I cannot believe how much it costs to heat your house. Last month, our bill almost doubled. I suppose that comes with the unseasonably cold temperatures.
Jessica and I were talking about the price difference between propane (like we had at our old house) and natural gas (like we have at our new house.
Our initial thought was that it should be about the same. But after doing some research, we found that there is a pretty big difference between propane and natural gas.
In order to figure out the cost of propane verses natural gas, I did the following:
- I first needed to determine an appropriate conversion between gallons of propane and therms of natural gas. I found a website that listed a rough approximation between therms and gallons of propane:
“100 cubic feet (1 CCF) of natural gas is very nearly 1 therm (0.95 – 1.05, typically, depending on gas analysis). 1 gallon of LPG is about 0.91 therm. (91000 BTU).” - After determining that 1 gallon of Propane = 0.91 therms, I calculated how much one therm equals by doing the by dividing 1 gallon of propane by 0.91 therms. This gives me the solution that 1 Therm = 1.1 Gallons of propane.
- Then I looked at our propane and natural gas bills to determine the unit prices for each. For propane, this is $1.49 per gallon. For natural gas, it is $0.80 a therm.
- Next I determined a standard measurement to base our calculations on. I chose therms. Since 1 therm = 1.1 Gallons of Propane, we will take 1.1 gallons of propane times $1.49. This will give us an equivalent to the price per therm.
1.1 * $1.49 = $1.63 - We can conclude that, at current market prices (January 1, 2009), natural gas is much cheaper. Currently, $0.80 of natural gas would cost you $1.63 if it was bought in propane.
When you are figuring propane vs. natural gas. It is not just therm vs gallon.
PROPANE TANK at your home, one time cost to install all gas lines, either one time cost to purchase propane tank or a rental (app. $75yr). The only time you pay for propane is when you have a delivery made. And you are charge a Haz-mat charge when delivered.
Natural Gas, you pay for gas lines to be ran to your home from the main line (how long of run would that be) but you then have the cost per therm,
The cost each month for: rental on the meter (on your home), this tax, that tax, add all that up, then add to cost of therm. Then compare to propane.
Natural Gas, if you only use heat (which means 3-4 months out of the year), the other 8 months you do not cut on your natural gas, you still get a bill each month to pay for the meter, this tax, that tax, etc…
So when you compare:
Natural Gas – figure cost per therm, cost per month to have the meter on at your home, this tax, that tax. Figure the amount you pay for natural gas equipment at your home and not even cut your natural gas on during the summer months.
Propane, installation charges paid at initial set up, if you lease a propane tank (you pay app. $75yr). Maybe 2-3 deliveries a year for residential home that would need to be paid. So there are several months you go without paying a dime for propane.
accually im moving into a custom made home and im going with propane. ive looked at All the ups and downs to both. its just my wife and I. The taxes and fees on a gas bill acually make it worth going propane.
My experience has been that Natural Gas has been more cost effective in my house.
We just received a bill for our propane tank and it says we used almost three hundred gallons last month. We have a hybrid (mostly electric) heat system and tankless gas water heaters. We use an electric clothes dryer. Is this not an extremely high amount of gas usage for us? We have only been here in this home for one winter, but we pay 4-500 a month in electric bills. We are just shocked at our bill. Any insight?
@Bonnie
I would say that it seems high, but a lot of times, it is based on your home’s design, square footage, insulation, etc. I am not an expert on energy usage, but you could try increasing the insulation in your attic. That would probably be the cheapest way to lower your bills.
Also, I have had friends that used a lot of electricity to power their baseboard heaters.
One thing that helped them was to talk to the electric company about getting on an “Off Peak” system. This usually allows you to get discounts for the heater electricity. In return, the electric company can shut off the heaters for an hour or two during peak usage times. This helps the electric company balance their power grid usage, and saves you a little money in the process.
Good luck with the electric bills (they are never fun)!
