Apartment: Heater power usage vs A/C power usage?

Does heating a small apartment use much more power than cooling the same apartment with a/c??


I ask because my electric bill from last month was literally double what it was a couple months before, and I can't think of anything we've really done differently - I fear we have a power drain somewhere in the apt but maybe it's just heater usage.





Thanks!!

Apartment: Heater power usage vs A/C power usage?
Well that depends mostly on the climate since both are based on negative feedback systems, i.e. they shut off when the target temperature is reached and turn back on when the temperature strays from the target or target range. So, if you are living in an apartment where the outdoor temperature is typically 10 degrees in the winter and 70 degrees in the summer, your heating bills will be much higher than say in a climate where there is a 50 degree winter temperature and a 100 degree summer temperature. So heating bills will be much higher during the winter months in say, New Hampshire or Minnesota versus the cooling bills in the summer, and vice versa for bills in Florida and Texas.





It also depends on the efficiency of your heating and cooling appliances. That can vary greatly if you have a new AC unit and a very old heating unit.