Even with the high cost of heating fuel, it's still cheaper than switching to electric heat, says the president of Yukon Energy.

David Morrison and Juergen Korn of the Yukon Housing Corp. held a joint press conference Wednesday afternoon to caution homeowners about what has already become on obvious trend.

'What we are seeing is a very significant jump in energy consumption,' Morrison said during the briefing held to explain the escalating demand for electricity.

He said Yukon Energy officials were forecasting an increase of about four per cent in electrical consumption from 2004 to 2005, which he termed as significant increase in itself.

'What we are actually seeing is we are growing faster than four per cent, and we still have November and December to go,' Morrison said of existing demand on the Whitehorse-Aishihik-Faro grid.

Morrison said if demand on the grid continues, there could be a time when Yukon Energy would have to turn off the supply to secondary power users who buy surplus hydroelectric power for a reduced rate, for longer than ever before.

There may also come a time when the Crown corporation is forced to start up the large diesels used to meet any demand in excess of the hydro generating capacity at the Whitehorse and Aishihik dams, he said.

Morrison said it looks like consumers are turning on their electrical heat because of the escalating cost of heating fuel.

But information provided by Yukon Housing's manager of research and development shows that electrical heat is not cheaper in the long run.

Numbers explained by Korn show that at a cost of 9.4 cents per kilowatt hour, or the standard rate for consumers using less than 1,000 kwh per month, it would be cheaper initially to heat with electricity for about the first week, that is.

If you take a home that uses between 500 to 700 kwh per month, but suddenly switches to electric heat, the cost of electric heat at 9.4 cents per kwh would be cheaper than oil.

Once the consumer goes above the monthly consumption of 1,000 kwh, and the cost per kwh jumps to 13.6 cents, it's cheaper to burn oil even at this week's price of $1.04 per litre, Korn explained.

'You may be saving for the first week, or even less, depending on what your base electricity use was,' Korn said.

On average, he said, a home heating with electricity alone would probably consume 3,000 to 4,000 kwh per month.

Numbers indicate that propane consumers, at this week's price of 56 cents per litre, could not save money by switching to electric heat, no matter how they slice it and the same for wood at $170 per cord and pellets at $280 per ton.

And with an overall increase in energy consumption even before the spike in oil prices, both Morrison and Korn are encouraging consumers to think energy efficiency.

As the Christmas season approaches, for instance, significant savings could be realized in consumption by switching to high-efficiency lights that are readily available, Korn pointed out.

Putting the plug-in for your vehicle on a timer, he said as have many others over the years still amounts to significant savings.

Those using propane for heat should consider temperature censors to control the heating mechanism for the outside tank, rather than allowing the heater to run non-stop.

And the list goes on, Korn and Morrison pointed out.

Wrapping your hot water heater, for instance, is still a money saver.

Morrison acknowledged that having your vehicle's block heater on a timer as opposed to leaving it run all night will not lead to early retirement.

It's the overall effort to increase energy efficiency, and reduce overall consumption; it's the ability to avoid the costly diesel generation for as long as possible, that are important, Morrison explained.

He said it comes down to what is best for consumers in general, and avoiding diesel generation is best.