Gas vs Electric Heating Cost in Kentucky
In Kentucky, a 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation costs an estimated $1,100.77 a year to heat with a 92% gas furnace, $2,989.73 with electric resistance heat and $1,067.76 with a heat pump. Between gas and a heat pump, Kentucky is a close call: the cheaper one, a heat pump, wins by $33.00 a year at average prices.
State data
What Kentucky pays
- Electricity
- 13.8¢/kWhEIA Electric Power Monthly, table 5.6.A · EIA, August 2026 (data as of 2026-10-25)
- Natural gas
- $1.37/thermEIA, residential natural gas price ($/Mcf ÷ 10.37) · EIA 2025 annual average (data as of 2026-10-25)
- Heating degree-days
- 4,400 °F-days (base 65 °F)NOAA CPC, 1991–2020 normals
- Climate zone
- 4 (IECC 2021)DOE/PNNL · heat pump seasonal COP used: 2.8
Kentucky's rate of 13.8¢/kWh is the 8th-lowest among the 50 states and DC; every electric option on this page is priced from it. Residential gas in Kentucky is $1.37/therm, 7% below the US average of $1.48/therm. A winter of 4,400 heating degree-days means the 2,000 sq ft example in Kentucky needs about 73.9 MMBtu of heat a year.
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
Electric, gas and heat pumps in Kentucky homes
- Main heating fuel
- Natural gas 43% · electricity 49% · propane 4% · fuel oil not reportedEIA RECS 2020, state tables · share of homes
- Main heating equipment
- Furnace 66% · central heat pump 22% · boiler not reportedEIA RECS 2020, state tables · share of homes
- Homes using a secondary heater
- 47%EIA RECS 2020, state tables
- Household energy spend
- $1,848 a year, of which $570 on space heating (30%)EIA RECS 2020, state tables · average per household
- Share of home energy that is space heating
- 74% of natural gas use · 20% of electricity useEIA RECS 2020, state tables
Kentucky homes divide almost evenly between two fuels. The 2020 RECS sample finds electricity as the primary heat source in 49% of them (about 850,000) and natural gas in 43% (about 750,000); nationwide gas leads, 51% to 34% for electricity. The electric figure places Kentucky the 12th-highest out of 51. Propane covers 4%, with the US level at 4%, and oil is too uncommon here for the survey to report.
Heat pumps carry a good part of the electric side. They are the main system in 22% of homes, about 380,000, the 10th-highest share among the 33 states with a published figure, while the US share is 13%. Furnaces, gas and electric counted together, are the main system in 66%. Since more homes name electricity as their fuel (49%) than name a heat pump as their system (22%), a sizable group must be heating with electric furnaces, baseboards or wall units.
The power bill reflects that group. Heating takes 20% of the typical household's electricity here, compared with 12% in the US. Total household energy spending is $1,848 a year, of which $570 goes to space heat, or 30%; the national figures are $519 and 26%. That heating share ranks the 28th-highest, a middling result for a winter of middling length.
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 Kentucky. Use the rate on your bill if you know it.
Rate used: 13.8¢/kWh · Kentucky · EIA, August 2026 · gas $1.37/therm (EIA 2025 annual) · 4,400 heating degree-days · climate zone 4 (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: $2,989.73 a year · Gas furnace: $1,100.77 a year, for 73.9 MMBtu of heat.
- Yearly heating load
- 73.9 MMBtu
- Electric resistance, $ per MMBtu
- $40.45
- Gas furnace, $ per MMBtu
- $14.89
- Electric resistance, per year
- $2,989.73
- Gas furnace, per year
- $1,100.77
- Difference per year (Gas furnace − Electric resistance)
- −$1,888.97
- Seasonal heat pump COP used
- 2.8
- Prices used
- electricity 13.8¢/kWh · gas $1.37/therm · propane $2.50/gal · oil $3.60/gal
- Heat pump, per year (for reference)
- $1,067.76
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 Kentucky
A 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation in Kentucky needs about 73.9 MMBtu of heat a year (4,400 heating degree-days). At $1.37/therm in a 92% furnace, gas delivers that heat at $14.89 per MMBtu; resistance heat at 13.8¢/kWh costs $40.45, and a heat pump at seasonal COP 2.8 (zone 4) costs $14.44. The year comes to $1,100.77 on gas, $2,989.73 on resistance heat and $1,067.76 on a heat pump. That is a near-tie: a heat pump comes out ahead by $33.00 a year, and a price change of about 10% on either side could reverse it.
