Propane vs Electric Heat for Rural Gasconade County Homes

Propane vs electric heat in Missouri: the running-cost math

Compare fuels by the cost of a million Btu of heat delivered, because a gallon and a kilowatt-hour are not the same thing. The table uses the latest federal numbers we could find on November 2, 2026.

• Propane: $2.234 a gallon, Missouri residential average, week of October 26, 2026, before taxes (U.S. EIA).
• Electricity: 16.02 cents per kWh, Missouri residential average, August 2026 (U.S. EIA).
• Energy content: 91,452 Btu per gallon of propane and 3,412 Btu per kWh (U.S. EIA).

These are our calculations from state averages, not a quote or a promise of what you will pay. A summer electric price can differ from your winter rate, co-ops and municipal utilities set their own rates, and your propane price depends on your supplier and your tank.

Run your own numbers from your bills:

1. Propane: divide your price per gallon by 0.0915, then by the AFUE as a decimal.
2. Heat pump: multiply your price per kWh by 1,000, then divide by the HSPF2 rating.
3. Resistance: multiply your price per kWh by 293.

What the table does not show

Propane prices swing, and they swing in winter. Missouri's average was $2.234 in late October this year and reached only $2.269 last winter, but EIA's history shows $3.997 in the last week of January 2014. At 16 cents power, propane would need to reach about $4.08 a gallon before a 95 percent furnace cost as much to run as resistance heat. Even that January 2014 spike fell just short of it.

Heat pumps carry a different risk. Rated seasonal efficiency is an average. On the coldest nights, a standard heat pump loses capacity and leans on its electric strips, which are resistance heat. A house that loses heat fast through old windows and long wind exposure will see more of that than the table suggests.

Ownership differs too.

Do not assume which electric utility or rate you have. Outside Hermann city limits it varies by address, so read your bill, and if you need propane furnace service tell us the tank size and supplier.

What does a whole winter look like in dollars?

Scale the table up to a season. Take a farmhouse that needs about 60 million Btu of heat a year, a round figure for illustration, and apply the same state averages.

Your house will differ, so find its real number. Add up the gallons on last winter's delivery tickets, then multiply by 0.0915 and by your furnace's AFUE as a decimal. That gives the millions of Btu your house actually used, and you can use it in place of the 60.

The tank matters as well. A 500-gallon tank is normally filled to about 80%, or 400 gallons. At 95% AFUE that delivers roughly 35 million Btu, so the example house would need about two fills a season, and a cold winter could mean a third. Budget for the fill price on your ticket, not the summer rate. If you lease the tank, ask whether the supplier requires you to buy from them, because that limits your ability to shop on price.

Ice storms and outages: what actually keeps a farmhouse warm

Treat outage planning as part of the heating decision. Ice can bring down rural lines for far longer than a town outage, and no standard central system here runs without power.

Missouri's record shows both sides. After the January 2009 ice storm, about 8,600 customers in the Bootheel had been without power for 14 days, with more time expected, according to Fox News reporting at the time. In January 2023, heavy wet snow left almost 8,000 co-op customers without power in the rural counties around Rolla (St. Louis Public Radio). Yet in the January 2026 storm, Missouri's electric cooperatives reported only a handful of outages, and their chief executive called the state "very lucky" (Missourinet). Those examples are from elsewhere in the state. They show the kind of event to plan for, not a forecast for your road.

Build the plan before the storm, in this order.

1. Keep the tank up. Order early in the season and again ahead of a forecast. Roads can keep a truck away after the ice arrives.
2. Size a generator for the furnace, not the whole house. A propane furnace is the easiest central system to carry, because the fuel is already on site. Have a licensed electrician install a transfer switch.
3. Keep one heat source that needs no outlet. A sealed, vented propane heater or a properly installed woodstove can hold one room. Have it installed correctly and vented outdoors.
4. Decide your freeze line. Know where the water shuts off and how to drain the lowest faucet if the house will fall below freezing.

Know the limits of outside help too. We keep weekday office hours, 8 AM to 4 PM, and a regional ice event slows every road for everyone. A plan you can carry out alone is what protects the pipes.

Which one fits your house?

Choose by the house, not by the fuel alone.

• Already on propane with good ducts: keep it. A high-efficiency replacement or a heat pump paired with the propane furnace is usually a better next step than leaving propane altogether.
• On baseboard or an old electric furnace: a heat pump is the first thing to price, since the table shows how much resistance heat costs.
• All-electric with no cooling: a heat pump adds air conditioning at the same time.
• Long gravel lane, trees, frequent outages: favor a system a small generator can carry, and keep the tank.

What we tell propane customers

Look at your own last two winters of bills before you change anything. Multiply gallons by the rate and write down the total, then insist on a Manual J load before any new system is priced. If you are weighing a change near Union, Owensville or Bland, tell us your tank size, your power provider and how long your longest outage has been. Those three facts change the advice. Call (209) 563-1270 and we will talk it through.