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Heating, Cooling & Comfort - Calculate Energy Costs

EnerGuide Heating Cost Calculator

This calculator will help determine which heating system and which energy source will be most cost-effective for your home. The calculator should be used only as a guide; for a detailed evaluation and to determine the optimum size for a new heating system for your home, consult a heating contractor or other qualified professional. Natural Resources Canada has several tools to assist heating professionals in making detailed calculations.

Although we have taken every reasonable precaution to verify that the calculations performed by the heating cost calculator are correct, the nature of JavaScript makes it impossible to guarantee that the results will be accurate when used with all browsers and with all possible data. This calculator can be used for homes that have a single heating system and which use electricity, natural gas, propane or oil. The calculator allows for homes that use the same energy source for space heating and for heating water. For homes that use electricity, the calculator will take into account electricity used for non-heating purposes (i.e., lighting and household appliances). The calculator cannot be used for homes that use heat pumps; the dynamics of heat pump operation are beyond the simplified algorithm used in this calculator.

There are two steps in evaluating heating systems:

first, determine the approximate heating load of your home; and
second, enter information on various aspects of the systems and fuels you are evaluating.

To use this calculator, you will need to know the average cost per unit of your energy source and its total annual cost.

Determine your home's heating load

Which energy source do you use for space heating?

If your space heating source is electricity, enter your total annual electricity cost indicated on your utility bills.

OR

If your space heating source is oil, natural gas or propane, enter your total annual energy cost indicated on either your oil, natural gas or propane bills.
$

What is the average cost per unit of this energy
source? $

Review your energy bills or contact your supplier. Be sure to include any taxes, delivery or transportation charges where applicable.

In most cases, the calculator will automatically select the appropriate unit for the energy source you have chosen. If you purchase natural gas in GJ, however, please select $/Gigajoule from the menu below.

What units is this energy source sold in?

If you indicate below that the energy source is also used for hot water, the calculator will make an adjustment based on the number of occupants.

Is this same energy source used for heating water?
YesNo

What is the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) of your present system?
%

How many people live in the house?

Make sure that all of the information above is correctly entered and then click on the button on the left. If you should change any of the entries above it will be necessary to click on the button again in order to calculate the new heating load. The estimate of your home's heating load will appear in the box on the right. This figure will be used to evaluate the systems you enter below. If you know the heating load of your home, it can be entered directly in the box on the right.

GJ

Describe the systems to be evaluated
The calculator below permits you to determine the operating costs for two types of heating systems at a time. Use the NEXT SYSTEM and PREVIOUS SYSTEM buttons to add each system and to cycle through them. When evaluating several systems, you may find it helpful to assign a name of your own to each one (this can simply be a generic or abbreviated name of the system you are evaluating).

For each of these systems you will need to:

Enter a name to help you identify it.
Select an energy source.
Enter the unit price of your energy source (If you enter the price of natural gas in dollars per gigajoule, you will have to change the units to $/Gigajoule).
Enter the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) for the system.

The HELP button will provide information on the units accepted for various energy sources and the efficiencies of systems using the selected energy source.

Compare two heating systems

Compare two heating systems

SYSTEM NAME:
Enter a name to help you identify the first system.

ENERGY SOURCE:
ENERGY COST PER UNIT:

SYSTEM EFFICIENCY: %