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Which fuel is cheapest for you?

Type the prices you actually pay. Every fuel is turned into the cost of one million Btu of heat in your rooms.

Prefilled with this week’s U.S. averages. Kerosene and firewood have no national survey, so enter your own price to include them.

Propane $ per gallon Furnace efficiency %
Heating oil $ per gallon Furnace efficiency %
Kerosene $ per gallon Heater efficiency %
Natural gas $ per therm Furnace efficiency %
Heat pump ¢ per kWh Seasonal COP
Electric resistance ¢ per kWh Efficiency
Firewood $ per cord Stove efficiency %

Cost per million Btu delivered

    The numbers behind it

    Heat content (EIA): propane 91,452 Btu per gallon, heating oil 138,500, kerosene 135,000, natural gas 100,000 Btu per therm, electricity 3,412 Btu per kWh, firewood about 20 million Btu per cord (it varies a lot with species and dryness).

    Cost per million Btu delivered = price ÷ (heat per unit ÷ 1,000,000) ÷ efficiency. A heat pump’s “efficiency” is its coefficient of performance: 2.5 means 2.5 units of heat per unit of electricity, averaged over a season.