When all taxes and other charges are factored in, I pay:
10.62 cents per kWh for electricity50.46 cents per cubic meter (1.43 cents per cubic foot) for natural gas.
These are in CDN dollars (which is irrelevant since I am quoting both forms of energy with the same currency but in case you're interested the conversion between USA/CAN is about 1.16 CDN per 1 USD).
Given the above costs, what will be a more economical hot water heater
- electric or gas? (This is assuming I buy a tank, not rent it from my local utility, and this also is just looking at the monthly energy consumption of the tank - not the initial cost to purchase and install).
I assume that both types will be equal when it comes to insulation (or rate of heat loss) but perhaps not identical when it comes to potential for problems (since a gas heater needs a void or space running through the center, which means it has a more complex contruction, as a pressure-vessel there are more seams that can ruputure or leak).
I notice that new electric hot water tanks are almost half the cost of a similar-sized NG tank (ie advantage=electric on initial purchase price). An electric tank is also more "controllable" - I can more easily control it in terms of powering it for time-of-day and day-of-week operation.
So I think conceptually that electric hot water tanks are a better way to go. But for long-term energy usage assuming the costs quoted above (or more importantly their ratio) holds into the future - which type will be cheaper to run?