Is propane for home heating more or less expensive than natural gas?

Question

I recently looked at buying a home a little bit outside of town. Homes in this area are out of the service area of our natural gas provider, so the homes have a 1,000 gallon propane tank buried in the yard. The propane tank gets topped up monthly as part of a service. My question is.... Is propane for home hot water and heating (and cooking) much more expensive.... roughly about the same.....or much less expensive...than natural gas. I am unfamiliar with propane used this way; should I be concerned?

Answer 1

Nicor Inc., a large natural gas supplier, published their August 2007 energy source comparison numbers that show that Natural Gas costs $7/MMbtu, #2 Fuel Oil costs $20.71/MMbtu and Propane costs $22.14/MMbtu. Electricity varies by the load, but ranges from $25.73/MMbtu to $32.70/MMbtu.

So, based on these numbers, Propane is about 3 times more expensive to heat with than Natural Gas.

Unfortunately, you don't have much choice when you live rural like you do. If you can burn oil for your heat and hot water then you could save about 10% off your fuel bill, but oil isn't very popular for cooking. At least you are not relying on electricity!

Answer 2

Propane Vs Natural Gas Cost

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Is propane for home heating more or less expensive than natural gas?
I recently looked at buying a home a little bit outside of town. Homes in this area are out of the service area of our natural gas provider, so the homes have a 1,000 gallon propane tank buried in the yard. The propane tank gets topped up monthly as part of a service. My question is.... Is...

Answer 4

I too live out side the natural gas service area, so I use propane. Propane cost about 25 to 30 % more in Upstate SC.
I use heat pumps as my primary heat source and propane as the secondary source.The total cost is about 50 % less than the oil heat I had.
I really like the comfort, and love the cost.

Answer 5

I would call your local service providers for natural gas and propane. Here in wisconsin it is more expensive for propane. Plus you have to worry about getting deleivered. But on the other hand some remote places can only get propane since there are no NG lines running to there house.

Answer 6

I have to agree with Myke, never heard of propane being in the ground but they do bury fuel oil tanks. Here in Michigan propane has always been more expensive than natural gas.

Answer 7

In my area propane is much cheaper than natural gas. But, since we live in SoCal most people don't fill the tank monthly because they don't use the full capacity of their tanks until the winter time IF it even gets cold enough to run the heater. Most of my neighbors with propane get quarterly service. But, for the same sized home they are paying about 1/3 less than I am with natural gas.

Answer 8

Propane is almost always more expensive than natural gas, I am surprised that one answer said the opposite. Here is MI it runs 30% - 50% more. In rural areas you have no choice, so if you want to save money, you turn the heat down.

Answer 9

Propane is a rip off. I just checked with my supplier and it's at 2.00gal for summer fill rate. Looks like it's going to be an expensive heating season again here in Indiana.

Answer 10

I can't tell you about your area, but where I live, propane prices are insane. For us, natural gas is MUCH less than propane, and electric forced air is cheaper than propane, as well (lots of people here have the dual-fuel forced air furnaces that allow you to switch between electric and gas as you wish to).