Electric heating — A ‘hot line’ of systems

Reports indicate that at the end of 1963 about 1.5 million homes were electrically heated. Projected estimates show that the number will increase to 6 million in 1970, and to about 19 million by 1980 Electric heating is the fast-growing baby of “great expectations” in a competitive field that long has been ruled by the fossil fuels. In two principal regional areas of the United States — the West and the South — its growth has been phenomenal since 1960. This is a tribute to the low-cost electric power available in these geographic sections. But electric heating is regarded as a prodigal infant in the Midwest and Northeast where electric power rates are generally too high to give its systems a competitive run for its money.