This just in, late last week, courtesy of the annual American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau.
39 percent of occupied homes nationally used electricity for home heating in 2017. That’s up from 33.6 percent ten years earlier, in 2007.
Why is home heating electrifying?
First, natural gas heating isn’t growing.
The number of owner occupied homes using utility gas increased by 42,364 from 2005 to 2017. But the total number of owner homes increased by 8,972,201 during that period. Less than half of a percent of the increase went to gas.
The gas story for renter occupied homes isn’t as poor. The number of renter homes using utility gas increased by 1,571,747 from 2005 to 2017. But the total number of renter homes increased by 6,607,165 during that period. 23.8 percent of the increase went to gas.
Second, bottled, tank and LP gas, and fuel oil and kerosene, are quickly fading as home heating fuels.
Bottled, tank and LP gas are heating 15.4 percent fewer owner occupied homes in 2017, compared with 2005, and 13 percent fewer renter occupied homes. Fuel oil and kerosene are heating 33.3 percent fewer owner homes, and 44.1 percent fewer renter homes.
Third, electricity is the dominant way to heat homes in the high growth states.
In 2017, 92.3 percent of all homes in Florida used electric heat. As did 63.8 percent in North Carolina, 62.1 percent in Tennessee, 61.1 percent in Arizona, 60.5 percent in Texas, 56.3 percent in Washington State, and 54.7 percent in Virginia and in Georgia.
Utility gas dominates in states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Illinois where the total number of homes is not significantly increasing.
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Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly, and President, Lines Up, Inc.
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com