$800 electric bill prompts switch to wood stove

Couple fill yard in quest to lower costs

The more than $800 electric bill Russell Duntz and his fiancee, Julia Lovejoy, received in October pushed them to take action and find a more inexpensive way to heat their home.

They paid to install a wood stove that a friend gave them, cut wood from a friend’s property in Voluntown and another friend’s property in Norwich and starting piling it in their front yard.

And piling. And piling still more.

Now, nearly every inch of the tiny front yard of their home on McKinley Avenue, along with the front porch and most of the even smaller grassy space in the back yard, is filled with wood piled higher than the surrounding stone walls.

It’s just one example of the everyday efforts people in Eastern Connecticut are making to cope with the economic meltdown.

There’s at least 10 cords in the front yard, a fairly startling sight for a streetside neighborhood just outside downtown. Another five or six cords are in the backyard.

“People come by and they are amazed because we have so much wood,” Lovejoy said.

Duntz said people ask, “What are you, crazy?”

Their efforts have paid off, even if the wood stove meant they had to move a dining table from the kitchen into an entryway. The electric bill dropped by $600 in March, they said.

Janine Saunders, spokeswoman for Norwich Public Utilities, said while she cannot comment on specific accounts, an $800 electric bill in October is highly unusual. She said customers in such situations can call NPU’s energy efficiency team at (860) 823-4514.

Duntz, a group home director for the state Department of Mental Retardation, admitted the wood piles make for an unusual sight. But he said he keeps his home warmer than most people.

The couple bought a pickup truck for $800 so they can haul wood and prepare for next winter.

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