Home Heating Fuel Budget Calculator
Estimate winter fuel cost for your home across heating oil, propane, natural gas, kerosene, electric resistance, or wood pellets.
Comparing fuels head-to-head? Run the Propane vs Natural Gas Cost Calculator. Sizing storage instead? Use the Heating Fuel Days Remaining Calculator.
Estimate your winter heating fuel budget
Pick a fuel, enter home size and climate severity, then add your local price.
$2,387 / year
2,000 sq ft, moderate climate, heating oil at $3.50/gal, 85% AFUE
How to use this calculator
Pick the fuel powering your primary heat, then enter conditioned square footage, climate severity, your local fuel price, and the equipment's efficiency. The calculator estimates annual heat load, converts to fuel quantity, and prices it at your local rate. Defaults are sized for a 2,000 sq ft home in a moderate (Zone 3-4) climate.
Tips for success
- Use last winter's bills if you have them. Add up fuel deliveries (oil, propane, kerosene, pellets) or therms / kWh from the gas and electric bills. Replace the calculator's estimate with that real number for the most accurate budget.
- Pick climate by HDD, not just by state. Northern Maine and southern Maine span two climate bands. The Department of Energy publishes a county-level HDD lookup if you're on a border.
- Heat pump owners: don't use this for primary heat. Resistance electric is heat-of-last-resort. A modern cold-climate heat pump pulls 1 kWh of electricity to deliver 2.5 to 4 kWh of heat. Run the calculator with electric resistance, then divide the result by your COP for a better estimate.
- Add a 15 to 25 percent buffer. Cold snaps, holiday guests, and the occasional door left open all push fuel use above the seasonal average.
How fuel type changes the math
Each fuel has a different BTU content, so the same heat load translates to wildly different quantities and costs:
- Heating oil: 138,500 BTU per gallon. Sold in 100 to 250 gallon deliveries.
- Propane: 91,500 BTU per gallon. Stored in 100 to 1,000 gallon tanks.
- Natural gas: 100,000 BTU per therm (1 therm ≈ 1.03 ccf). Metered continuously.
- Kerosene: 135,000 BTU per gallon. Sold in 5 gallon cans or via dedicated delivery.
- Electric resistance: 3,412 BTU per kWh. ~100% conversion at the heater.
- Wood pellets: 16.5 million BTU per ton (40 lb bag = ~330,000 BTU).
Common mistakes
- Using gross sq ft. Subtract garages, unfinished basements, and unconditioned spaces. The calculator is sized for conditioned floor area only.
- Forgetting AFUE. An old 65% AFUE oil furnace burns 30% more fuel than a 90% condensing unit for the same heat output. Match efficiency to the actual nameplate.
- Spot price shock. Propane and oil prices peak January-February. Use a 12-month blended rate or your previous year's average per gallon.
- Ignoring meter fees. Natural gas typically adds $10-$30/month in service and meter charges that run year-round, even in summer.
Practical note
Heating-load estimates are inherently fuzzy. Real homes vary by 30 to 40 percent above and below what a square-footage rule predicts based on insulation level, window quality, air infiltration, occupant behavior, and microclimate. Treat the calculator's output as a planning anchor, not a precise forecast. The fastest sanity check: take last winter's actual fuel use, divide by your prior climate severity factor, and use that as your personal BTU/sq ft constant for next year.
FAQ
How do I estimate my home's heating load?
For a quick estimate, multiply square footage by a climate factor: 25 BTU/sq ft for mild climates (Zone 1-2), 40 for moderate (Zone 3-4), 60 for cold (Zone 5-6), and 80 for severe (Zone 7). A 2,000 sq ft home in a moderate climate uses about 80,000 BTU/sq ft per year of delivered heat. For a precise number, run a Manual J calculation or check past utility bills.
Which fuel is cheapest per BTU?
Natural gas is almost always cheapest, followed by wood pellets, then heating oil, propane, kerosene, and electric resistance heat at the top. Heat pumps reverse this order because their COP of 3 to 4 cuts effective electric cost by 65 to 75 percent. The calculator shows your actual local cost so you can compare your real numbers against the typical hierarchy.
Why does climate severity matter so much?
Heating load scales with heating degree days (HDD). A home in Minnesota burns three to four times as much fuel as the same home in Atlanta. The four climate bands in this tool map to typical US heating degree day ranges: mild (under 3,000 HDD), moderate (3,000 to 5,000), cold (5,000 to 7,000), and severe (over 7,000 HDD).
What efficiency rating should I use?
Use AFUE for furnaces and boilers (typically 80 to 96 percent), HSPF or COP for heat pumps (3.0 to 4.0 COP equivalent in mild climates), 100 percent for electric resistance, and 70 to 80 percent for wood pellet stoves. If you do not know the rating, use the typical defaults: 90% for gas/propane/oil furnaces, 85% for kerosene heaters, 100% for electric resistance, 75% for pellet stoves.
Should I budget extra for cold snaps?
Yes. Add 15 to 25 percent buffer to whatever this tool reports if you live in a region prone to extended cold snaps. A two-week deep freeze can drive monthly fuel use 50 percent above the seasonal average, and propane suppliers raise spot prices during demand peaks. Pre-buy contracts or summer fills lock in capacity and price ahead of the spike.