I'm in a 2BR house on the coast in southern New England, built in the 1880s. Oil heat.

Given my use last winter and the significantly higher oil prices this year, I expect my January/February bills to be $500/month. At heating oil prices that prevailed from about 1994 to 2004, that would have been more like $200/month instead of $500.

That's only a mile from the ocean on the southern side of New England. Move the house to northern Vermont instead and I bet it would exceed $1000 a month. And that's not even keeping it all that warm -- I usually set thermostats at 65-68 when I'm home and awake.

The oil burner itself is relatively new by local standards (25 years?), but none of the previous owners have added insulation or even replaced the 1880 windows. Well, I guess I wouldn't know a 1920 window from an 1880 window, but bottom line is they are _old_ and tremendously drafty.

I'm renting so I'm not stuck with fixing all this, but even then having only lived previously in houses or apartments built post-energy crisis I didn't fully realize what I was in for.