Gas vs Electric Heating Cost in Alabama
In Alabama, a 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation costs an estimated $802.38 a year to heat with a 92% gas furnace, $2,090.55 with electric resistance heat and $674.37 with a heat pump. At these prices a heat pump is the cheapest of the three, $128.01 a year under gas.
State data
What Alabama pays
- Electricity
- 16.3¢/kWhEIA Electric Power Monthly, table 5.6.A · EIA, August 2026 (data as of 2026-10-25)
- Natural gas
- $1.69/thermEIA, residential natural gas price ($/Mcf ÷ 10.37) · EIA 2025 annual average (data as of 2026-10-25)
- Heating degree-days
- 2,600 °F-days (base 65 °F)NOAA CPC, 1991–2020 normals
- Climate zone
- 3 (IECC 2021)DOE/PNNL · heat pump seasonal COP used: 3.1
Electricity in Alabama costs 16.3¢/kWh, 10% below the US average of 18.2¢/kWh. Alabama pays $1.69/therm for natural gas, which puts furnace heat at $18.37 per MMBtu. Heating need in Alabama is low by US standards: 2,600 degree-days against 4,500, climate zone 3.
Prices are statewide averages. Type the rate and gas price from your own bill into the calculator above to replace them.
How homes here heat
How homes in Alabama heat
- Main heating fuel
- Natural gas 28% · electricity 64% · propane 5% · fuel oil not reportedEIA RECS 2020, state tables · share of homes
- Main heating equipment
- Furnace 45% · central heat pump 39% · boiler not reportedEIA RECS 2020, state tables · share of homes
- Homes using a secondary heater
- 52%EIA RECS 2020, state tables
- Household energy spend
- $2,082 a year, of which $479 on space heating (23%)EIA RECS 2020, state tables · average per household
- Share of home energy that is space heating
- 66% of natural gas use · 16% of electricity useEIA RECS 2020, state tables
Alabama heats with electricity, and heat pumps are unusually common. In the 2020 survey, 64% of homes (about 1,220,000) named electricity as their main heating fuel, the 2nd-highest share of the 51 states, against 34% for the country. Natural gas heats 28% of homes, against 51% nationally, and propane 5%. Fuel oil is too rare here for the survey to report a share.
The equipment follows the fuel. A central heat pump is the main heater in 39% of homes, about 740,000, which is the 2nd-highest share of the 33 states that report it and far above the US figure of 13%. Furnaces, the standard equipment in most of the country at 60% of homes, heat 45% here. For many households in Alabama the heat pump is not the new option to weigh against a furnace; it is the equipment already installed.
Heating is a modest line on the bill. A household spends $2,082 a year on all energy, the 12th-highest among the states, but only $479 of it, 23%, goes to space heating, against 26% nationally. Air conditioning takes $401, or 18% of the bill, against 14% for the US, so the cooling line ($401) sits close to the heating line ($479). A secondary heater is in use in 52% of homes, against 42% nationally.
EIA RECS 2020, state tables: shares of all occupied homes in the state and average spending per household in the survey year. "Not reported" means EIA's sample was too small to publish a figure.
Gas vs electric heat
B04Scenario A
Sets the electricity rate. Pick US average if you're not sure.
From EIA for Alabama. Use the rate on your bill if you know it.
Rate used: 16.3¢/kWh · Alabama · EIA, August 2026 · gas $1.69/therm (EIA 2025 annual) · 2,600 heating degree-days · climate zone 3 (data as of 2026-10-25) ·
On the furnace label: 0.80 older, 0.90–0.98 condensing.
Gas furnace costs less per year by
Electric resistance: $2,090.55 a year · Gas furnace: $802.38 a year, for 43.7 MMBtu of heat.
- Yearly heating load
- 43.7 MMBtu
- Electric resistance, $ per MMBtu
- $47.86
- Gas furnace, $ per MMBtu
- $18.37
- Electric resistance, per year
- $2,090.55
- Gas furnace, per year
- $802.38
- Difference per year (Gas furnace − Electric resistance)
- −$1,288.16
- Seasonal heat pump COP used
- 3.1
- Prices used
- electricity 16.3¢/kWh · gas $1.69/therm · propane $2.90/gal · oil $3.60/gal
- Heat pump, per year (for reference)
- $674.37
Cost by month, in season only
The yearly cost spread across the months using a typical heating degree-day pattern from NOAA 1991–2020 normals. Months outside the season show $0.
Estimate. Formula and sources are under “How it works”. Change any input; the result updates as you type.
2026 note: The federal 25C and 25D tax credits ended for installations after Dec 31, 2025. Our numbers use 2026 rules. State rebates, HEAR/HOMES programs and utility programs may still apply.
