Years ago a friend described how she had bought a small house in the Poconos in Pennsylvania, and in her neighborhood were some abandoned homes. They’d been bought by like-minded people who hadn’t realized how expensive electric heat is; there were no gas lines, and oil deliveries were difficult in the snow.
A lot of those homes are summer homes/vacation homes so the electric heat is rarely used or just on in the fall or spring.
I understand; I should have been more clear. These were small year-round houses (so after paying for electric heat one winter, the owners walked away from them); they called them “walk-aways”.
That is why people still heat with coal in PA.