Dear City Wide, 

I just wanted to let you know how pleased and completely satisfied we are with the comfort and the savings we’ve experienced after going through our first winter with the new WaterFurnace Envision geothermal heating and cooling system that you installed in our 12-year-old, 1,500 square foot home in late August of 2008.  Not only does the temperature remain more even and comfortable throughout the house, but our cost savings are terrific (and we feel very good knowing that we’re doing our part to save energy and the environment by using the earth’s natural underground temperature to heat and cool our home). 

We do not use budget billing for our energy costs, so all of the figures I’m about to relate are for actual energy usage during the months I’m mentioning (with figures taken directly from our monthly energy bills).  Our kitchen range and clothes dryer are both electric, so the cost of the natural gas we used last winter with our old system was for heat and hot water only. 

With our old gas system, for the month of December, 2007, and January and February, 2008, the natural gas portion of our energy bill, for heat and hot water, for those three months combined totaled $491.32.  The electrical usage portion of the bill for those same three months last winter totaled $191.36, which was only for our general household electrical needs – lights, appliances, etc.  None of that electrical cost was for heat or hot water. 

This winter, the new geothermal system, which uses electricity only to run the pump, compressor (and auxiliary heater on extremely cold days), and the new high efficiency electric water heater, which you installed along with the system, provided all of our heat and hot water.  Our electrical usage cost this winter for the three months of December, 2008 and January and February, 2009, totaled $320.07 (and again, that total now includes the cost of all of the electricity used for heat and hot water as well as for general household lights, appliances, etc., for all three moths combined). 

But since we can figure that our general household electrical usage was generally the same as last winter ($191.36), that means we can subtract that figure from this winter’s total electrical cost ($320.07).  So to heat our house and all of our hot water for December through February this winter, our total cost for those three months was $118.54 ($320.07-$191.36).  Dividing that $118.54 cost by 3 months, our average cost this winter was $39.51 per month to heat our home and to provide all of our hot water.  And according to the energy bills we received each month this winter, the average temperatures this winter were colder than last winter.  If we subtract the $118.54 total electrical cost for heat and hot water for those three moths this winter from the $491.32 total cost of natural gas used for heat and hot water for those three months last winter, we saved a total of $372.78 in just three months. 

But here’s the kicker.  Last winter, I was still working, and during the winter months we had our thermostat set back during the 168 hours per moth that my wife and I were both working.  This winter, after retiring last summer, I have been home and the temperature was NOT set back for any of those 168 extra hours per month.  So our savings are really more significant than the figures show.  And the fact that we will enjoy these savings throughout our retirement years is on of the main reasons we had the geothermal system installed. 

We can’t wait to see how much the system will save us this summer, during its first summer cooling season, and in many heating and cooling seasons to come. 

Thank you and best regards from a very satisfied customer, 

Tom
Des Moines

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