Worked example
Worked example: 2,000 sq ft in Alabama
A 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation in Alabama needs about 43.7 MMBtu of heat a year (2,600 heating degree-days). At $1.69/therm in a 92% furnace, gas delivers that heat at $18.37 per MMBtu; resistance heat at 16.3¢/kWh costs $47.86, and a heat pump at seasonal COP 3.1 (zone 3) costs $15.44. The year comes to $802.38 on gas, $2,090.55 on resistance heat and $674.37 on a heat pump. At seasonal COP 3.1, the heat pump turns 16.3¢/kWh electricity into heat that costs less than $1.69/therm gas.
Load = sq ft × 0.35 × heating degree-days × 24 ÷ 1,000,000. Gas $/MMBtu = $/therm ÷ 0.1 ÷ 0.92. Resistance $/MMBtu = $/kWh × 293.07. Heat pump = resistance ÷ COP.
What the numbers say
What the numbers say in Alabama
At average prices the estimate favors a heat pump in Alabama, and the two prices point the same way. Electricity costs 16.3¢/kWh, 10% below the US average of 18.2¢/kWh, while gas costs $1.69/therm, 14% above the US average of $1.48/therm and the 15th-highest gas price among the states. The rate at which a heat pump and a 92% furnace tie is 19.4¢/kWh, against a state average of 16.3¢/kWh: your electricity would have to cost more than the tie rate before gas came out ahead on running cost.
The mild winter cuts both ways. Alabama's 2,600 heating degree-days are 42% fewer than the US average of 4,500, the 43rd-highest count among the states, and the calculator uses the climate-zone 3 seasonal COP of 3.1. That helps the heat pump on every kilowatt-hour, but there is not much heat to buy, so the yearly gap between the two stays small: $128.01 for the example house. A gap that size can be erased by a gas price below the average or a rate above it.
Electric heat here does not always mean a heat pump. The share of homes heating with electricity (64%) is larger than the share with a central heat pump (39%), so some electric homes run a furnace with resistance strips, baseboards or wall heaters. For them the comparison that matters is resistance against heat pump: resistance heat costs 2.6 times as much as gas per unit of heat at these prices, $1,288.16 a year more than gas for the example house.
The survey's $479 a year sits below the calculator's figures because it averages apartments, small houses and every fuel, while the calculator prices one 2,000 sq ft house. Space heating is also only 16% of an average household's electricity use here, against 12% nationally, so most of an electric bill in Alabama goes to other uses, cooling among them.
Type the rate and gas price from your own bill into the calculator above. If your heat pump is due for replacement, the heat pump payback page turns a yearly gap into years and the heat pump size page gives the capacity for your house.
Questions
FAQ
Which is cheaper in Alabama, gas or electric heat?
Electric resistance heat is the most expensive of the three in Alabama: $2,090.55 a year for the 2,000 sq ft example, $1,288.16 more than gas. Between gas ($802.38) and a heat pump ($674.37), the heat pump comes out $128.01 a year ahead on running cost; purchase and installation are not counted (see the payback calculator). These are estimates at 16.3¢/kWh and $1.69/therm; your bill's prices can change the answer.
How much gas does a furnace use in Alabama?
About 475 therms a year for a 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation and a 92% furnace, at Alabama's 2,600 heating degree-days. That averages 40 therms a month over 12 months, but almost all of it is burned in the heating months. At $1.69/therm, the year costs an estimated $802.38.
Electric furnace vs gas furnace cost in Alabama?
An electric furnace is resistance heat: every kWh gives 3,412 BTU. At 16.3¢/kWh, that heat costs $47.86 per MMBtu in Alabama, against $18.37 from a 92% gas furnace at $1.69/therm, 2.6 times as much. For the 2,000 sq ft example that's $2,090.55 a year against $802.38.
Would a gas furnace cost less to run than my heat pump in Alabama?
At the state's average prices the estimate favors a heat pump, by $128.01 a year for the example house. A furnace pulls ahead only when your electricity costs more than about 19.4¢/kWh; the state average is 16.3¢/kWh. With 2,600 heating degree-days the yearly difference is small either way, so check the rate and the gas price on your own bills before treating either figure as decisive.
Does a household in Alabama spend more on heating or on cooling?
On heating, but not by much: $479 a year on space heating against $401 on air conditioning, or 23% and 18% of a $2,082 energy bill. Nationally the split is 26% and 14%. A central heat pump does both jobs, so when you price a replacement in Alabama, its cooling efficiency belongs in the comparison next to its heating figure.
Bordering states
Nearby states
Same calculator, same house, each state's own prices and winter:
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