Heating Fuel Cost Comparison Calculator

Compare the cost of heat from heating oil, natural gas, propane or LPG, electric heat and a heat pump, per unit of heat and per year, in US or UK units.

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• Heating Oil Usage Calculator
• Heat Pump vs. Furnace Running Cost Calculator
• Furnace AFUE Savings Calculator
• Propane Cost Calculator
• Cost Per Degree of Heating Calculator

Calculator Functions

The calculator prices the heat that reaches your rooms from heating oil, natural gas, propane or LPG, electric resistance heat and a heat pump, then lists the fuels from cheapest to most expensive. A fuel is left out when its price is blank.

The price boxes start with national averages so the comparison works straight away. Replace them with the prices on your own bills and delivery quotes. To work out how much oil a home burns, use the Heating Oil Usage Calculator, and for a closer look at one furnace against a heat pump, the Heat Pump vs. Furnace Running Cost Calculator.

Heating Fuel Cost Formulas

Dividing a fuel's price by the heat it delivers puts every fuel on one scale. Heating oil at $6.14 a gallon in an 83% furnace costs 6.14 ÷ (138,500 × 0.83) × 1,000,000 = $53.41 per million BTU. Natural gas at $1.56 a therm in an 80% furnace costs 1.56 ÷ (100,000 × 0.80) × 1,000,000 = $19.50. With UK units the scale is pence per kWh of heat, and the million drops out: C = P ÷ (H × E), with H in kWh.

The yearly figures start from the fuel you burn now. A home that uses 650 gallons of oil at 83% needs D = 650 × 138,500 × 0.83 ÷ 1,000,000 = 74.7 million BTU of heat a year. The same heat costs $3,991 from oil, $1,457 from natural gas and $1,326 from a heat pump at the prices filled in.

Heat in each fuel

The US figures are the Energy Information Administration's conversion factors [1]. The UK heating oil figure comes from the government's 2025 values for burning oil, 46.204 GJ per tonne and 1,249 litres per tonne [10], which work out to 36.99 MJ, or 10.28 kWh, per litre. LPG is treated as propane: 91,452 BTU per US gallon of 3.785 litres is 7.08 kWh per litre.

Default efficiencies

The US defaults are the federal minimums for furnaces sold today: 80% for gas and 83% for oil, with the gas figure applied to propane as well. Hot-water boilers must reach 84% on gas and 86% on oil, and the gas furnace minimum rises to 95% for units made from December 18, 2028 [6]. ENERGY STAR gas furnaces are rated 95% or higher and oil furnaces 87% or higher [13], so enter your own rating if you have a condensing unit. The UK defaults are the building regulations minimums for new boilers in England: 92% for gas and LPG and 91% for oil [12].

Electric resistance heat turns each kWh into 3,412 BTU [1], so it counts as 100%. A heat pump can deliver up to three times as much heat energy as the electricity it draws [7], a COP of 3, which is also the minimum England's building regulations set for most heat pumps used for space heating [12]. Output falls in freezing weather: ENERGY STAR's cold-climate models only have to hold a COP of 1.75 at 5°F [8]. Lower the COP if your winters are cold.

Prices filled in

The US oil and propane prices are residential averages before taxes [2] [3], and the electricity price is the residential average [5]. Natural gas is listed at $16.16 per thousand cubic feet for March 2026, the latest heating-season month in the table [4]; at 1,036 BTU per cubic foot [1] a thousand cubic feet holds 10.36 therms, which gives $1.56 a therm. The UK gas and electricity prices are the price cap unit rates for Direct Debit customers, averaged across England, Scotland and Wales [9], and the oil price is the typical retail price of standard grade burning oil [11]. There is no official price series for LPG, so that box starts empty.

Limits of This Estimate

• Fuel prices move from week to week and vary by region and supplier. The filled-in averages are a starting point, and the result changes as soon as you enter your own.
• Only the energy is priced. Standing charges, delivery fees, servicing and the cost of new equipment are left out. The UK price cap adds a daily standing charge of 29.68p for gas and 54.83p for electricity [9].
• The yearly figures assume all of the fuel you enter goes to heating. If it also heats water or cooks, the heat demand is overstated.
• Efficiency is treated as one figure for the whole year, and the UK heat contents are worked out from published energy and density figures. These estimates are based on the best available data and estimations.

Sources