Should I feel badly about paying $35-40 a month for electricity?
Of course, we're talking "single male, modest life-style" here; if there were other people (wife, dependents, whatnot) involved here, with a trendier life-style, it would probably run to about $100 or more.
But at any rate, if the stove here were electric rather than natural gas, I'd happily pay a larger electric bill, say, circa $50-60 per month. But alas, francescosolichi is stuck with explosive natural gas, and feels compelled to toss all the cats outdoors before he dares turn on the stove, lest they end up in the next county.