What will heating cost this winter?

Moves heat instead of making it, so one kWh delivers ~3 kWh of warmth. In most states it beats resistance heating 3-to-1 and competes with gas.

The cheapest widespread heating fuel in most of the US — if the pipe already reaches your street. Roughly half of American homes heat with it.

Compressed sawdust with surprisingly competitive economics: a ton holds ~16.5 million BTU and a modern pellet stove burns it at ~80% efficiency.

The oldest fuel is still one of the cheapest per BTU — if you have a modern stove and a good local supplier. An open fireplace, though, sends most of the heat up the chimney.

The Northeast's fuel: high energy density delivered by truck to a tank. Costs track crude oil, so budget for swings season to season.

Rural gas-in-a-tank: burns clean in high-efficiency furnaces but carries fewer BTU per gallon than oil — and usually costs more per BTU than both gas and oil.

Simple and cheap to install, expensive to run: at average rates it's usually the priciest way to heat a whole home. Fine for single rooms and mild climates.

The head-to-head everyone's HVAC quote hinges on: when electricity-powered heat pumps beat gas on running cost, the crossover formula, cold-climate performance, and the dual-fuel compromise.

A triage order for shocking heating bills: rate changes vs usage changes, the envelope problems that dwarf equipment issues, duct losses, and the cheap fixes ranked by payback.

The setback debate settled with physics: why the 'reheating costs more' myth is wrong, the real savings per degree, and the one system type where setbacks genuinely backfire.

The zone-heating math: when a 1,500W space heater beats running the whole system, when it's the most expensive heat in the house, and the safety rules that are non-negotiable.

Zone-heating a single room without wrecking the rest of the house: where the savings actually come from, how cold the abandoned rooms can safely get, and four setups ranked by what they cost over a winter.

Fuel-by-fuel running costs ranked at current national prices, why the ranking flips by region, the insulation asterisk on every comparison, and the combos that beat any single system.