Heat pump vs propane
Across the U.S. this week, heat pump is the cheaper heat: $21.32 against $35.12 per million Btu delivered. For a typical home in an average U.S. winter that is a difference of about $588.
Heat pump is cheaper in 48 of the 49 states compared; propane in 1.
Break-even price
30.0¢
Heat pump is the cheaper heat when it costs less than this per kWh. Assumes a heat pump COP of 2.5 and 85% efficiency for propane.
State by state
Typical winter: a 2,000 sq ft home of average insulation in that state’s normal heating season. Italic prices are regional or U.S. averages where EIA does not survey the state.
| Alabama | 16.5¢/kWh | $3.63/gallon | $517 | $1,246 | Heat pump by $729 |
| Arizona | 15.4¢/kWh | $2.73/gallon | $346 | $674 | Heat pump by $328 |
| Arkansas | 13.7¢/kWh | $2.48/gallon | $547 | $1,081 | Heat pump by $534 |
| California | 32.6¢/kWh | $2.73/gallon | $1,075 | $988 | Propane by $87 |
| Colorado | 16.8¢/kWh | $2.37/gallon | $1,389 | $2,152 | Heat pump by $763 |
| Connecticut | 27.5¢/kWh | $4.32/gallon | $1,883 | $3,246 | Heat pump by $1,363 |
| Delaware | 18.0¢/kWh | $3.81/gallon | $945 | $2,196 | Heat pump by $1,251 |
| District of Columbia | 24.9¢/kWh | $3.64/gallon | $1,330 | $2,137 | Heat pump by $807 |
| Florida | 15.3¢/kWh | $4.97/gallon | $116 | $413 | Heat pump by $297 |
| Georgia | 15.5¢/kWh | $3.28/gallon | $509 | $1,184 | Heat pump by $675 |
| Idaho | 13.0¢/kWh | $2.69/gallon | $1,048 | $2,374 | Heat pump by $1,326 |
| Illinois | 19.2¢/kWh | $1.95/gallon | $1,376 | $1,530 | Heat pump by $154 |
| Indiana | 17.0¢/kWh | $2.62/gallon | $1,124 | $1,894 | Heat pump by $770 |
| Iowa | 14.6¢/kWh | $1.75/gallon | $1,164 | $1,532 | Heat pump by $368 |
| Kansas | 15.3¢/kWh | $2.10/gallon | $872 | $1,318 | Heat pump by $446 |
| Kentucky | 14.2¢/kWh | $2.84/gallon | $732 | $1,604 | Heat pump by $872 |
| Louisiana | 13.3¢/kWh | $3.03/gallon | $257 | $643 | Heat pump by $386 |
| Maine | 30.2¢/kWh | $3.68/gallon | $2,750 | $3,673 | Heat pump by $923 |
| Maryland | 21.3¢/kWh | $3.86/gallon | $1,140 | $2,266 | Heat pump by $1,126 |
| Massachusetts | 30.2¢/kWh | $3.72/gallon | $2,171 | $2,933 | Heat pump by $762 |
| Michigan | 21.7¢/kWh | $2.46/gallon | $1,718 | $2,133 | Heat pump by $415 |
| Minnesota | 16.4¢/kWh | $2.05/gallon | $1,645 | $2,250 | Heat pump by $605 |
| Mississippi | 15.1¢/kWh | $3.15/gallon | $422 | $967 | Heat pump by $545 |
| Missouri | 14.3¢/kWh | $2.23/gallon | $834 | $1,432 | Heat pump by $598 |
| Montana | 14.1¢/kWh | $2.18/gallon | $1,416 | $2,396 | Heat pump by $980 |
| Nebraska | 12.9¢/kWh | $1.83/gallon | $952 | $1,475 | Heat pump by $523 |
| Nevada | 13.4¢/kWh | $2.73/gallon | $541 | $1,212 | Heat pump by $671 |
| New Hampshire | 26.9¢/kWh | $3.90/gallon | $2,350 | $3,741 | Heat pump by $1,391 |
| New Jersey | 24.1¢/kWh | $4.10/gallon | $1,460 | $2,725 | Heat pump by $1,265 |
| New Mexico | 15.3¢/kWh | $3.03/gallon | $802 | $1,738 | Heat pump by $936 |
| New York | 29.3¢/kWh | $3.79/gallon | $2,058 | $2,929 | Heat pump by $871 |
| North Carolina | 14.9¢/kWh | $3.64/gallon | $588 | $1,572 | Heat pump by $984 |
| North Dakota | 12.5¢/kWh | $1.75/gallon | $1,342 | $2,062 | Heat pump by $720 |
| Ohio | 18.8¢/kWh | $2.70/gallon | $1,254 | $1,975 | Heat pump by $721 |
| Oklahoma | 13.8¢/kWh | $2.38/gallon | $572 | $1,084 | Heat pump by $512 |
| Oregon | 15.5¢/kWh | $2.73/gallon | $955 | $1,850 | Heat pump by $895 |
| Pennsylvania | 21.1¢/kWh | $3.21/gallon | $1,412 | $2,353 | Heat pump by $941 |
| Rhode Island | 29.0¢/kWh | $4.12/gallon | $1,962 | $3,050 | Heat pump by $1,088 |
| South Carolina | 15.9¢/kWh | $3.70/gallon | $482 | $1,231 | Heat pump by $749 |
| South Dakota | 14.6¢/kWh | $1.95/gallon | $1,305 | $1,916 | Heat pump by $611 |
| Tennessee | 13.8¢/kWh | $3.28/gallon | $607 | $1,582 | Heat pump by $975 |
| Texas | 16.0¢/kWh | $3.18/gallon | $342 | $745 | Heat pump by $403 |
| Utah | 13.2¢/kWh | $2.47/gallon | $1,079 | $2,213 | Heat pump by $1,134 |
| Vermont | 23.9¢/kWh | $3.93/gallon | $2,261 | $4,075 | Heat pump by $1,814 |
| Virginia | 16.9¢/kWh | $3.80/gallon | $846 | $2,079 | Heat pump by $1,233 |
| Washington | 14.4¢/kWh | $2.73/gallon | $949 | $1,970 | Heat pump by $1,021 |
| West Virginia | 15.6¢/kWh | $3.70/gallon | $925 | $2,411 | Heat pump by $1,486 |
| Wisconsin | 19.1¢/kWh | $2.01/gallon | $1,681 | $1,944 | Heat pump by $263 |
| Wyoming | 14.0¢/kWh | $2.38/gallon | $1,351 | $2,515 | Heat pump by $1,164 |
38 states have state-level prices for both fuels.
Why per-gallon prices mislead
A gallon of heating oil holds 138,500 Btu, a gallon of propane 91,452 Btu, a therm of natural gas 100,000 Btu and a kilowatt-hour of electricity 3,412 Btu (EIA heat contents). Then the equipment loses some of it: a typical oil or propane furnace delivers about 85%, a gas furnace 90%, while a heat pump moves 2.5 units of heat for every unit of electricity over a season.
So the break-even rule for heat pump against propane is simple: heat pump wins when its price per kWh is below 0.110× the price of propane per gallon (with electricity in dollars per kWh).
Equipment, installation and maintenance costs are not part of this comparison. Methodology.
