Ice melting bars in new house steps - good idea?

[JoeM]

eustacetilley wrote:
Maybe just a little rethinking is in order- Why have Concrete Caps at all?
What are they capping, and why?
Concrete is pretty cheap- a couple of bucks worth of Portland cement, a few cents worth of sand or gravel.
And to protect this, a lot of money spent on "protection" and ongoing energy bills.

I would need more information to suggest an alternative for this particular case, but there are always alternatives.

Eustace

The concrete now has multiple cracks throughout especially near the ends of the steps, where the steps will break off probably this winter. The brick foundation is fine. (EDIT: There are three steps instead of two as in the photo) The stoop looks pretty much like this: