Ruth, that is a nutty price to pay for heat, especially where it doesn't get all that cold. I thought we were paying a lot here in NY state, $400 a month for electric and gas in our 150 yr old farm house with old windows. Since it's your first bill, maybe they were using last year's bill to estimate? I found out the elderly lady who used to live in our house kept it very very hot and the first month they billed us an estimate based on her usage!
Consider getting a woodstove or two. We turn off the central heating in the afternoon and fire up the two woodstoves. It's the only time all day I ever feel warm, too. It saves a bundle, I'm sure, since we only use our central heat part of the day.