sjharris Heat pumps have been used in the Southeast for many years and developed a bad reputation due to "cold heat". those days are over for the new models. if operating costs are important, I would get rid of the propane heat altogether. you live in an area/climate that is perfect for HPs. you may need your electric service/breaker panel modified or upgraded for backup heat strips. ask your quoting dealers. here is my recommendation. 15 SEER, 12.5+ EER, 9 HSPF best matching var speed air handler full BTUs both cooling and heating for rated size R-410a refrigerant new and correctly sized refrigerant lineset scroll compressor electronic demand defrost preferred staged backup heat strips thermostat with "dehumidify on demand" feature Look at Carrier Performance 15 "H" model(sister mdl Bryant Preferred 15 "H" model) or Trane XL15i(sister mdl Am Std Heritage 15). You will probably find Carrier or Bryant less expensive. IMO Good Luck!

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We have just had our undercab lights installed, and I couldn't be happier. Through this AMAZING forum, I found a reference to Environmental Lights in California. I was interested in LEDs, but very leery of the light quality/color. Long/short, we ended up ordering MaxLite LED strips from them. These are warm white (2700K -- I was very particular about that, cuz I can tell the difference with so called warm whites that are 3000K). They are dimmable. They do not require transformers or 'drivers' -- they connect to 120V. They come in 12" lengths; we got the ones with 33 bulbs/foot, which is 200 lumen output. They look fabulous! Better even than I'd imagined... The electrician, who had never installed them, was thrilled...said they were incredibly easy. And Environment Lights was terrific to work with. You can buy a sample -- one 12" unit with a plug, to see what it will look like. You can (maybe should) bypass your local electrical supplier, and definitely bypass the bigbox guys. Re spacing: I just bought them to run the lenght of the cabs to the nearest foot increment. They are not very big...maybe 3/4 of an inch?...so they tuck right behind the frame at the front edge of the cabinets. Could not be easier. Here is a link that might be useful: Environmental Lights -- Self-Driven Dimmable MaxLite

We used to have one provincially owned company, which we've traditionally called "Hydro" ("The Ontario Hydroelectric Power Commission"), that generated the power, originally from Niagara Falls, and delivered it to cities, factories, businesses and homes. Quebec has a lot of rivers in the north and great generating capacity, so sells it in to other agencies for a lower cost than they can generate it themselves, though there is a small line loss during delivery. Some years ago our electrical system was required to allow other agencies to sell power, and other entities went around signing up retail customers at whatever price per kilowatt, - and they bought the power wholesale from the generating and distributing entity. We did not sign up with the others, still dealing with the retail segment of the original system. Something like a quarter to a third of my monthly bill is for the actual power ... and it used to include the allowance for line loss. The rest is for other factors, the major one, usually about half of the bill, is for delivery cost and recently the "line loss" factor was included in that, rather than in the actual power that I used. There's also administration, payment of the debt incurred prior to the split-up, consumer tax ... and our province offers a reduction, currently, of 10% of the bill ... but has made deals with alternative generating agencies for sometimes up to 40 cents or more per kilowatt ... so we're expecting major increases in our power bills. Upwards of ten years ago my landlord made a large shed with two big doors into his shop, warmed, which he hadn't had before: not much fun cutting sod in summer ... and fixing equipment in winter, in an unwarmed rather rudimentary shop. They said that if he installed a separate service, that it'd cost about $40.00 per month more ... so he told me to tell him how much he owed me - we usually agree on about 15%, settled yearly. Recently they installed smart meters, so we have one price for peak usage hours (about 12 - 13 cents kwh), a second for mid-peak (about 11 cents kwh) and a third (about 8 cents) for off-peak hours - nights and weekends ... and the rates change during the summer months. Up until now our cost has been about $100.00 per month. BUT if I/we were to agree to go with an alternate supplier, my understanding is that the change in price would relate only to the amount that we pay for the power used, about 1/4 - 1/3 of the total cost ... but would not include delivery, admin, debt retirement, etc. I've been known to be wrong, on occasion, as well: I'm offering the story about our situation as I understand it to be. ole joyfuelled ... with a power-operated, oil-fired furnace to help, on occasion: regularly in winter P.S. In the light of what someone said, that their alternate energy supplier was a generator ... wouldn't it be a good idea for about a half dozen people who have freezers or water pipes prone to freezing in a cold house in winter, to go together to buy a generator which they could use alternately to operate the freezer or the furnace (or air conditioner ... but four hours of service in 24 wouldn't help them much)? o j