What happens when the Nat. Gas. Co. finds out I burn?

I never herd a peep from mine, I just get a $38.00 bill for water heater, dryer, stove.

Bster13 said:

My natural gas bill says "home heating" on a portion of my bill. I also use it for my water heater and cooking stove. They will eventually see my usage plummet in my first year of burning. Do they do anything? Check the meter and admit defeat? Switch me to some other sort of billing (more $$$ per CCF)? Thx.

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You still are officially using NG as your primary heat source as far as the utility or even your insuarnce company is concerned. Turns out there is a legal definition and these wood stoves are not thermostatic or automatic so they are just a hobby. I ran into this when during a burn ban I was told I had to switch to my primary heat source and stop burning.

That is, unless you actually removed your NG heating equipment.

Nothing. My bills went from 60-120 down to the low 20's. I think most of that is the minimum charge for service.

I have been burning since 1989 and all the neighbors have same size house so the gas company came to us 3 times in these years to see what was going on. As I lead them in front door and we got closer to family room where stove is employed full time they started to smile

Bster13 said:

My natural gas bill says "home heating" on a portion of my bill. I also use it for my water heater and cooking stove. They will eventually see my usage plummet in my first year of burning. Do they do anything? Check the meter and admit defeat? Switch me to some other sort of billing (more $$$ per CCF)? Thx.

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My guess would be that the "home heating" designation has to do with state regs/laws regarding turning off service for non-payment. They're either not allowed to do that if gas is your primary source of heat during the winter or they have to jump through many more hoops before they do it.

But you should be able to find all that out through Google, or failing that, just call up the company and ask. I've never heard of a gas company charging less per CCF for heating as opposed to cooking, so I very much doubt that's an issue.

Highbeam said:

You still are officially using NG as your primary heat source as far as the utility or even your insuarnce company is concerned. Turns out there is a legal definition and these wood stoves are not thermostatic or automatic so they are just a hobby. I ran into this when during a burn ban I was told I had to switch to my primary heat source and stop burning.

That is, unless you actually removed your NG heating equipment.

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I think that's the kind of thing that varies from state to state, depending on how utilities are regulated. There's certainly no such rule in my state.

gyrfalcon said:

I think that's the kind of thing that varies from state to state, depending on how utilities are regulated. There's certainly no such rule in my state.

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It's not a rule, it's a definition. Unless your house is really old, you likely have a primary heat source on file at the county and it ain't wood. Insurance companies and mortgage lenders insisted on it. This has nothing to do with what you actually use to do the majoity of your house heating.

Highbeam said:

It's not a rule, it's a definition. Unless your house is really old, you likely have a primary heat source on file at the county and it ain't wood. Insurance companies and mortgage lenders insisted on it. This has nothing to do with what you actually use to do the majoity of your house heating.

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Beg to differ. It's a definition created by a rule. Neither mortgage lenders nor insurance companies here have the slightest interest in what your primary heating source is. If you have a woodstove, no matter how much you use it, you pay a slight extra fee on home insurance, which is only reasonable. But this is a very long-settled rural state, and heating with wood is and always has been the practice for a large proportion of the state. It's just a given.

I wouldn't put it passed them to increase you minimum usage amount if you have one. The electric company always estimates the winter months higher and WHEN they read the meter they have to walk around my wood

It varies from state to state depending on how the utilities are regulated. In Taxachusetts there is a big difference in price per gallon for propane if it is used for heat. If you use propane (delivered service) for just cooking and clothes dryer you pay (current price) about $5.50 a gallon. If you use the same product for heat (even just hot water) then the price drops to about $3.30 a gallon. I just went through this with my propane company. I am going to install an on demand propane hot water heater and I will get the price drop as soon as it is installed. I assume the same hold true for natural gas. If it is called out for heating on your bill then you are probably getting the reduced rate. My guess is that as long as you still have natural gas as your "primary heat source" then you will keep the reduced rate. You don't have to use it, you just need to have it installed. After all, your insert is just a backup heat source, right??? (at least that is what you tell the gas company)

they will stake out your house trying to see if you are stealing your neighbors gas/oil and then they will have the county building inspector research the issue,then the fire cheif will come by.they will send your name and address ti the nsa/fbi/cia. and you will immediately see black vans and suvs cruising your house.
and all your neighbors will be wondering if you are a terrorist or anarchist and shun you. then your family will leave you.
j/k

"Surprised to see us?"

My gas co. installed a nice, shiny new meter after I literally shut the furnace off stone cold and started burning wood. Bills went from $175 to $30. Of course the delay was long enough that the month they installed it, I just happened to run out of wood, so I fired the furnace back up. I bet they thought they hit the jackpot...until next season when I had more wood. The furnace has hardly been on since.

I'm not so sure if it's economic to burn purchased wood if natural gas is available. Just sayin'.

velvetfoot said:

I'm not so sure if it's economic to burn purchased wood if natural gas is available. Just sayin'.

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"Purchase wood"??? I don't understand that concept.....

Free BTUs said:

"Purchase wood"??? I don't understand that concept.....

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I get paid to take down trees in my business and I offer my neighbors free wood if they donate time at my yard when we run the splitter.
They all choose to buy wood from somebody that just dumps it off in their driveway what ever kind they supply.

My first year burning I purchased wood, didn't realize how bad it was but went with it anyway (the things you know now) I netted about $200 savings over NG.

Also my company checked my meter after the first year but did not change it.

Here in Michigan our utility has a list of about 20 different rate classes on the back of our bills but the definition depends on what was on the building permit when the home was first built.

I'm the only wood burner amongst our families friends. Most of them are city slickers and pay either oil ($800/mo) or natural gas ($350/mo). They find out that we are not paying for heat and instantly become very interested in purchasing a wood stove.

I tell them that unless you are burning oil it isn't worth it. Since they drive mini-vans and Honda civics they would need to get the wood delivered. The suburbia price pushes $300/cord for "seasoned". If you are burning gas it wouldn't be worth the effort of stacking and moving 3 cords+ of wood per winter for the marginal savings.....unless they are willing to find free wood and split and stack it themselves.

To the oil burners I say go for it.

Excavator said:

I get paid to take down trees in my business and I offer my neighbors free wood if they donate time at my yard when we run the splitter.
They all choose to buy wood from somebody that just dumps it off in their driveway what ever kind they supply.

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That says something right there, if I ever have to buy wood I am going to buy a propane furnace.

Propane is just as, or more, expensive as oil here.

velvetfoot said:

Propane is just as, or more, expensive as oil here.

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Fairly cheap here, I paid 1.39 last fill, good efficient furnace and dont think it would be that bad.
I will be crippled when I cant burn wood.

Somewhat off topic, our propane cost/gal depends on primary use (volume) - whole house heating and you get a much lower price than than smaller volumes used for ie cooking only, gas fireplace etc.