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 Kentucky
Gas or heat pump is close to a coin toss in Kentucky. Electricity averages 13.8¢/kWh, 24% below the US average of 18.2¢/kWh; gas averages $1.37/therm, 7% below the US average of $1.48/therm. On those averages the example house comes out $33.00 a year cheaper with a heat pump, and the point where neither wins is an electricity price of 14.2¢/kWh, set beside the state's 13.8¢/kWh. With those two rates so near each other, a statewide average can't settle it for your house; your own bill can.
Climate doesn't break the tie. At 4,400 heating degree-days, 2% fewer than the US average of 4,500, the season is typical of the country, and the calculator assigns a zone 4 heat pump a seasonal COP of 2.8.
Resistance heat is another story. Per unit of heat it runs 2.7 times the price of gas at current rates, adding $1,888.97 a year for the example house. For the large group of Kentucky households on an electric furnace or baseboards, the comparison to run is resistance against heat pump, not gas against heat pump: a heat pump moves heat rather than making it, so it needs far fewer kilowatt-hours for the same warmth.
Treat the survey's $570 as a sense of scale. It averages apartments, small homes and every fuel, while the calculator models a single 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation.
Enter both prices from your bills above; when the margin is this thin, the decimals decide it. For new equipment, heat pump vs furnace sets the two side by side over their working life, and heat pump payback converts a yearly difference into a number of years.
Questions
FAQ
Which is cheaper in Kentucky, gas or electric heat?
Electric resistance heat is the most expensive of the three in Kentucky: $2,989.73 a year for the 2,000 sq ft example, $1,888.97 more than gas. Between gas ($1,100.77) and a heat pump ($1,067.76), the two are within about 10% per unit of heat ($14.44 vs $14.89 per MMBtu), so your own rates decide. These are estimates at 13.8¢/kWh and $1.37/therm; your bill's prices can change the answer.
How much gas does a furnace use in Kentucky?
About 803 therms a year for a 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation and a 92% furnace, at Kentucky's 4,400 heating degree-days. That averages 67 therms a month over 12 months, but almost all of it is burned in the heating months. At $1.37/therm, the year costs an estimated $1,100.77.
Electric furnace vs gas furnace cost in Kentucky?
An electric furnace is resistance heat: every kWh gives 3,412 BTU. At 13.8¢/kWh, that heat costs $40.45 per MMBtu in Kentucky, against $14.89 from a 92% gas furnace at $1.37/therm, 2.7 times as much. For the 2,000 sq ft example that's $2,989.73 a year against $1,100.77.
How far from the average do my rates need to be to flip the result in Kentucky?
Very little. At the average gas price of $1.37/therm, the tie sits at 14.2¢/kWh for electricity, and the state averages 13.8¢/kWh. Pay more than the tie rate and the estimate leans toward gas; pay less and it leans toward a heat pump. A gas price above $1.37/therm moves the tie rate up, in the heat pump's favor. Check both numbers on your bills and type them in above.
What changes if I swap an electric furnace for a heat pump in Kentucky?
Quite a lot. An electric furnace turns each kilowatt-hour into the same amount of heat, so at 13.8¢/kWh its heat costs $40.45 per MMBtu; a heat pump at a seasonal COP of 2.8 brings that to $14.44. In the example house that is $2,989.73 a year against $1,067.76. Heating is already 20% of the average household's electricity, an average that includes gas-heated homes, so in a home with an electric furnace the share runs higher.
Bordering states
Nearby states
Same calculator, same house, each state's own prices and winter:
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