I’m with Bonnie. I have lived in 5 differents homes in OH, MI, IL GA and now NC. All Natural gas except our current 2600 sq. ft. home in North Carolina. Our home is only 3 years old, well built, (low E windows…ect.) and I have never paid what it is currently costing me to heat my home. So far we have use between 100 and 140 gallons of propane per month at a price of 2.89 (nov) 2.69 (dec) and 2.49 for jan. You can do the math, our bills have been over $300 each month.
I never paid this much before and I’m in the south now, OK maybe one freezing month each winter in Illinois. I dont know what is going on, no leaks, I’ve checked. I would love some opinions and would tell folks to definitely go natural gas. By the way, where are you getting it for $1.49?
Thanks for any input.
Thanks for the comment Scott. It is frustrating that heating a house can cost so much. It kind of makes you wish you could live in an always 75-80 degree climate!
In answer to your question, we were getting propane from our local Farmer’s co-op in Southwestern Minnesota.
Terry, thank you for your calculations. I am renting a house on a ranch in California. The only gas we use is propane for water heater which of course is used year round. It is costing us $600 a year, approximately. Cannot get company we get propane from to give me an accurate breakdown of our cost per gallon and how it relates to natural gas prices. We have a propane wall heater but has leak so we rely on fireplace and portable heaters in the winter time , have electric dryer and electric stove (though we could use propane for them also). Given your calculations I think we will stick with our current program for heat, etc. since the worst electric bill I received was for December at $200.00. Thanks again, Patricia
Hello. My name is Earl Peterson of Gillette in the great state of Wyoming. I just wanted to take a moment to give my account of how a company called EarthWise Technologies in Yelm, Washington saved me a bundle on my propane costs this winter season. Up here in Gillette we get your standard winter of 1 – 2 ft. of snow fall & temperatures in the teens. However, this season was especially cold with the average being -5 below. The locals at our feed store last fall were all a hummin’ of rumors of a 70% increase in our home propane costs before the onset & our home heating town hall meetings were a thing of character and futility as most of us old timers didn’t even know how we were going to survive the brutal Wyoming winter. Social Security simply doesn’t stretch as far as we figured it would when we were young & workin’ our share of the world. Anyhow, my best friend Jed and I were a gabbin’ one fall day about how we were gonna live when he mentioned getting some space heaters, those high tech infrared types. Now I didn’t really know much about those things and told him my grandson, the internet whiz, could help me look all that up. Boy I tell you what, there are so many confounded choices it just makes your head spin. There are ones with all sorts of interestin’ claims & even some that those Amish make (yeah, like I believe that hog wash). But my grandson showed me how to search all those opinion sites that tell me how it is from real folks like you & I. From all the hoopla I found that the CZ Infrared models have the longest warranty, best return policy, and if something does happen after you purchase it…they have the best customer service of any of those other yahoo’s out there. I could tell you how when I bought 4 CZ 1500P heaters for my 2 – story 1500 sq. ft. home to survive the winter months that I saved an average of $250.00 per month in propane by turning my thermostat down to 60 degrees and using my heaters, 2 per floor, to heat my home up to a comfortable 75 degrees F. I could tell you how stylish and quiet these units are even when used constantly or how the technology allows each unit to regularly power off to simply maintain the room temperature set. I could even tell you how safe these units are that my little grandchildren can play right next to the one in our den without getting hurt or burned in the slightest. I could honestly tell you many things; however, I only became a true believer when I searched those opinion sites and finally bought some to see for myself. So I encourage you to check out all them reviews & finally buy one to see for yer self how much you can safe over the length of a grueling winter, like ours here in Gillette. I so far have saved ‘bout $780.00 this season over what I would’ve paid without ‘em. Stay warm and god bless.
