ONG, Plan A or Plan B?

[Servicetech571]

For those who have natural gas in thier home are you on Plan A or Plan B?
Currently on plan B, We just installed a new furnace and are considering plan A if the new unit gets us under 50DTH per year...

[Servicetech571]

Here's a quick way to find out which plan is cheaper:
1: Log onto ONG
2: Click account history
3: Click Billing history
4: Scroll to bottom to see annual use.
If you are under 50 go with plan A, otherwise use plan B. Being on the wrong plan could cost $100 or more, so be sure to check it !!

[benjenn]

We had Plan A for the last 3 years because we had a geothermal system. Our gas bills ranged from $13-$15 per month... less than the typical monthly service charge on Plan B.

[Servicetech571]

We had Plan A for the last 3 years because we had a geothermal system. Our gas bills ranged from $13-$15 per month... less than the typical monthly service charge on Plan B.

What did you have running on gas? Rate choice A comes with a $13.21 service charge, so you must not be using much gas. Would you be better off skipping the gas meter charges altogether and going all-electric home?

[benjenn]

I'd hate to have an all-electric home because I can't cook on an electric stove. We had a gas stove (actually dual fuel because the oven was electric) and a gas fireplace. Our water heater was electric but it was unplugged because the geothermal made all our hot water for us. Geothermal is truly the way to go. As low as our gas bills were, our average electric bill on a 2,500 sf house (that I kept cold in the summer because I'm mean when I'm hot!) was only $106.

[benjenn]

I had an energy efficiency expert tell me once there's about a 6 year pay-back on purchasing a geothermal system. That means that in 6 years, the energy savings from having it will total pay for the cost of the system. After that, you just save money every month with lower energy costs. He said "So, if you're going to pay for it in 6 years either way, why not just buy one?"

[benjenn]

I work for the electric cooperatives of Oklahoma so energy efficiency is kind of important to me.

[Servicetech571]

I'd hate to have an all-electric home because I can't cook on an electric stove. We had a gas stove (actually dual fuel because the oven was electric) and a gas fireplace. Our water heater was electric but it was unplugged because the geothermal made all our hot water for us. Geothermal is truly the way to go. As low as our gas bills were, our average electric bill on a 2,500 sf house (that I kept cold in the summer because I'm mean when I'm hot!) was only $106.

Based on your use, it appears you rarely use the gas fireplace. So you are basically paying $168/yr (based on $14/mo) for a gas stove top. For as little as you use it I'm surpised propane wouldn't have been a better option to eliminate the gas meter charges. One fill up would last for YEARS, no monthly service charges.

$106/mo average is crazy cheap for 2,500sqft. How old is the house? How many people? Any special contruction/sealing/insulation done? What is your annual KWH use? Are you on Smarthours? According to the "how can I save" tab on www.myogepower.com how much diffferent would your annual costs be for smarthours?

[Servicetech571]

I had an energy efficiency expert tell me once there's about a 6 year pay-back on purchasing a geothermal system. That means that in 6 years, the energy savings from having it will total pay for the cost of the system. After that, you just save money every month with lower energy costs. He said "So, if you're going to pay for it in 6 years either way, why not just buy one?"

What was the cost difference between a conventinal and geothermal system? Geo $20k vs. $5k for a conventional system? $15k savings in 6 years is hard to belive. A big chunk of the $20k geo is ground loop installation, which is MUCH cheaper to do at time of home contruction...

[benjenn]

We built the house so it was new when we moved in and we were there for 3 years. We just sold and moved to a condo downtown last month. At $15 a month, that's about 50 cents a day and I cooked most every day so that was well worth it to me. We didn't use the fireplace all that much but we did sometimes. We weren't on OG&E, we were on Edmond Electric. We even had a Nissan Leaf for about a year and a half... 100% electric car that was charged every night.

We had 3 people living in the house - my husband, me and teenage son. The house was a certified green home with spray foam insulation, so it was incredibly energy efficient.

Here's what our utilities looked like for 2013 (I had this on a spreadsheet to show buyers when we were selling the house):

Electric Water Sewer/Trash ONG Total Utilities

1/15/13 80.58 53.11 39.48 15.01 188.18
2/12/13 102.75 63.87 39.48 16.09 222.19
3/14/13 103.88 69.25 39.48 15.03 227.64
4/10/13 95.50 69.25 39.48 15.00 219.23
5/9/13 84.84 58.49 39.48 15.03 197.84
6/11/13 100.20 82.29 39.48 15.08 237.05
7/12/13 132.57 99.03 39.48 15.07 286.15
8/9/13 133.34 83.59 39.48 15.06 271.47
9/11/13 124.57 101.53 39.48 13.48 279.06
10/11/13 108.87 127.21 39.48 15.03 290.59
11/8/13 104.16 77.61 39.48 13.48 234.73
Average $106.48 $80.48 $39.48 $14.85 $241.28

[benjenn]

Sorry that lost the table format when I pasted it... hope it's not too hard to read. Looks like we did have one month where the gas bill was $16.09... guess we used the fireplace a lot that month.

