Home Heating Cost in New Hampshire (2027): Natural Gas vs Oil vs Electric
Heating costs for your home size in New Hampshire
This page answers one question for New Hampshire: which fuel heats a house for the least money right now. The inputs are current state-average energy rates and a heating load for Climate Region #1; the method is the one inside our heating cost calculator, set to mid-efficiency equipment.
Pick natural gas and a 1,930 sq. ft. New Hampshire home costs about $2,540 to heat for the season. Pick electric baseboard heat and the same season costs about $10,270.
New Hampshire Heating Cost per Season, Fuel by Fuel
| Fuel & equipment | Price | Season use | Cost / season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural gasnatural gas boiler, 82 AFUE | $2.19per therm | 1,158therms | ~$2,540 |
| Electric heat pumpductless, ~2.9 COP | $0.380per kWh | 12,628kWh | ~$4,810 |
| Heating oiloil boiler, 82 AFUE | $5.98per gal | 835gals | ~$4,990 |
| Propanepropane boiler, 82 AFUE | $3.95per gal | 1,266gals | ~$5,010 |
| Electric baseboardresistance heat | $0.380per kWh | 26,997kWh | ~$10,270 |
Each row is one heating season for 1,930 sq. ft., rounded up to $10. Switch the insulation level to see how much the house itself moves the bill. Method: our heating cost calculator.
A Season of Heat, Fuel by Fuel
Same house, same winter, five fuels. Hover a bar for the use and the rate behind it.
Season = the modeled New Hampshire heating load on standard mid-efficiency equipment; fuels ranked like the heating cost calculator (pellet and wood stoves are manual-load and stay unranked).
10-Year Heating Cost Outlook for New Hampshire
Today's ranking is one winter. Over 10 winters, price trends matter too. Electricity in New Hampshire rose about 6.51% a year between 2013 and 2023 in our energy data, and both electric lines follow that trend. We have no matching long record for natural gas, heating oil or propane, so the buttons show two cases instead of a guess. Hover or tap a winter for every fuel's cost.
Winter 1 uses today's rates and later winters apply the trend, all at average insulation; every total is rounded up to the next $10.
If natural gas, heating oil and propane stay at today's prices, natural gas costs about $25,380 over 10 winters here, against about $138,550 for electric baseboard heat. Note the crossing in winter 2: from then on, the heat pump costs more than heating oil held at today's price.
Winter in New Hampshire: What the Climate Asks For
Few places ask more of a heating system. With winter highs near 29°F and lows around 10°F, New Hampshire sits in Region #1, and every number on this page reflects that heavy seasonal load.
Weather factors that affect heating in New Hampshire:
Roof ice. When warm house air escapes into the attic, snow on the roof melts and refreezes at the cold eaves. That ice is a visible heat-loss meter: air sealing and attic insulation fix both problems.
Drifts. Plan where the snow will pile before the outdoor unit and the furnace vents go in. A raised stand and vents set above the drift line keep the system breathing through a heavy winter.
Hard freezes. If the heat fails during a deep freeze, water pipes can split within hours. Book the tune-up before the first cold snap, and consider a freeze alarm or a thermostat that sends alerts.
Heating oil still warms many older homes in New Hampshire, often through a boiler and a basement tank. At today's $5.98 a gallon, conversions from oil to a heat pump or to natural gas come up often here, and the table shows why. Replace a furnace or boiler in late summer or early fall. Once the first deep freeze arrives, installers fill up with no-heat emergencies, and you lose bargaining power.
Beyond Fuel: Where Heating Money Leaks
The equipment. Our figures assume 82 AFUE. Swap in a 93 AFUE condensing boiler and the natural gas bill drops by about $310; keep running a tired 62 AFUE unit and it rises by about $820.
Walls and attic. Insulation moves the load about 12% between average and poor, and the same between average and well insulated. That is roughly $310 a season with natural gas here.
Ductwork. Bare ducts lose about 17% of a furnace's heat in the calculator's duct model. Sealing and insulating them recovers most of it. Boilers and ductless heat pumps have no such loss.
Heat Pump vs. Electric Baseboard in New Hampshire
Electric baseboard turns each kWh into one kWh of heat. A heat pump moves heat from outdoors instead, delivering about 2.2 kWh of warmth per kWh in this model, already reduced for cold-weather performance. At $0.380 per kWh, that cuts the electric heating bill from about $10,270 to about $4,810 a season, a saving of roughly $5,470. Only natural gas costs less here.
New Hampshire Heating: Quick Answers
Should a New Hampshire home on heating oil convert?
Today's numbers favor the switch: about $4,990 a season on heating oil against about $2,540 on natural gas. That is roughly $24,530 over 10 winters if prices hold, before any installation cost. The natural gas route works only where a natural gas line can reach the property.
What is the cheapest way to heat a home in New Hampshire?
Right now it is natural gas, at about $2,540 a season for 1,930 sq. ft. The runner-up is a heat pump at about $4,810. Natural gas only helps where a natural gas line reaches the house.
What is better insulation worth on a New Hampshire heating bill?
With natural gas, a poorly insulated 1,930 sq. ft. home costs about $2,850 a season and a well-insulated one about $2,240. That $610 gap repeats every winter.
Pellet and wood stoves can heat cheaply too, but they are manual-load fuels: we price them in the pellet stove calculator and leave them out of the ranking, as the heating cost calculator does.
How to read this page: every figure is a model estimate built on today's New Hampshire average rates. It ranks fuels fairly against each other; your own bill depends on the weather, the building and the equipment.