Hello Terry, Here in northwest Indiana Nipsco rules the gas/eletric game. We have natural gas here at the farm. Our hot water boiler furnace uses NG.Being that i’m frugal and wise I heat our home with corn burners,gravity feed(i never cary corn by hand). Our water is heated by solar/with NG fired tank heater for back-up.Doing the math NG looks cheaper than propane, but in reality its about the same price per therm.Dont forget my friend,propane has OVER twice the btu potetial per 100 cubic foot as NG.Also, now pay attention,I pay an “interstate trasportation and storage charge”. Also a “delivery charge” and state tax, not to mention the “commody charge”. We use on average about 5 therms of NG a month.With propane I can buy the commody at the price I like,and no one but me can ever CUT our supply!! We are going propane. BEST REGARDS
This message is in response to Mr. Peterson’s posting. With all due respect, sir…how can a constant electrical option of 1500 watts (I looked into the specs) be a cheaper option than standard, all-American propane? Please explain how paying per Kilowatt hour for your home heat is actually a better option…because I just can’t see it.
Mr Gibson. – I really don’t care what anyone says. I love my CZ Infrared heater. It works great for us. Even if one would run the heater 24/7 at 1.5 kw/hr for 30 days would be 1080 hours. The national eletcric average is $0.10. A max of $108.00 per month. That was still a savings on our over all fuel bill each month!
No such thing as a one fits all any thing for any body. You must consider that not all propane, heating oil or electric rates are different in different parts of the country. My CZ Infrared heater works great for us, we are quite happy with it.
Good Morning, my name is Garrison Roberts. My wife and I just bought our first home 5 months ago…moving’ up and finally realizing the American Dream. So shortly thereafter we found that it could be very costly during the impending winter to pay the higher propane costs that heating a 1800 sq ft home is…we needed a better solution. So we looked around and found some friends using 2 CZ Infrared 1500P heaters to supplement their home heat. It seemed to do an excellent job in the main areas of their home. So I took the leap of faith and invested in 3 units…they do not disappoint whatsoever. We run our thermostat at a constant 55 F and supplement up to 75 degrees F in our living room, one in our kitchen/dining area, and one in our finished basement that is converted into an office/study. The units perform perfectly and we set them to delay start about 45 minutes prior to coming home for an even, comfortable heat. I run our 3 units for about 12 hours per day for the cost of $1.58 per day or less than $50.00 per month in electrical cost per unit. It has saved us hundreds in potential propane costs this heating season already. I am so glad that I took the leap of faith and decided to choose Infrared heat to keep my new home comfy and warm. Thank you, CZ Infrared.
Come on guys, how good are those “CZ Infrared” heaters – really?
Eletric heat is superior for ‘spot heating’ but EVERYONE knows eletric heating IS the most EXPENSIVE ! Am i wrong, arn’t we all tryin to save some coin?FACT: we heat 3,200 square feet to 75 degrees when the temp outside is in the teens….even below O! Price;2 bushels of shelled corn@3.49 locked in dollars a day.come on people of this great nation,wise up! We heat our WHOLE house with less than 100 bushels of corn per year!!!COME ON AMERICA……..WISE UP. Less than $349 a year…the WHOLE house 32,00 SQ. FT. No wonder america is bankrupt… we are giving it away. Whats next…………OUR SOULS! GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
In response to Mr. Roberts, the only issue I can see with your assertions is that I fail to see how a space heater can effectively heat an area of this magnitude comfortably or efficiently. Please explain to me how this unit can be as efficient as a standard central heat system. Thank you for your time.
Brad, Of course it will be cheaper to heat just one small area versus the whole house!!!
I have saved a bundle on my overall winter heating bill even tho my electric has gone up. As with any purchase be a PROACTIVE CONSUMER! Do your homework – find out your electric rate and make your own
calculations on the cost to run. Get a receipt! Know the name address and phone number of who you make your purchase from. It’s up to you to make the final decision.
The best value would be to purchase directly from the manufacturer (if you live in the U.S.) at http://www.czinfrared.com.