You've got to remember, too, on the geothermal system that you can still get a 30% tax credit. That takes thousands of dollars of the price difference.

[Servicetech571]

Spray foam insulation is AWESOME, I bet it accoutned for a lot of your low energy costs. The lower your heating/cooling load due to the tighter house, the longer it takes for Geo to have a payback. If you only had enough $$$ to do the spray foam or the geo, which would you do? Didn't the 30% credit expire in 2014?

[benjenn]

Hmmm, well, the spray foam is expensive but it's a lot less than the geo... so if you had to do one or the other, that would probably be the way to go. Glad we didn't have to choose. We had cellulose in our last house and our bills were comparable there, even without the geo. We didn't have a single incandescent bulb in the house. That helped, too. It always killed me when I'd hear about someone with a $300 or even $400 electric bill knowing ours was a fraction of that and we were very comfortable...

[Servicetech571]

Hmmm, well, the spray foam is expensive but it's a lot less than the geo... so if you had to do one or the other, that would probably be the way to go. Glad we didn't have to choose. We had cellulose in our last house and our bills were comparable there, even without the geo. We didn't have a single incandescent bulb in the house. That helped, too. It always killed me when I'd hear about someone with a $300 or even $400 electric bill knowing ours was a fraction of that and we were very comfortable...

We haven't had an electric bill over $90 since the summer of 2012 when our AC went out. Since you are now on OGE and into the energy conservation look into smarthours. Saves most people about 25% on thier bill.

[Prunepicker]

For those who have natural gas in thier home are you on Plan A or Plan B?
Currently on plan B, We just installed a new furnace and are considering plan
A if the new unit gets us under 50DTH per year...

I don't know which plan I have. My home is a 4 bedroom and the monthly
gas bill is about $60 per month. It's very well insulated and has energy
saving windows. I keep the temp at @72.

[Servicetech571]

I don't know which plan I have. My home is a 4 bedroom and the monthly
gas bill is about $60 per month. It's very well insulated and has energy
saving windows. I keep the temp at @72.

Log in to ONG and look up to see if you are under/over 50DTH/yr. How much is your summer gas bill?

[Servicetech571]

ONG rates just increased effective 8/8/14. New rates are $14.73/mo for plan A, $30.28 plan B. Still a 50DTU/yr break point for being on plan A or B.
https://www.oklahomanaturalgas.com/~...riffs/101.ashx

[windowphobe]

So the Plan B increase is $1.52 a month. Not trivial, but not much more than that either. (I use typically 60-70 Dth per year.)

[Servicetech571]

So the Plan B increase is $1.52 a month. Not trivial, but not much more than that either. (I use typically 60-70 Dth per year.)

Both plans went up $1.52 per month. We're right at 50dth/yr (some years more, some less) and are going to take a chance on Plan A this winter. Switched back in April 2014 so we can get 2 summers at the lower monthly service charge if we end up switching back to Plan B fall 2015.

[Servicetech571]

ONG customers can lock your gas rate @ $3.75 per Decatherm for 12 months. Excellent price IMHO seeing as it's averaged about $5 over the past 5 years or so.

[Zuplar]

I'm sure that's because gas prices are as low as they've been in years. I bought Propane last month for the winter and was the cheapest I've bought it in years.

[ctchandler]

I'm sure that's because gas prices are as low as they've been in years. I bought Propane last month for the winter and was the cheapest I've bought it in years.

Zuplar,
Just curious, what did you pay? I haven't been on propane for quite a while and have wondered what the price has been.
Thanks,
C. T.

[ctchandler]

ONG customers can lock your gas rate @ $3.75 per Decatherm for 12 months. Excellent price IMHO seeing as it's averaged about $5 over the past 5 years or so.

Servicetech,
How do you lock it in. I used to get the offer when I received my bill but I haven't seen it in a few years.
C. T.

[Zuplar]

Zuplar,
Just curious, what did you pay? I haven't been on propane for quite a while and have wondered what the price has been.
Thanks,
C. T.

$1.40 which includes tax is what I paid. Something like $.35 cheaper than the cheapest I had bought it for in the past 4 years.

[ctchandler]

$1.40 which includes tax is what I paid. Something like $.35 cheaper than the cheapest I had bought it for in the past 4 years.

Zuplar,
ONG ran a pipeline down our street in the 90's and I converted to natural gas. At that time, propane was $.75 per gallon. With inflation, that's not that much of a difference.
C. T.