[Gregte]

I set my 20 gallon electric water heater to 110F. I only use hot water for showering, nothing else. I have the heater very heavily insulated and installed a heat trap on the output pipe.

It has a 1200 watt element and it is on for 48 minutes or less per day, after I shower. This is 29.3 KWH (or less) per month at $.09 = $2.64 per month for my hot water use.

One important factor... my daily shower uses less than one gallon of water. Very easy to do once you learn the technic. I learned to do this when I was building my house and lived in a travel trailer with no water or electric grid hookup. Then I was taking a shower with 5 pints of water preheated on a propane stove.

When I first was setting up to live in the travel trailer I hoped I could take a shower in less than 5 gallons. I built a little setup with a 5 gal bucket and valve. After my first test run I was amazed at how little water is required if you do it properly. Anyway I tossed out the 5 gal. bucket and used a 2 gal. bucket (it fit better) and consistently used no more than 5 pints per shower. Hint: it requires fairly short hair.

Back on topic, I have a 780 square foot house in South Dakota and my last electric bill was $47.93 including heat.

132 KWH @ $.09 = $11.88 <-- electric use, non-heat
595 KWH @ $.04 = $23.80 <-- heat -- Mar 15 thru April 15 -- 71F day, 65F nite
$10 customer charge plus tax is the remainder.

No gas or other energy used for the home.