We got our February gas bill today, covering the period from mid-January to mid-February. During this period, the average temperature was 25 degrees (tied with the December bill for the coldest month of the season), and we burned 2.9 therms/day of gas.

This was also the first full month which reflects our use of the wood stove for heat, and I'm suitable impressed with the savings. Comparing this bill to December's bill (December had the same average temperature, and was the last full month before wood heat), we are burning 4 therms/day less. Last year, correcting for temperature, we burned 10.0 therms/day.

So we're saving 2/3 of our gas bill during the coldest month of the year. We should save even more (proportionally) during the warmer months.

The cost of gas has been dropping, though, so in terms of dollars the savings is going down a bit.

Crunching all the numbers, in February we saved $246 as compared to what we would have spent without the wood heat and keeping the thermostat down. For the season so far, we've saved $759 (readjusting the savings from prior months slightly to use a more precise estimate of our savings).

We still have 3-4 months of heating season left to go, though the last couple months (April and May) are marginal. But I'm guessing that when we add it all up for the season, we will have saved about $1,500 total. That's nearly half the cost of the wood stove insert. Another year of expensive natural gas, and the stove will have paid for itself.

Gas Price Update: The bottom fell out of the natural gas market the past few months as it became clear that the mild weather and expensive energy prices were leading to low consumption this year. So I'm expecting that the price of gas will slip well below $1.00/therm before the end of the heating season.