Utility Companies Make it Hard to Compare
Unfortunately, the way that utility companies price their services actually makes it difficult to compare the costs of natural gas and electricity. Electricity is billed in Kilowatt Hours (kWh) while natural gas is billed in Gigajoules (GJ). So, we did the math for you!
How Much Energy Do We Use?
According to StatsCan, the average BC home uses 98 GJ of energy per year in total. Natural Resources Canada states that space heating accounts for about 63% of that amount. Based on those figures, we can determine that the average BC home uses around 62 GJ of energy per year for heating.
Your Heating Equipment Matters
While we may use an average of 62 GJ/year, the amount of heat you actually get from that is hugely dependent on the efficiency of your heating equipment. Remember, your utility bill is a measure of energy going into the house (energy input), not the amount of heat energy created (energy output).
Equipment Type | Efficiency | Energy Input (GJ) | Heat Energy Output (GJ) |
Conventional Gas Furnace | 60% | 62 | 37.4 |
Mid-Efficiency Gas Furnace | 75% | 62 | 46.5 |
High-Efficiency Gas Furnace | 95% | 62 | 58.9 |
Electric Baseboard/Furnace | 100% | 62 | 62 |
Electric Heat Pump* | 300% | 62 | 186 |
How Much Heat Do You Need?
Let's imagine a house that requires 50 GJ of heat energy output to stay warm over the winter, we can calculate how much energy (in either gas or electricity) we will need to use to create that heat.
Equipment Type | Required Input (GJ) for 50 GJ Heat Output | Cost to Create 50 GJ of Heat** |
Conventional Gas Furnace | 83.30 | $1,210.66 |
Mid-Efficiency Gas Furnace | 66.66 | $999.33 |
High-Efficiency Gas Furnace | 52.63 | $821.37 |
Electric Furnace/Baseboard | 50.00 | $1,718.70 |
Electric Heat Pump | 16.66 | $572.90 |
Your Mileage May Vary
These numbers are broad averages. There are many factors that influence the actual amount of energy that any particular home may require. These include how efficient your furnace/heating system is, and the insulation level and airtightness of your home. If you are curious to see how you compare, consider checking your utility bills for the past few years! If you'd like to learn more about the different types of gas furnaces and what makes one 'high efficiency', check it out here.
So, Which is Really Cheaper?
The answer is: it depends. Compared to resistive electric heat like baseboards or an electric furnace, gas is cheaper. However, a high-efficiency electric heat pump can actually be cheaper to run than even the most efficient gas furnaces on the market.
Key Points
Natural Gas and Electricity are measured and billed in different units making them hard to compare directly.
63% of total household energy is used for heating.
The efficiency of your heating equipment plays a huge role.
Per GJ, Natural Gas is less than half the cost of Electricity.
Electric heat pumps can be cheaper to operate than even the most efficient gas furnaces.
Further Reading and Appendices
*A heat pump COP (Coefficient of Performance) of 3.0 was used in these calculations. According to NRCan modern electric heat pumps can achieve up to COP 3.7 at -8 C. The average temperature for Nelson, Castlegar, and Trail over the three coldest months of the year (Dec-Feb) is -5.85 using data from en.climate-data.org.
**These costs were calculated using FortisBC Gas Rates and Electricity Rates as of Oct 1, 2022. Electricity costs were calculated using lowest-tier pricing for simplicity. Rates used are shown below.
Electricity
$0.12365/kWh = $34.374/GJ
Tiered Pricing: Usage after the first 1,600 kWh per month is billed at $0.13713/kWh or $38.09/GJ
Gas
$12.68/GJ + $154/year for "Basic charge"
1 GJ = 278 kwh