Compare Home Heating Costs

Compare estimated home heating costs across various fuel types and heating systems, including heat pumps, natural gas, oil, propane, wood, and electric options.

Compare home heating options side by side.

Explore estimated annual heating costs for a variety of fuel types and heating systems. Adjust assumptions to reflect your home’s conditions and compare potential operating costs across available technologies.

How to Use the Cost Comparison Tool

  1. Select the row that most closely matches your home’s heating system.
  2. Update fuel prices and system assumptions as needed.
  3. Click Calculate.
  4. Use the Increase and Decrease controls to align the estimated annual cost with your actual heating costs.

Note: This calculator is designed for homes that primarily rely on a single heating system. Homes using multiple heating systems may experience different results.

Fuel Type (Units) Cost per Unit Delivered Heating System Show Details Annual Cost
$ Wood Stove

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Geothermal Heat Pump

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Natural Gas Room Heater

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Heat Pump (ductless)

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Natural Gas Boiler

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Oil Boiler

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Kerosene Room Heater

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Pellet Stove

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Natural Gas Furnace

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Oil Furnace

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Pellet Boiler

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Propane Room Heater

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Propane Boiler

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Propane Furnace

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Electric Baseboard

Assumptions:

%
%
$ Heat Pump (ducted)

Assumptions:

%
%

kWh (Kilowatt hour) - A unit of electricity.
CCF - 100 cubic feet, equivalent to 103,800 BTUs.
Cubic foot - A measure of natural gas heat energy equal to 1,038 BTUs.
Propane is sometimes referred to as LP (liquefied petroleum).
Cord - A stack of firewood measuring 4’ x 4’ x 8’.
BTUs per unit - The amount of potential heat energy contained within a measured unit of a given fuel type. A BTU (British Thermal Unit) equals the energy needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree F.
System Efficiency - Measure of the percentage of potential energy contained in a fuel source that actually gets delivered as heat within a home heating system (i.e., an 85% efficient system wastes 15% of its heating potential).
Distribution Efficiency - Measure of how efficiently heat generated by a source (boiler, furnace, etc.) is distributed throughout a heating distribution system (baseboard, forced hot air, radiant, etc.).

Click here if you are interested in learning more about VGS’s heat pump offers.