Gas vs Electric Heating Cost in Maine
In Maine, a 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation costs an estimated $2,472.89 a year to heat with a 92% gas furnace, $11,699.63 with electric resistance heat and $5,086.80 with a heat pump. In Maine, the gas furnace beats the heat pump on running cost by an estimated $2,613.91 a year.
State data
What Maine pays
- Electricity
- 32.1¢/kWhEIA Electric Power Monthly, table 5.6.A · EIA, August 2026 (data as of 2026-10-25)
- Natural gas
- $1.83/thermEIA, residential natural gas price ($/Mcf ÷ 10.37) · EIA 2025 annual average (data as of 2026-10-25)
- Heating degree-days
- 7,400 °F-days (base 65 °F)NOAA CPC, 1991–2020 normals
- Climate zone
- 6 (IECC 2021)DOE/PNNL · heat pump seasonal COP used: 2.3
Electricity in Maine costs 32.1¢/kWh, 77% above the US average of 18.2¢/kWh; every electric option on this page pays that price per kWh. Residential gas in Maine is $1.83/therm, 24% above the US average of $1.48/therm. At 7,400 heating degree-days, Maine is in the 6,000-plus band on this site; the 2,000 sq ft example needs 124.3 MMBtu of heat.
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
Oil, propane and the rest in Maine
- Main heating fuel
- Natural gas 17% · electricity 10% · propane 16% · fuel oil 49%EIA RECS 2020, state tables · share of homes
- Main heating equipment
- Furnace 46% · central heat pump not reported · boiler 31%EIA RECS 2020, state tables · share of homes
- Homes using a secondary heater
- 61%EIA RECS 2020, state tables
- Household energy spend
- $2,304 a year, of which $948 on space heating (40%)EIA RECS 2020, state tables · average per household
- Share of home energy that is space heating
- 76% of natural gas use · 8% of electricity useEIA RECS 2020, state tables
Maine is the clearest exception to the gas-heated American house. In the 2020 RECS, 49% of its 0.56 million homes, about 270,000, burned heating oil as their main fuel, the highest oil share of the 14 states where the survey can measure it, against 4% nationally. Propane reached 16%, again the highest share in the survey. Natural gas reached only 17% of homes, the 2nd-lowest gas share, and electricity 10%.
That fuel mix shows up in the equipment. Boilers, which circulate hot water to radiators or baseboard loops, are the main system in 31% of homes, against 8% in the US; furnaces account for 46%. The survey does not report a central heat pump share for Maine. 61% of households also run a secondary heater, against 42% across the US.
Heating dominates the bill here like almost nowhere else. A household spent $948 a year on space heating, the 6th-highest of any state, and that was 40% of total energy spending of $2,304, the 2nd-highest heating share in the country. Air conditioning, at 4%, barely registers.
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 Maine. Use the rate on your bill if you know it.
Rate used: 32.1¢/kWh · Maine · EIA, August 2026 · gas $1.83/therm (EIA 2025 annual) · 7,400 heating degree-days · climate zone 6 (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: $11,699.63 a year · Gas furnace: $2,472.89 a year, for 124.3 MMBtu of heat.
- Yearly heating load
- 124.3 MMBtu
- Electric resistance, $ per MMBtu
- $94.11
- Gas furnace, $ per MMBtu
- $19.89
- Electric resistance, per year
- $11,699.63
- Gas furnace, per year
- $2,472.89
- Difference per year (Gas furnace − Electric resistance)
- −$9,226.75
- Seasonal heat pump COP used
- 2.3
- Prices used
- electricity 32.1¢/kWh · gas $1.83/therm · propane $3.40/gal · oil $3.70/gal
- Heat pump, per year (for reference)
- $5,086.80
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 Maine
A 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation in Maine needs about 124.3 MMBtu of heat a year (7,400 heating degree-days). At $1.83/therm in a 92% furnace, gas delivers that heat at $19.89 per MMBtu; resistance heat at 32.1¢/kWh costs $94.11, and a heat pump at seasonal COP 2.3 (zone 6) costs $40.92. The year comes to $2,472.89 on gas, $11,699.63 on resistance heat and $5,086.80 on a heat pump. Gas is the cheapest to run here, by $2,613.91 a year over a heat pump.
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 Maine
For the minority of Maine homes on a gas line, the comparison on this page is clear at current prices. Electricity costs 32.1¢/kWh, the 2nd-highest rate in the country and 77% above the US average of 18.2¢/kWh, while gas at $1.83/therm is 24% above the US average of $1.48/therm. A heat pump would need power at 15.6¢/kWh to match the 92% furnace, against a state average of 32.1¢/kWh. The winter is long, 7,400 heating degree-days, 64% more than the US average of 4,500, which drops the calculator's seasonal COP to 2.3 for climate zone 6. In the example house that adds up to $2,472.89 for gas against $5,086.80 for the heat pump.
But that gas comparison speaks to about 100,000 homes. The larger group, homes on oil (about 270,000) and on propane (about 90,000), is weighing a heat pump against a delivered fuel whose price is not on this page. That is a different calculation, and it can come out the other way. The heat pump vs propane and oil calculator takes your gallon price and your electric rate; heat pump payback accepts an oil boiler as the current system and turns an installation quote into years.
Electric resistance is the costliest of the options this page prices. At 32.1¢/kWh, baseboard heat for the example house would run $11,699.63 a year, 4.7 times the cost of gas per unit of heat. A household on baseboards has the most to gain from any of the alternatives.
The survey's $948 average covers every fuel and home size, so it will not match the calculator's single 2,000 sq ft house. Use the rate from your own bill, supply and delivery together; at electricity prices this high, a few cents per kWh move the answer. Insulation also pays more where winters run this long; attic insulation estimates it.
Questions
FAQ
Which is cheaper in Maine, gas or electric heat?
Electric resistance heat is the most expensive of the three in Maine: $11,699.63 a year for the 2,000 sq ft example, $9,226.75 more than gas. Between gas ($2,472.89) and a heat pump ($5,086.80), gas is cheaper here: $19.89 per MMBtu of heat against $40.92 for a heat pump at seasonal COP 2.3. These are estimates at 32.1¢/kWh and $1.83/therm; your bill's prices can change the answer.
How much gas does a furnace use in Maine?
About 1,351 therms a year for a 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation and a 92% furnace, at Maine's 7,400 heating degree-days. That averages 113 therms a month over 12 months, but almost all of it is burned in the heating months. At $1.83/therm, the year costs an estimated $2,472.89.
Electric furnace vs gas furnace cost in Maine?
An electric furnace is resistance heat: every kWh gives 3,412 BTU. At 32.1¢/kWh, that heat costs $94.11 per MMBtu in Maine, against $19.89 from a 92% gas furnace at $1.83/therm, 4.7 times as much. For the 2,000 sq ft example that's $11,699.63 a year against $2,472.89.
I heat with oil in Maine. Is a heat pump cheaper to run?
This page cannot answer that, because it compares gas with electricity, and only 17% of Maine homes heat with gas. For an oil home, the comparison is your price per gallon at your boiler's efficiency against 32.1¢/kWh electricity at a seasonal COP of 2.3. Put both into the heat pump vs propane and oil calculator; the oil price on your last delivery is the number to use.
Why does heating take so much of a Maine energy bill?
Because the season is long and the fuels are not cheap. With 7,400 heating degree-days and electricity at 32.1¢/kWh, space heating took 40% of household energy spending in the survey, against 26% nationally. That makes heating the first place to look for savings, whether through the fuel, the equipment or the insulation.
Bordering states
Nearby states
Same calculator, same house, each state's own prices and winter:
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