The energy suppliers in my area all have contracts I do not agree with. My gas & electric service may be cut in a couple weeks.
What’s my best move? I need enough electricity to power a mid-sized refrigerator (but could downgrade to a minifridge if needed), a few lights, router, laptop.
My boiler is gas but I have an old previously used mazut tank and furnice which I could possibly get working again with some effort.
Not sure what to do for cooking. Maybe use a portable electric cooktop.
(updates)
I’m favoring diesel over gasoline, for these reasons:
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My large mazut tank could store a year supply diesel but I doubt I could safely store gasoline in that quantity. It’s questionable though because it has mold or something growing in it so I’m not sure if it needs to be cleaned (or whether cleaning it is even possible). Or maybe the mold is harmless.
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Mazut and diesel may be compatible (not sure). That is, maybe a diesel generator can burn mazut or perhaps the mazut furnice can burn diesel. Guess I should find out how different they are.
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Clean biodiesel can be made in a basement from waste cooking oil and lye. I can probably get the waste oil at no cost.
W.r.t renewables, it’s in a densely packed city with a tiny terrace so wind turbines are probably impossible. Solar panels may be viable, I need to look into that. But I would be really surprised if solar could warm the house in the winter – it’s not a passive house (in fact not even insulated). I think solar would be a nice clean & quiet supplement.
Camping propane or butane stove may be the way to go for cooking.
Depending on how often you run it you should look into doing a setup similar to what I have listed below.
One, get a gasoline Honda generator. 7000 kw ideal 3000 minimum. Depending on how many loads you’d like to run at once will decide on your size generator. Don’t go too big or fuel consumption will be excessive. Too low and you will not have enough to do what you need to or will wear it out prematurely. Make sure to get roughly 25 to 50 gallons worth of gas cans too otherwise you’ll be stopping for fuel multiple times a week.
Add in an 2000-3000 watt pure sine wave inverter/charger and a small 700-1000ah battery bank so that you can run your lights, router, small fridge, fans, furnace etc when the generator is not running. Idea is to add in some solar panels so that your small loads won’t require you to run the generator every day all day long. Run it when you need to cook, or power large loads and let the inverter system power the small loads when the generator is not needed.
Stock up on good quality oil for the generator and change the oil every 50 to 75 hours depending on how hard you run it. Oil changes are critical to longevity of an engine and the MFG suggested oil change interval does not have the consumers best interest in mind. Change oil early or change the engine early.