What every heating fuel would cost you this winter
Enter what you burn now. This shows what every other fuel and equipment combination would cost to deliver the same heat, using current government prices for your state — not a national average, and not an estimate from your square footage.
1 · Where you are
2 · How much you use
Fuel prices for your state — override any of these ▾
Defaults are live government figures. If you have a better number — a locked-in contract rate, a co-op price, your actual utility bill — use it. Yours wins.
Residential $/Mcf is inflated in summer months because fixed monthly customer charges are spread over very low volume. For heating comparisons the winter figure is the honest one. Flagged in the UI.
What each fuel would cost you
Same delivered heat — 93.1 million BTU per year — priced across every system. Ranked cheapest first.
| Fuel & equipment | $ / million BTU | Est. usage | Cost / year | vs. now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Natural gas — High-efficiency condensing (96% AFUE)cheapest | $21.09 | 970 therms | $1,963 | save $2,333 |
| Natural gas — Mid-efficiency (90% AFUE) | $22.50 | 1034 therms | $2,094 | save $2,203 |
| Electricity — Ground-source heat pump (COP 3.5) | $23.97 | 7794 kWh | $2,231 | save $2,065 |
| Natural gas — Older gas furnace (80% AFUE) | $25.31 | 1163 therms | $2,356 | save $1,941 |
| Electricity — Air-source heat pump (mild climate) (COP 3.0) | $27.97 | 9093 kWh | $2,603 | save $1,694 |
| Electricity — Air-source heat pump (mixed climate) (COP 2.5) | $33.56 | 10911 kWh | $3,124 | save $1,173 |
| Electricity — Cold-climate heat pump (COP 2.2) | $38.14 | 12399 kWh | $3,550 | save $747 |
| Propane — High-efficiency condensing (95% AFUE) | $40.53 | 1070.7 gallons | $3,772 | save $525 |
| Propane — Mid-efficiency (90% AFUE) | $42.78 | 1130.2 gallons | $3,982 | save $315 |
| Heating oil (No. 2) — Modern condensing (87% AFUE) | $44.57 | 772.4 gallons | $4,149 | save $148 |
| Heating oil (No. 2) — Mid-efficiency (84% AFUE)you now | $46.17 | 800.0 gallons | $4,297 | — |
| Propane — Older propane furnace (80% AFUE) | $48.13 | 1271.5 gallons | $4,479 | +$183 |
| Heating oil (No. 2) — Older oil boiler / furnace (80% AFUE) | $48.47 | 840.0 gallons | $4,512 | +$215 |
| Electricity — Electric baseboard / resistance (100% AFUE) | $83.91 | 27278 kWh | $7,810 | +$3,513 |
No price entered for wood pellets, cordwood and kerosene, so those are excluded. There is no federal price series for them — call two local suppliers and enter what they quote.
Why this is more accurate than a square-footage estimate
Most heating calculators ask how big your house is and guess from there. That guess carries the error of your insulation, your climate, your thermostat habits and your windows all at once. This one asks what you actually burned last winter, converts it to the heat your equipment actually delivered, and prices every alternative against that same figure. Your own consumption already contains everything a climate model would try to estimate.
What the ranking does not include
Every figure here is fuel cost only. A heat pump that saves $600 a year against oil still has to repay an installation that commonly runs five figures, and a wood stove that looks cheapest of all costs hours of labour the table cannot price. Efficiency also matters more than the headline price: an old boiler at 80% AFUE burning cheap fuel frequently loses to a modern one burning dearer fuel.
Fuels this site will not price for you
Wood pellets, cordwood and kerosene have no federal price series. Rather than invent a plausible number, this calculator leaves them out of the ranking until you enter a price yourself. Call two local suppliers, enter what they quote, and the comparison becomes real. Any site that shows you a confident national pellet price is guessing.
Where these numbers come from
- EIA Weekly Heating Oil and Propane Update — residential heating oil — $/gallon, 2026-03-30. Weekly, October through March only. Currently between seasons; the last reading stands.
- EIA Weekly Heating Oil and Propane Update — residential propane — $/gallon, 2026-03-30. Weekly, October through March only. Currently between seasons; the last reading stands.
- EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A — average residential price — cents/kWh, 2026-05. Monthly, roughly two months in arrears.
- EIA Natural Gas Monthly — residential price — $/Mcf, 2026-05. Monthly, roughly two months in arrears.
Full workings, every constant and every fallback rule are set out on the methodology page.