I saw this recently posted in my community. Italics are mine.

“I moved to town 4 months ago, to a 2500 sqf house that has a decent (what does that mean?) solar panel array, so my Eversource electricity bills were de minimus until last month (Nov).  However, I just received my bill for Dec, which is for $637 having used a net 2784 kWh.  My house is 100% electric baseboard heaters (with a wood stove I didn’t use last month).

This is the largest monthly electricity bill ($637) I have ever received. Is this normal?”

………

No doubt this is a house either built on the cheap (no boiler or furnace) at a time when electricity was cheap, the house was closed up all winter or it was a second home only used occasionally.

No one in their right mind would rely on resistance electrical heat in New England in 2024.

And tossing up some solar panels as an attempt to solve the issue just isn’t going to cut it. Resistance electrical heat is least efficent way to heat a home.

Step One: Energy Audit

But first things first, step one is to have your insulation checked. An insulation audit is a professional analysis that is critical for identifying areas of energy loss and areas of energy conservation. You might have a poorly insulated house that is pumping heat outside. You might as well be lighting cash on fire!

Home energy audits qualify for tax credits under the IRA –https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/home-energy-tax-credits

Step Two: Heat Pumps

Heat pumps or mini-splits are 4x as effecient as resistance electric heating. In other words the solar you are creating and the credits you are building all summer will go four times as far.

Heating of all types in your home is what is using the most electricity – heat, hot water as well as running applicances and electronics.

Turning off unused electronics and lights can lower your electricity bills a bit but tackling the heating and hot water will be the most significant. Run the dishwasher without the drying cycle and choose to hang dry your clothes.

Switching to heat pumps for heat and AC and heat pump hot water heaters will make a huge different. You can also get heat pump washer/dryers such as the GE combo.

Also, use the damn woodstove!

Tax incentives in the form of tax credits are available for all of the above via the IRA – Inflation Reduction Act.

Rewiring America Org has an excellent guide to the tax credits available and how to plan out your path to a more energy (and less costly) home:

https://www.rewiringamerica.org/research/ira-guide