In a recent Chicago Tribune column, Ask the Builder, by Tim Carter, a builder for decades, he stated that the average monthly heating cost in the U.S. was:
Gas: $931
Heating oil: $2,354
Electricity: $1,359
Heating season in Oak Park is from Sept. 15 to May 15, a period of eight months.
Oak Park wants to electrify future buildings. Given the difference in costs, that means electric heat in an “average” home in Oak Park would pay $3,424 greater cost for heat using electricity. Of course that is an average home. Many of Oak Park’s older residences are 60-100 or more years old and perhaps uninsulated and may even have older, less efficient heat (boilers or furnaces) and the difference might be even greater. Plus, this also affects your other appliances, your stove, hot water, etc. for added cost.
If you renovate your older home, insulate, move walls, new kitchen and bath or more, does this require you to upgrade to electric heat, hot water, etc.? What if only your old boiler or furnace dies and needs replacement? Again, do you have to upgrade to electric? There is talk that you might have to upgrade your older home with any renovation/replacement in the future.
I’d guess how the board operates, that might be sooner rather than later. I asked a village board member and she didn’t have a clue, yet was involved in crafting this change in ordinance/building code. As she once told me, her favorite phrase is “out with the old, in with the new.”
I’ve thought of putting up a two-story garage and heating the second floor so I’d imagine even with a super-insulated structure, the cost to heat will be significant since I’d have to use electric. Either pay up front (for super-insulation) or pay later in higher monthly cost for electricity and we know electricity will only go up.
If I had to replace my boiler (I have quiet, wonderful hot water radiator heat), what will it cost to upgrade to electric? Not only the boiler but the electric panel and wiring to the boiler, plus increased service to the house perhaps with Commonwealth Edison’s dreaded “demand meter” where your highest usage for a 15-minute period sets the rate for your month of usage.
I might add that, in 1980, quite some time ago, I moved my business to an all-electric renovated building in River North. It was billed as cheaper rates and blah, blah, blah by the landlord. Those were the highest rates we ever paid for utilities, and they kept going up.
I’m all in favor of doing what we can to make the environment cleaner with less carbon. That said, there are far bigger targets to go after, automobiles, airplanes, trucks, trains and maybe a few other things.
So VOP, was this a wise decision to have been made by the board at this time to put on the residents of Oak Park?
Jim Polaski is a resident of the Oak Park Gunderson Historical District.