What gets me cooking , ( as in blood pressure ) is when you rent a home starting in October last year and you just receive your final propane gas bill and your landlords are making you pay for a fill on the tank from August , of almost 500.00 !!! HELLO does anyone see something wrong with this picture here??? YEA didn’t move in until , October? ,, and is it really possible to have the tank filled for over 200 gallons of propane a month ??? When the only thing on propane in the house is the furnace?? Everything else is run off of electric. … and the bill every single month is 400 to 500 dollars a MONTH….. Someone out there please help me here….
Some one told me that propane burns twice as hot as natural gas. Is this true? They also told me that it takes twice as much natural gas to do what propane does. Is this true?
@John
I would checkout this link. They explain how propane is made.
It appears that propane is usually extracted from natural gas. The biggest advantage of propane is it’s purity (natural gas contains a mix of gases), and it’s ability to liquefy under low pressure (increasing portability).
My understanding is that the extra processing that takes place in propane also makes it more expensive.
I LIVE IN NEW YORK STATE,DO I HAVE TO PAY TAXES METER FEES,ECT. ON NATUREAL GAS FROM CENTRAL HUDSON SUPPLYER.?
I don’t care what your comparisons are, natural gas is much cheaper than propane.
I just got my natural gas bill and also filled my propane tank. Natural gas was .6420 per therm and the propane was $1.23 per gallon. This equates to the following:
Natural Gas = $6.42 per 1,000,000 BTU
Propane Gas = $13.46 per 1,000,000 BTU
This prices Propane as double the cost of Natural Gas.
There is a meter charge of $6.50 on natural and a small tank charge for the propane. It equals out.
Sales tax is the same percentage on both.
Also look at the Government Figures published on the Propane Gas Association website: http://www.npga.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=914
A good rule of thumb is that heat from propane is roughly twice the cost as that of natural gas. But many rural communities simply don’t have the means of laying natural gas lines (like mine).
A gallon of propane will put out the same heat a 27 kWhrs of electricity. So, if propane is $2.70 per gallon, electricity is cheaper only if you pay less than 10 cents per kWhr (not around these parts).
That said, it is always a lot cheaper to heat only the parts of a house occupied (night bedrooms, day family room). This is most easily done with space heaters, even if a little inconvenient.
My husband and I woke to a Propane truck pulling out of our driveway this wonder New Years Day morning. When letting out the family cat, we were met with an Arrow Gas billing handing from our door. The visit wasn’t expected or needed so imagine our shock when we read that the price of propane jumped from $3.75 (10/09) to $5.30 (1/1/10). We have no contract with this company since they took over when F&S went belly up but were wondering what the true price of propane is at this time.
I appreciate all the conversion calculations between natural gas and propane but I haven’t seen this one: What is the cost difference, at any point in tim, between a BTU of natural gas and a BTU of propane?????
I have to chime in because I am incredibly confused right now. This will be our second winter here in this house. We have propane and during the worst winter months last year, our bill topped out at $300. Now this month I get a $600 bill, saying our tanks were completely empty? Can someone explain to me how that happens, considering the house was at the 65°F we keep it at this morning? It’s either coincidence, a leak or fraud. Is there anyone out there who has experienced something similar or has the background to comment?
We have a vacation home in Fenwick Island, DE, which was brand new construction, and we just made settlement in May. We live in an Association community, so no choice on whether we could have gotten gas or propane. We just received our 12/4 through 1/4 propane bill, which was $320.00!!!!! We don’t even live in the house!!! We keep the heat at 62 as recommended for our hardwood floors, and we put our hot water heater on “vacation mode.” How in blazes could we have a bill this high without using any of the other appliances (stove and dryer)?? I can’t even imagine what the people are paying who live there full time. Our full time residence is in NJ where we have had a brutal winter with 2 feet of snow a few weeks ago… heat is kept on 68, gas stove, gas dryer, gas fireplace, 9 people living in the house with hot showers every day, many loads of laundry, doors opening and closing all day long… and our gas bill was $166.00?? Sounds like something is just very wrong with this picture!
