Heating: what each fuel costs to keep the house warm
Heating is the biggest energy bill for most homes in cold states, and the fuel decides most of it. Last heating season, natural gas averaged $1.43 per therm nationally, while heating oil started this season at $6.04 and propane at $2.60 a gallon.
Heat Pump vs. Gas Furnace: Running Cost in Your State
A winter of heat both ways, from your own gas bills and your state's prices.
Open DataCheapest Way to Heat a Home in Each State, Compared
Gas, heat pump, electric, propane and oil, priced per unit of heat in every state.
Open DataHeating Oil and Propane Prices by State, This Week
This week's price per gallon in every state EIA surveys, against a year ago and last winter.
Open DataNatural Gas Prices by State: Per Therm and Per Mcf
Price per therm in every state for the last heating season, and why summer prices look so high.
Open CalculatorHow Much Does a Space Heater Cost to Run? By State
Cost per hour and per month for a 1,500-watt heater in every state, and a calculator for yours.
OpenComparing fuels fairly
Fuels are sold in different units (therms, gallons, kilowatt-hours) and burned in equipment with different efficiencies, so their prices cannot be compared directly. The fair comparison is the cost of a fixed amount of heat delivered into the house. The pages here convert every fuel to dollars per million Btu of delivered heat, using EIA's heat content for each fuel and the efficiency of the equipment you choose.
Heat pumps change the arithmetic because they move heat instead of making it: in a typical season a heat pump delivers two to three units of heat for each unit of electricity it uses, depending on the model and how cold it gets. That is why a heat pump can beat a gas furnace even where electricity costs several times more per Btu than gas.