be included. Even if not, there might be more local rebates as well.

      All that said, I do strongly recommend some sort of heat pump system, as the cost of fossil fuel systems will rise in the future, even if we’re talking about the critical level arriving a decade along the way. Though depending on how things go, it might be sooner.