Home › New Hampshire heating oil cost
New Hampshire heating oil cost: a six-dollar gallon in oil country
New Hampshire heats the New England way — substantially by truck. Residential heating oil averaged $6.033 per gallon in EIA's survey week of October 19, 2026, a shade below the $6.112 New England regional average and the $6.190 U.S. survey average, which is no comfort at New Hampshire volumes: a standard 275-gallon tank fill at that price costs $1,659.08, and oil-heated homes nationally are forecast by EIA to spend $2,115 this winter, up 21%. The alternatives price high as well: propane at $3.843 a gallon, delivered gas at $18.74 per Mcf where pipelines reach, and electricity at 23.40¢ per kWh in 2024, with a July 2026 snapshot of 26.60¢.
| New Hampshire heating at a glance | Figure (with source period) |
|---|---|
| Heating oil, residential | $6.033 per gallon (week of Oct 19, 2026) — U.S. $6.190 |
| A 275-gallon fill at that price | $1,659.08 (arithmetic on the published price) |
| A 500-gallon season illustration | $3,016.50 (arithmetic on the published price) |
| Propane, residential | $3.843 per gallon (week of Oct 19, 2026) — U.S. $2.689 |
| New England regional averages | Oil $6.112 per gallon; propane $3.872 per gallon (same week) |
| Electricity | 23.40¢ per kWh (2024); 619 kWh/month; $144.87 avg bill; July 2026 snapshot 26.60¢ |
| Natural gas, residential delivered (2024) | $18.74 per Mcf (about $1.81 per therm) — U.S. average $14.50 |
Enter your own gallons, therms and kWh and price them at New Hampshire's published averages — oil, propane, gas and electricity side by side.
Open the energy cost calculatorHow to read a weekly oil price
EIA's Heating Oil and Propane Update is a heating-season survey — weekly from October through March, monthly off-season — covering the 21 states where oil heat is common, and its prices exclude taxes. The October 19 figure is therefore a season-opening spot average, not a winter average: EIA's own Winter Fuels Outlook expects the residential oil price to average $5.26 a gallon across November to March nationally, easing from $5.79 in November to $4.84 in March, even as January consumption peaks. A New Hampshire household should read $6.033 as the price of filling the tank now, in a tight distillate market that has lifted every surveyed state above six dollars, rather than as a promise about February. The state comparisons in the same week are tight at the top — Maine $6.026, Vermont $6.097, Massachusetts $6.115, Connecticut $6.154, Rhode Island $6.380 — which tells its own story: at season's start, geography within New England matters less than the regional market every truck buys from.
The alternatives, priced on one heat basis
On a per-million-Btu basis (arithmetic on EIA's published prices and conversion factors, before equipment efficiency), New Hampshire oil at $6.033 costs about $43.56 per million Btu (at 138,500 Btu per gallon). Propane at $3.843 costs about $42.02 (at 91,452 Btu per gallon) — essentially oil's equal, which is why the oil-versus-propane argument in New Hampshire is about equipment and delivery, not fuel price. Delivered gas at $18.74 per Mcf costs about $18.07 per million Btu — by far the cheapest heat where the pipeline reaches, at $1.81 a therm still 29% above the U.S. gas average. Electricity at 23.40¢ costs about $68.59 per million Btu before efficiency, so a heat pump needs its full two-to-three-times multiplier to compete with oil and still trails gas. RECS explains why households tolerate the expensive end of this table: New England homes use 89.9 MMBtu a year and spend $2,539 — the country's highest — because the heating load itself is large. EIA's Winter Fuels Outlook forecasts Northeast households to spend $879 (gas), $1,637 (electricity) and $1,687 (propane) this winter, with oil at $2,115 nationally; a New Hampshire oil household burning through two-plus tank fills will recognise the shape of that number.
Using this page honestly
Three cautions. The survey price is a state average across suppliers in one week; any individual delivery can sit well above or below it, and pre-buy or capped-price contracts — common in New Hampshire — deliberately decouple a household from the spot average this page reports. The fill figures are labeled arithmetic on the published price, not quotes. And the survey pauses its weekly cadence after March, so a spring reader should treat the October figure as last season's opening evidence, not a current price. The state-level starting point remains our New Hampshire state guide; this page is the heating-oil deep-dive behind it, paired with our Maine heating oil deep-dive next door.
Sources: EIA — Heating Oil and Propane Update (week of October 19, 2026) · EIA — Winter Fuels Outlook, October 2026 Short-Term Energy Outlook (published October 6, 2026) · EIA — Electric Sales, Revenue & Average Price 2024, Table 5A (Form EIA-861) · EIA — Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (July 2026) · EIA — Natural Gas Annual 2024, Table 23 (Form EIA-176) · EIA — Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) 2020, Table CE1.1 · EIA Btu conversion factors (138,500 Btu/gal heating oil; 91,452 Btu/gal propane; 3,412 Btu/kWh). Last verified: October 2026 — energy prices move with seasons and markets; confirm the current price with your own supplier.
Related guides
New Hampshire energy costs (state guide) · Maine heating oil cost in depth · Heating oil prices by state · New England energy costs · Winter heating costs 2026–27