I have had good experiences with Brian's Auto & Truck Repair & Erickson's Auto Repair in Westborough.

Tony's Automotive Service in Grafton is excellent as well.

I had a colonoscopy four days after I was laid off. Luckily nothing serious was found.

I got a decent severance and my employer is covering health insurance for six months, plus I got two interviews next week. Also a Florida vacation is coming up. I got that going for me, which is nice.

What is your budget?

From 2018 through 2022, after all rebates I spent roughly $11K doing three separate zones in my condo which previously used electric resistance baseboards for heating. I chose to do separates rather than one giant unit outside powering three indoor headunits because the separates can throttle down lower. Plus, if one requires maintenance or dies completely I don't lose heat for my entire unit. So there's redundancy.

• Mitsubishi MUZ-FH12NA/MSZ-FH12NA (2018)
• Mitsubishi MUZ-FH09NA/MSZ-FH09NA (2019)
• Mitsubishi MUZ-FS06NA/MSZ-FS06NA (2022)

I had a $450 electric bill keeping my entire unit no warmer than 64°F with electric resistance baseboards. My most recent electric bill has been around $245 to keep my entire condo between 67°F to 70°F 24/7 with the minisplits.

That quote is insane though.

If you do decide to get minisplits installed see if the town you live in participates in "municipal aggregation". This is the process by which a municipality purchases electricity in bulk from a competitive supplier on behalf of the residents and businesses within the community.

If this is not possible you can also sign up through a third party supplier like Constellation to lock in your supply rate.

If you are lucky enough to live in a town that has it's own electric company you're all set as you are paying half the rate as someone who has National Grid or Eversource.

So how long before this turns into a Netflix miniseries?

Jesus man. Do you live in a town that participates in municipal aggregation?

https://www.masspowerchoice.com/

If not you should probably consider locking in your supply rate since you heat with electricity. I have heard good things about https://www.constellation.com/

The rebates for minisplits are only going to get better. Might want to consider them.

So how many kWh is that?

3,469?

That is insane. I typically use that in an entire winter.

Last year I used 3,898 kWh from 11/12/21 - 03/14/22, averaging $236 per month.

I only had two minisplits at the time and I was still using my electric resistance baseboards in my master bedroom and full bath. Every other space had coverage from a minisplit. I worked from home on my dining room table upstairs. Kept temperature at 70°F during the day, low 60s at night. Kept second bedroom low 60s unless I was in there for a long time, master bedroom was kept at 58°F all the time because all I did in there was sleep so I had lots of blankets. Full bath was kept at 60°F.

This year I got a third minisplit for my condo and put it in my master bedroom. I moved my work from home setup into my master bedroom, re-arranged room. Contractor said to not change temperature more than plus or minus 3 degrees. He said minisplits like to run all the time, more efficient that way. I basically kept all rooms at 70°F during day and 67°F at night. I haven't had a full winter doing this yet, but my most recent bill was $229. My entire place is way more comfortable.

For comparison, the year before I put in minisplits I used 4,792 kWh during that same timeframe and never set the electric resistance baseboards higher than 64°F.

And going back to when I moved in I used 6,799 kWh over that same period. This was before I did any improvements.

True. Heat pumps have come a long way in the last ten years. I am also lucky to live in a town who participates in municipal aggregation. 9 cent per kWh supply rate until the November 2023 meter read. I really hope something changes between now and when the next three year contract is negotiated. Also I am debating on improving the insulation in my unit over the summer. Not much else I could do besides solar and I am not sure I could even do this. 🤔

I don’t know why people keep saying this. The Mitsubishi HyperHeat H2i units offers 100% heating capacity at -5 degrees and 70% to 81% heating capacity at -13 degrees. I have three minisplits in my condo and never had a problem with them keeping up during the extreme cold. These replaced my electric resistance baseboards.

What about the town or city you live in? Do they participate in Mass Power Choice? https://www.masspowerchoice.com Some cities and towns participate in what’s called “Community-focused electricity aggregation” where they go out and negotiate three year contracts where the supply rate is fixed. You can easily opt in. Of course depends on what town or city you live in. Something tells me you have already tried looking into this…