NLR Electric is prepared for the winter weather forecasted for the next couple of days. We will have employees on standby in case outages do occur. We have some information on portable space heaters below!
Portable Space Heaters
Zone heating is what portable electric heaters were designed to do. If a portable heater is used in one area and the thermostat for the main heating system is lowered, energy savings could be possible. However, if a portable heater is used in one room and the main heating system also is running, savings are not likely to be achieved.
Additionally, to achieve savings a portable heater must operate with a thermostat so it doesn’t run continually. Heaters with multiple output settings let you choose the lowest setting that keeps a room comfortable.
Know your operating costs
So, how much will an electric space heater cost to operate? You can use the following formula to calculate how much it will cost to operate a 1,500-watt space heater (or any other electric equipment):
Watts x hours of use ÷ 1,000 x cost per kilowatt-hour = cost of operation
This means that if a 1,500-watt heater ran 24-hours at a rate of 11 cents a kilowatt-hour, the cost would be $3.96 a day (1,500 x 24 ÷ 1,000 x $0.11). For a month that would amount to $118.80 added to the electric bill of the average customer.
The ‘My Account’ graphic below is actual usage from an actual customer using a Space Heater. Can you guess which days they were using the Space Heater?
Outages
We will have employees ready to handle outages during the forecasted winter weather! Visit nlrelectric.com/outage to view our outage map for the latest updates.