Willoughby Hills: All-electric homeowner goes geothermal

WILLOUGHBY HILLS -- A homeowner whose electric bill went from $277 to $783 per month has decided to liberate himself as much as possible from the electric company.

Fred Dugach did the math and his homework and decided that heating and cooling his home with a geothermal system made the most sense in the long run.

"I studied this, went online, did research, and talked to an expert, and we all say that it's probably the best solution," Dugach tells WKYC. "The most efficient way to get the heat, per dollar spent."

On Tuesday, crews from Apple Heating & Cooling were ripping out Dugach's old furnace, heat pump, and hot water tank, and installing the equipment which runs on geothermal heat.

"You can still heat and cool your home for less money with geothermal than with any other choice you have," says Scott Robinson, president of Apple Heating & Cooling.

Dugach did have a choice.

His 22-year-old heat pump gave out just as his mammoth electric bills began to arrive.

He could have bought and installed a new electric heat pump, or switched to natural gas, but he chose to go an entirely different route -- geothermal.

"We've got to do something," Dugach said, about skyrocketing electric rates. "This is not just me, and not just you. It's everybody."

The cost of installing a geothermal system, including the drilling of four, 150-foot deep holes in his front yard by Yoder Drilling & Geothermal, is about $20,000.

But Dugach will get an instant $6,000 tax credit.

A new heat pump system would have cost about $9,000.

Running natural gas lines from the street and re-fitting his house for gas would have cost about $11,000. Tax credits for each of those options were limited to $1,500.

Robinson says that, despite the initial outlay, the combination of tax credits and savings on electricity will pay for a geothermal system in about five years.

Dugach believes that, at today's electric rates, he may recoup his investment in three.

"Plus you get a freebie," he points out. "You get free hot water in the summertime." He expects his geothermal system to cost about $2 per day to operate.

A geothermal system taps into the constant heat of the earth deep underground. The temperature averages about 54 degrees year round.

Fluid-filled pipes buried under Dugach's yard will absorb that heat and circulate it into the newly-installed system in his house.

"I went to that all-electric homeowners meeting in Strongsville Monday night," Dugach said. "And after that, I wasn't sure I was going to go geothermal. But after confirming the research today, I made the commitment."

"I was at a crossroads," the Willoughby Hills resident admitted, when he looked at his nearly tripled electric bill and broken heat pump. "But this is really all of our problem. Not just all-electric homeowners. It's everywhere."