If gas is at the street, this is not a difficult decision and most households have already made it. This page is for the house where the main stops half a mile away, which is the position almost every oil household in the country is actually in.
| Fuel | Price | Energy basis | Per MMBtu | Per MMBtu at burner efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 2 heating oil | $5.54 a gallon | 138,490 Btu a gallon | $39.97 | $47.02 at 85% |
| Natural gas | $24.09 per Mcf | 1,037,000 Btu per Mcf | $23.23 | $25.25 at 92% |
EIA State Heating Oil and Propane Program / W_EPD2F_PRS_NUS_DPG / published 30 March 2026 / checked 23 September 2026 / lag 177 daysthree to six months oldtier A
Last in-season print. The survey pauses after March and resumes in October, so this figure ages all summer.
EIA Natural Gas Monthly / N3010US3 / published 31 August 2026 / checked 23 September 2026 / lag 23 daysone to four weeks oldtier A
US average residential price per thousand cubic feet. Summer months carry a high fixed-charge share.
The connection arithmetic
A house using 900 gallons of oil a season is buying roughly 124.6 million Btu of gross energy. At the gap of $16.74 per million Btu, switching to gas would save about $2,086.49 a season at these prices.
Against that, a main extension to a rural address is quoted per address by the utility and is frequently a five figure number when the run is long. Divide the quote by the seasonal saving and you have the payback in years. Do that arithmetic before anything else, because for most genuinely off-main houses it ends the conversation.
We do not publish a connection cost figure, because it is quoted per address by the utility and varies by an order of magnitude with distance and ground conditions. Ask your utility for a written quote. That number is the only one that matters here.
Do the two prices move together?
Loosely, and less than people assume. Distillate is a global product priced off crude. American natural gas is priced off domestic production and pipeline constraints. They can move in opposite directions for a whole season, which is exactly why the gap above should be treated as today's gap rather than a structural one.
The equipment side
A gas conversion means a new appliance, a meter and service line, internal pipework and often a chimney liner or a change of flue arrangement. As with propane, the sensible moment is when the existing appliance is finished rather than when a spread looks attractive.
Primary sources for this page
- EIA Natural Gas Monthly, residential priceUS average residential price per thousand cubic feet.
- EIA State Heating Oil and Propane ProgramWeekly residential delivered price of No. 2 heating oil, national and by state. Collected October to March. The survey pauses after the last March print and resumes in October, which is why every federal page shows March data all summer.
- EIA Residential Energy Consumption SurveyHousehold fuel shares and consumption. Used for context, never for a price.
- EIA Winter Fuels OutlookPublished each October alongside the Short-Term Energy Outlook. Forecast household heating expenditure by fuel and region.