The mistake here is that a lot of houses don't heat with electric. They burn gas or oil.
Later in the article, Joe needs to pay 300-400 a month for cell phones, cable TV, internet and such. This is not a need. My wife and I have prepaid cellphones. A thousand minutes lasts a year, for $100. Mine carry over and I pay less than $100 a year. My wife uses her cell phone more, but still keeps it down to ~250 a year. This is about $30 a month for both. Our TV, Internet and land line are bundled for $100 a month plus fees, but in a pinch we would just have Internet and use Vonage for phone; there is no reason to "need" cable TV, especially if you have Internet.
Electric heat would cost a lot more than $101.20.