Abstract: An electrical heating apparatus includes a primary heating stage heat pump, a secondary heating stage resistance heating circuit having a plurality of heating elements, an adaptive resistance heat controller and a two-stage thermostat. The adaptive resistance heat controller is connected to the two-stage thermostat heat pump and resistance heating circuit. The adaptive resistance heat controller includes a duty cycle monitor that monitors the duty cycles of the thermostat primary and secondary stages. The controller selectively energizes one or more of the plurality of heating elements in response to changes in the duty cycles so as to provide adaptive heating control to meet actual heating demand while reducing overall peak energy consumption.