If your house already has natural gas service, a gas furnace is almost always the cheaper way to heat it in Lubbock, because gas has historically cost less per unit of delivered heat here than electric resistance heat. An electric furnace wins on install cost, service life and simplicity — no flue, no burners, no carbon monoxide — so it is the sensible choice for a house with no gas line. If you are replacing equipment anyway, price a heat pump alongside both, because Lubbock's short, mild heating season is exactly the climate a heat pump is good at.
This question comes up most often when a furnace finally quits and a homeowner has to decide what goes back in. It is worth a few minutes of thought, because the fuel you choose sets your heating bill for the next 15 to 25 years, and the two types are not interchangeable in the way the brochures imply.
What is the actual difference between a gas and an electric furnace?
A gas furnace burns natural gas in a sealed burner assembly, passes the hot combustion gases through a heat exchanger, and vents them outside through a flue while the blower pushes house air across the other side of that exchanger. An electric furnace has no combustion at all: it runs house air across electric resistance heating elements, much like an oversized hair dryer, and needs no flue or gas line.
Both use the same blower, the same ductwork and the same thermostat, and both can share a duct system with your air conditioner. The difference is entirely in how the heat is made.
Which one costs less to run in Lubbock?
In a house with gas service, the gas furnace is normally cheaper per month. This confuses people because an electric furnace is often described as 100 percent efficient while a gas furnace is 80 to 98 percent — and that is true at the appliance. But efficiency is not price. Nearly all of the electricity an electric furnace draws becomes heat, yet in this part of Texas a unit of heat bought as natural gas has historically cost noticeably less than the same heat bought as electricity.
Two caveats matter. First, rates are what they are on your bill, not in a national average, so check the per-unit cost on your own gas and electric statements before deciding. Second, if the house has no gas line, the running-cost advantage is theoretical — bringing gas to the property is its own expense.
Which costs less to install?
The electric furnace, usually by a clear margin. It has fewer parts, needs no flue or vent routing, no gas piping, no combustion air provision and no condensate drain. A gas furnace install involves all of that, and in an older South Plains home the venting and gas work is often where the real cost sits rather than in the equipment.
Costs vary with the house, the equipment and the contractor, so this is a question for a written quote. Hub City is a referral service and sets no prices — the numbers come from the independent local pro who sees the house. If you are already pricing replacement equipment, ask for both options itemized so you can compare the install cost against the fuel cost over the system's life.
Does Lubbock's short heating season change the answer?
Yes, and it is the most under-appreciated part of this decision. Lubbock runs a long cooling season and a short heating one, so a furnace here accumulates far fewer run hours than the same unit would in Amarillo or Denver. That matters two ways.
- The monthly fuel-cost advantage of gas has fewer months to work in, so it takes longer to repay a higher install cost.
- Equipment lasts longer on hours alone, which favors the cheaper box if the two are otherwise close for your house.
What our climate does punish is airflow. Caliche dust, spring wind and cotton-harvest lint load filters faster than the printed interval assumes, and a starved furnace of either type runs hot, short cycles and wears out early. Whichever fuel you pick, the filter habit matters more to your bill than the brand on the cabinet.
What about a heat pump instead?
Worth pricing, especially if the alternative is an electric furnace. A heat pump moves heat rather than making it, so it delivers several times more heat per unit of electricity than resistance elements do, and it also provides the cooling. Lubbock winters sit in the range modern heat pumps handle well, with the backup heat covering the coldest mornings. A dual-fuel setup — heat pump with a gas furnace as backup — is the other strong option where gas is already present. We go through the trade-offs in detail in heat pump vs. furnace in West Texas.
So which should I choose?
Gas makes sense if the house already has a gas line, you plan to stay long enough for the lower running cost to repay the install, and the existing venting is in reasonable shape. Electric makes sense if there is no gas service, if the install budget is the binding constraint, or if you want the simplest system with no combustion to maintain. A heat pump or dual-fuel system deserves a quote in almost every case here, because our cooling season is long and the equipment does both jobs.
Whatever direction you lean, get the sizing done properly with a load calculation rather than by copying the old unit's rating, and have someone look at the ductwork while the system is apart. If your current furnace is struggling rather than dead, a heating service visit may buy you a season to decide. Rather we reach out? Request a callback and we'll connect you with an established local pro.
Frequently asked questions
Is a gas furnace cheaper to run than an electric furnace in Lubbock?
In most Lubbock homes with natural gas service, yes. An electric furnace turns nearly all the electricity it draws into heat, but a gas furnace buys its heat as fuel, and natural gas has historically cost less per unit of delivered heat than electric resistance heat in this part of Texas. The gap depends on the rates you are actually charged, so compare the per-unit cost on your own gas and electric bills rather than assuming. Where there is no gas line to the house, the comparison changes completely.
Can I switch from an electric furnace to a gas furnace?
Sometimes, but it is a bigger job than swapping the box. The house needs gas service and a line sized for the new appliance, a flue or vent route for combustion gases, a condensate drain on a high-efficiency unit, and electrical changes because the old resistance heat circuits are no longer needed. If gas has to be run to the property, the conversion cost can outweigh years of fuel savings. Have an independent local pro price the conversion against simply replacing like for like, or against a heat pump, before you commit.
How long does an electric furnace last compared to a gas furnace?
Electric furnaces commonly last longer, often 20 to 30 years, because they have no burners, no heat exchanger and no flue to corrode. Gas furnaces typically run 15 to 20 years. Lubbock's heating season is short, which helps both, but caliche dust and cotton-harvest lint push a heavy particulate load through every return here, so filter habits affect service life more than the fuel does.
Is an electric furnace safer than a gas furnace?
An electric furnace has no combustion, so it produces no carbon monoxide and needs no flue. That removes one category of risk. A properly installed and maintained gas furnace is still safe, which is why an annual check of the burners, flue and heat exchanger matters, and why any home with gas appliances should have working carbon monoxide alarms. Both types involve line-voltage wiring, and an electric furnace draws heavy current, so installation and repair on either one is licensed-pro work.
Does Hub City install furnaces?
No. Hub City is a referral service, not a contractor. We connect Lubbock homeowners with independent local HVAC pros who size, install and service heating equipment. Pricing, scheduling and any warranties come from that pro. Call (414) 429-5333 and we will get you connected.