Quite a few of customers in our service area still have Oil fired equipment. While Oil burns nice and hot and gives you an unmatched heat blast, the costs are getting out of control. While we do not know what the future is for fuel costs, we can project what the costs are to operate your furnace through the winter season.
We do not want to deliver lip service, we want to show you the numbers behind why we say what we say.
Truth, by the numbers.
From the projections, we see that with Fuel Oil being as costly as it is right now, you may save money if you supplement your heat with electric space heaters and/or electric baseboard. For real savings though you should entertain looking at Natural Gas or Liquid Propane for a fuel source.
When looking into Natural Gas, you will save the most, but it requires a bit more planning as WE Energies are busy and they typically install during the months when the ground is not frozen. Taking the numbers we ran, a medium house could save $2,874 per year on fuel costs to heat.
What you can do is get a propane tank through a Co-Op, and you can have a gas furnace installed with an LP Kit. You won’t save as much on the fuel, with it being a savings of $1,895 to $2,273 per year on fuel costs… BUT you can convert your LP furnace to Natural Gas in the future, once service is switched over.
And as a reminder, these are projections based off of a medium house with the current rates. Oil and LP prices do fluctuate. Natural Gas does but usually very slow and more predictable. Every home is different. We just want all to see how much can be saved with Gas over Oil right now.
What rates are we using to calculate?
This document was made on October 16th 2026.
- Natural Gas @ $1.09/therm
- Liquid Propane @ $1.65-$2.06/gal
- Fuel Oil @ $5.58/gal
- Electric @ 19.5¢ kWh (WE), 11.4¢ kWh (Menasha), 10.1¢ kWh (Kaukauna)
How many BTUs do you get with $1 of fuel?
- Natural Gas (95%): 87,155.96
- Liquid Propane (95%): 42,196.60 to 52,681.82
- Fuel Oil (85%): 21,097.67
- Electric (WE Energies): 17,497.44
- Electric (Menasha Utilities): 29,929.83
- Electric (Kaukauna Utilities): 33,782.18
What’s the estimated cost to heat through the winter?
There are government studies that claim that a medium household will use 80 Million BTUs to heat their home through the winter in Wisconsin. From that we can project the costs below:
- Natural Gas: $917.89
- Liquid Propane: $1,518.55 to $1,895.89
- Fuel Oil: $3,791.89
- Baseboard (WE Energies): $4,572.10
- Baseboard (Menasha Utilities): $2,672.92
- Baseboard (Kaukauna Utilities): $2,368.11
Interested in learning more?
Get a FREE In-Home Estimate from us. We are happy to talk through what the process is, and what the cost of removing and replacing your equipment with gas equipment will cost. Our team is not pushy and our goal is to educate.