Hi to all out here that are mad because of propane prices in crease im in the same boat as you all I filled up my 100.00 tank in oct at 2.69 a gallon and then again in jan 1 at this time the propane was 3.69 agallon I dont understan why the price went up so much in only 16 weeks I here others are paying much less in my same area from other gas companys im not sure if im getting the wrong end of the deal I understand prices go up and down but a whole dollar at one time in such a short time .
Just wondering what your opinion of having my propane provider installing a meter on my tank… The Driver told me it is much better because they can monitor the tank and I would not have to worry about calling them to fill it up.. I really dont use much of it ,, just in the winter.. It is a 250 gallon tank and we use it for the central heat and the water heater only…I told them to do it but now my husband says well they are charging you an extra 4.95 per month for the service.. But on the other hand they said the gas would be at the reg rate and not the will call rate which is normally higher and that is what I am paying now… so that may even it out .. I dont know…Does anyone have a meter installed on their tank?? If so do you like having it that way verse just paying for just the amount when you order it?
Propane is a green energy compared to electric which is associated with coal
Reply to Dave W.
Regarding the comment ” It’s either coincidence, a leak or fraud. Is there anyone out there who has experienced something similar or has the background to comment?”
We wonder the same thing. We were also told that our tank was empty the first part of this month. We filled it. We checked it today. It has been seven days and we used 16 % which equates to 80 gallons. Ours is an older house, but for years we have only used 7 gallons a day, tops. We installed a new furnace two years ago. This past heating season, we have used about 1/2 times more than what we consider “normal.” I know it has been colder, but we have turned the heat down and use an electric blanket at night.
We cannot explain this either. This even occurred when we were gone for a week and had the thermostat turned down. There are only two of us, so no one was going in and out or otherwise interfering with the thermostat. Can’t explain it.
Simplify this for me please. So, if propane costs me $2.22/gallon, and natural gas costs me $.94/therm… I can do that math and come up with Natural gas being significantly cheaper… but, since propane burns hotter, don’t we have to look at something else to compare cost of fueling our homes? That is to ask, am I going to use much less propane to heat the same square footage than I would natural gas (thus offsetting some of the savings)?
–SJ from Colorado
I can tell you that despite the fact that NG doesn’t have the same BTU output per gallon that propane does, that it is definately more efficient when used in modern appliances. I run a crematory, I have machines that were built from 1976, all the way to 2009. My newest machine has 3 times the capacity per hour, and can burn at a max of 2.5 million BTU’s per hour. I can cremate an individual for $14.00 on 19 gallons of NG versus $45 for 19 Gallons of propane for the same sized individual. Natural gas IS cheaper.
We just found a dream house close to the beach but have been so disappointed when we discovered the house has a huge propane tank in the back yard. Your blog provides some information we are looking for and we are thinking about bailing out this deal.
Anyway, there are some discussion about the benefit of the infrared radiant heating from some of the responses. As I know, when you use the infrared heating devices, you don’t have the heat the air warm to feel the warmth. Infrared radiant is the one that does the trick. I was shock to see the CZ heater could cost up to 350 bucks. You don’t really need to spend that much for an infrared heater. Any cheap (20-30 buck) quartz radiant heater will give you the same benefit as the CZ infrared heater. Another benefit from the infrared radiant heater is that once it’s turned on, you feel the heat instantly. I’ve been using this kind of heater, only 5-10 minutes, every morning during the winter months to change my clothes for work…
Even though propane can be refined from natural gas or crude, the price of propane follows the price of oil. The reason for this is that propane typically competes more with other crude-refined fuels than with natural gas. Natural gas prices are still pretty depressed, while the price of crude (and therefore propane) have been steadily rising. Currently, natural gas probably cost anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of what propane costs.