Comparing Heating Oil vs. Electric Heat

Know Your Options, Make the Best Choice

You have plenty of choices when it comes to heating your Northern New Jersey home. Lately, there’s a lot of pressure to switch from heating oil to electric heat. A huge part of the argument is that electric heat is better for the environment. But when you’re thinking about how you keep your family and your home warm during the next polar vortex, you also need to focus on other important factors: efficiency, affordability, and reliability.

Here’s what you need to know.

Which Heats Better?

Heating oil generates more Btus of heat energy per gallon, so it will warm your home quickly and more evenly. Modern, high-efficiency heating oil systems in well-insulated homes allow you to achieve the same amount of warmth while using much less fuel than older equipment.

On the other hand, electric heating equipment takes much longer to reach a comfortable temperature and can struggle to maintain a comfortable temperature. That means an electric system will use a lot more energy during periods of deep cold. That’s not efficient. Plus, because electric heat pumps rely on outdoor air, most models become less able to keep your home warm the lower the temperature goes. In fact, many homes with electric heat pumps also need to have oil- or gas-fired furnaces or boilers as a backup.

Energy Prices

The price of any fuel will fluctuate based on a range of factors, from geopolitics to the weather. Gallon for gallon, propane may cost less than heating oil because it’s domestically sourced, but heating oil’s efficiency means you can use less fuel to warm up your home and keep it comfortable. The same is true when comparing heating oil with electric heat, which just doesn’t make sense in the cold, damp winters we see here in Northern New Jersey. Even under extremely cold temperatures, when you’ll need to use more of any fuel to get more warmth, heating oil will get you warm faster and keep you warm more efficiently.

Heating oil also offers ways to save that you don’t get from an electric utility. For example, filling up your tank in the off-season lets you take advantage of lower per-gallon prices. You can’t do that with electricity or natural gas. We also offer a budget plan that lets you spread heating oil costs across 12 months, or you can opt for our price protection plan, which lets you lock in the price you pay for heating oil and avoid winter price spikes when you pay for fuel ahead of the season.

Reliability Matters

No matter how you heat your home, you’ll need electric service for lights and other appliances and equipment. But when storms knock electric lines down, an oil-fired heating system requires far less backup power than an electric heating system. When the utility company takes days to restore power, that can make a huge difference.

And when you work with an oil dealer with a long history of serving customers, like Bolkema, you get peace of mind knowing that you can count on us for on-time deliveries. We watch the weather to be sure you get a fill-up before a storm if necessary.

Which Fuel Is Cleaner?

Electricity is usually touted as the cleanest option. But until we can source all our electricity from renewable sources, like wind, water, or the sun, it’s not truly the cleanest option. Most electricity is generated by burning natural gas or even coal.

Meanwhile, heating oil today is vastly different from the fuel used even 20 years ago. Most states in the Northeast, including New Jersey, have committed to only using ultra-low-sulfur heating oil, which reduces sulfur content in the fuel by 99%. That means it burns extremely cleanly, reducing emissions by more than 70% compared to the old type of heating oil.

What’s Right for Me?

It isn’t just the price of fuel. Converting a home to an all-electric heating system can cost upwards of $20,000. A new heating system is a significant investment that is worth every penny. The pros at Bolkema have decades of experience helping families in Northern New Jersey and Southern New York State keep their homes warm.

We’re here to answer all your home-heating questions, install and maintain your equipment properly, help make sure it performs well for a long time, and provide you with reliable heating oil deliveries.

Contact us today to become a customer.