The short answer

Your heating fuel is decided mostly by what infrastructure reached your region. Natural gas dominates the Prairies and Ontario, electricity rules in hydro-cheap Quebec, heating oil persists across Atlantic Canada because the gas grid barely exists, and the North runs on oil and wood. That regional fuel, not your utility's rate, is the single biggest driver of a winter bill.

The fuel beats the rate. You usually cannot switch supplier, but you can change what you burn. A cold-climate heat pump, delivering two to three units of heat per unit of electricity, is the lever that actually moves the bill, especially off oil or baseboards.

The belief: heating is heating, everywhere

A reader in Calgary assumes everyone heats with gas; a reader in Montreal assumes everyone heats with electricity; a reader in Charlottetown knows the oil truck. Each is right about home and wrong about the country. There is no national default heating fuel, only regional ones, and the difference is not preference but plumbing: whether a gas main was ever built to your street, and how cheap your local electricity is.

Why national advice gets heating wrong

Generic "best way to heat your home" articles pick one answer, usually gas (a US default) or a generic heat pump pitch, and apply it everywhere. But advising gas to a PEI household with no gas main is useless, and advising "switch to electric heat to save" in gas-cheap Alberta can raise a bill. Good heating advice has to start from the regional fuel map, then ask what each home can realistically change.

The regional fuel map

How each region of Canada predominantly heats, and the structural reason behind it.

Predominant home heating fuel by Canadian region
Region Main heating fuel Why
The Prairies (Alberta, Saskatchewan) Natural gas Abundant local gas and a dense distribution network make gas the cheap default for furnaces.
Ontario Natural gas A mature Enbridge gas grid reaches most homes, so gas heating dominates outside rural pockets.
Quebec Electricity Hydro power at roughly 7.8 cents per kWh makes electric heat the norm; gas is a niche.
British Columbia Gas and electricity Gas is common in the Lower Mainland and interior; coastal and hydro-served areas lean electric.
Manitoba Gas and electricity Cheap Manitoba Hydro power competes with gas; Winnipeg leans gas, many homes electric.
Atlantic Canada (NS, PEI, NL, NB) Heating oil and electricity Little or no gas network, so homes burn oil or use electricity, with heat pumps rising fast.
The North (YT, NWT, NU) Heating oil and wood Isolated communities rely on delivered oil and wood; electricity is costly and diesel-generated.

Predominant patterns, not absolutes; every region has exceptions. Structural map based on Statistics Canada and Natural Resources Canada household-energy data.

The insider point: three forces set the map

Three things, in order, decide what a region burns. First, infrastructure: a gas furnace is only possible if a gas main reaches the home, which is why Atlantic Canada and the North run on delivered oil. Second, local fuel cost: Quebec heats electrically because its hydro power is the cheapest in the country, while the Prairies heat with gas because the gas is local and cheap. Third, climate: colder regions need more heat, which raises the stakes on getting the first two right. Preference barely enters into it.

The takeaway in one line

You did not choose your heating fuel so much as your region's pipelines and dams chose it for you. The one real choice most households have is whether to add a heat pump on top, and that choice pays off most exactly where oil and baseboards dominate.

What to do, wherever you are

Start from your region's fuel, then decide whether to change it.

01
Identify your real options first

Check whether a gas main even reaches you. In Atlantic Canada and the North it usually does not, so the shortlist is oil, electricity and a heat pump, not gas.

02
On oil or baseboards: price a cold-climate heat pump

This is the biggest, most reliable saving in the country. It delivers two to three units of heat per unit of electricity and doubles as summer cooling.

03
On cheap gas (Prairies): run the numbers, do not assume

Against inexpensive gas a heat pump's running-cost edge narrows. Compare honestly; a hybrid gas-plus-heat-pump setup can win.

04
In Quebec: lean into cheap electricity

With power near 7.8 cents per kWh, an efficient electric system or heat pump is hard to beat. Focus on efficiency, not fuel switching.

05
Everywhere: stack the rebates before you buy

Federal and provincial programs target the switch off fossil heating, especially oil to heat pump. Confirm the live amounts before committing.

Frequently asked questions

Because the gas is local and the distribution network is dense. Alberta and Saskatchewan sit on major gas supply, and Ontario has a mature pipeline grid (Enbridge) reaching most urban and suburban homes. Where a gas main is at the curb and gas is cheap, a gas furnace is the default choice.
Quebec has the cheapest electricity in Canada, around 7.8 cents per kWh, thanks to its vast publicly-owned hydro system and a protected low-cost "heritage pool." When power is that cheap, electric baseboards and heat pumps beat gas for most homes, and the gas network stayed small as a result.
Because there is little or no natural-gas network across most of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and much of New Brunswick. With gas unavailable, homes historically defaulted to delivered heating oil, alongside electricity. That large, expensive oil base is exactly why provincial and federal programs push so hard to convert these homes to heat pumps.
Almost always where you currently heat with oil or electric baseboards, because a cold-climate heat pump delivers two to three units of heat per unit of electricity. Against cheap gas on the Prairies the math is closer and depends on gas prices. The biggest, most reliable wins are in Atlantic Canada and anywhere on baseboards.