I just checked my natural gas cost. A year ago it was 45 cents a therm, lat month it was $2.10 a therm. Even with a 5 times jump it is still the least expensive way to heat!
For me in my area, natural gas, if it was available to me, would be more expensive than propane for me. Now lots of people tell me that’s impossible but that’s because many people don’t take into consideration all the costs for natural gas vs propane. In my area, the BTU cost of propane vs natural gas clearly favors natural gas. However, in my area the natural gas companies charge $35 per month just for the meter. That’s $420 per year. Then, the same BTUs of natural gas as I currently use in propane would cost me another $200-250 for a total natural gas cost of about $620-670 per year. My propane costs me $60 in tank rental per year. This year my propane cost was $400 so total propane cost was $460 vs the $620-670 for natural gas. If natural gas prices jump then there’s an even larger disparity since my propane price stays fixed.
All that said, I don’t use a lot of propane due to highly insulated house and well insulated shop, a dual fuel propane furnace/heat pump for the house, and both a heat pump water heater and a propane water heater. We use propane for the stove and oven but that’s not much. We also have a wood stove in the house for those days when the outside temps really fall. Our total utility costs with electricity and propane combined are very low thanks to good insulation.
If I used more propane, eventually the higher cost per BTU for propane vs natural gas would eventually even out and natural gas would eventually become cheaper. However, natural gas, once all the factors are figured in, is not always the cheapest. Most people only compare BTU costs of natural gas vs propane without considering ALL the additional costs of each fuel.
I love propane even when it jumps in price. The way to keep propane from being too expensive is to have enough storage capacity so you don’t have to fill in the winter. I fill once per year and only in the summer when it’s cheapest.
Natural gas has long been considered the most reliable utility but last winter really showed how marginal the system’s reserve capacity really was. Largest city in my area was pleading with people to lower their thermostat setting and reduce their natural gas consumption during last winter’s huge drop in temps (Feb I think?) They didn’t have enough pressure being fed to the city to meet the increased demand. I would think long and hard about whether I would ever have a natural gas generator once I saw how marginal the natural gas supply was.
Since we were on propane and wood heat for the “polar vortex” last year, I didn’t spend a minute worrying about it. House stayed at normal temps and we lived life just like normal.
