If you live in a cold climate and have an oil-fired home heating system, (4% of the US does), your home heating oil likely costs around $5.50 to $6.00 per gallon right now.
It is actually cheaper to use electric space heaters to heat your home than let your furnace run! Electricity at $0.12 per kWh is equivalent to the heat delivered by oil at $3.80 per gallon. If your electricity costs are higher, the cross over point is higher.

At this moment you are saving money by leaving the lights on and using old style incandescent bulbs. Go ahead and run that toaster oven to heat your pizza. The electricity is effectively cheaper than free as long as it keeps your oil burner from running.

Of course, wood is the best option if you have a good supply and are willing to put up with the extra effort.

Topics: economics, electricity, heating, oil heat, electric heat