Quick answer
For a house on the gas grid, the cheapest way to heat in Ontario is still a high-efficiency condensing gas furnace, because natural gas delivers more heat per dollar than electric resistance. A cold-climate heat pump competes through the mild majority of our heating season and wins outright for homes on oil, propane or electric baseboards.
The cheapest way to heat a house in Ontario usually comes down to the fuel already running past your street rather than the badge on the equipment. If there is a gas main at the curb, a condensing furnace at the top of the efficiency range is hard to beat on running cost. If there is not — or if you are on baseboards — the answer changes completely, and a cold-climate heat pump becomes the cheapest heat you can buy.
Compare the fuels before you compare equipment
Enbridge Gas bills you in cubic metres; Burlington Hydro, Oakville Hydro and Alectra in Hamilton bill electricity in kilowatt-hours, on a tiered, time-of-use or ultra-low-overnight plan. Those rates move, so the honest comparison is the one you do on your own two most recent bills rather than one you copy from an article. What does not move is the physics: burning gas gives you slightly less heat than the energy you paid for, electric resistance gives you exactly what you paid for, and a heat pump gives you a multiple of it by moving heat rather than making it.
Where each system lands on cost
- High-efficiency gas furnace — the default cheapest running cost for most Burlington, Oakville and Hamilton homes on the gas grid, at $4,500–$7,500 installed
- Cold-climate heat pump — the cheapest option where gas is not available, and competitive with gas through the mild part of the season; a three-ton system runs $9,500–$15,000 before rebates
- Dual fuel — a heat pump with the gas furnace kept as backup, letting the thermostat switch to whichever is cheaper at the outdoor temperature
- Electric baseboards — cheapest to install, the most expensive to run, and the strongest case for switching there is
- Oil or propane — expensive fuel and a delivery schedule; almost always the first houses that should be looking at a heat pump
- A single-zone ductless unit for one stubborn room, at $4,000–$7,000 installed, instead of oversizing the whole system for one cold bedroom
The cheapest heat is the heat you do not lose
A 1950s Aldershot bungalow with an uninsulated rim joist, a leaky attic hatch and original ducts will lose this argument no matter what sits in the basement. Air sealing the top of the house, insulating the rim joist and sealing duct joints usually buy more comfort per dollar than a fuel switch, and they make whatever you install afterward smaller and cheaper. Exposure matters too: the brow streets in Tyandaga and up on the Hamilton Mountain take wind that a sheltered Roseland lot never feels, and wind is what drives cold air through every gap you have.
If your house is past the end of the gas main
Rural properties north of Dundas Street and out toward Flamborough are not all on the gas distribution network, and those homes carry the highest heating bills in the region. They are also where a heat pump pays back fastest. If the house heats with oil, the federal Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program applies; propane and electric-baseboard homes go through the current Ontario rebate programs, which return $500–$7,500 depending on the system you install.
What lowers the bill this winter, cheaply
- A tune-up at $120–$250 — a dirty burner and a restricted filter cost you fuel every single cycle
- A real setback schedule rather than one temperature all day; our answer on leaving the heat on all day settles that debate
- Closing the fireplace damper, which is a chimney-sized hole in the top of your house when it sits open
- Asking your utility whether the ultra-low-overnight plan suits you, especially if you run a heat pump or charge a car
- Sealing the accessible duct joints in the basement, where leaked warm air never reaches the rooms you are paying to heat
Common questions about cheap heating in Ontario
- Is a heat pump cheaper than gas in Burlington? It depends on the Enbridge and Burlington Hydro rates on your own bills, which is why we run the numbers on those rather than on a provincial average. Will a heat pump lower my bills in Burlington works through a typical case.
- Is electric baseboard ever the cheapest? Only to install. A house on baseboards pays the full electric rate for every unit of heat, and a ductless heat pump serving the main rooms cuts that by a multiple because it moves heat rather than making it.
- Does a bigger furnace heat more cheaply? No. An oversized furnace short-cycles, never reaches steady-state efficiency and wears the igniter and inducer faster. Sizing to the heat loss is part of running cost, not just comfort.
We will tell you honestly when your gas furnace is the cheapest thing you can run and when it is not — that conversation is free. See our heating services, read how much it costs to run a gas furnace, or book an assessment and we will run the numbers against your last two bills.