First, get a good crystal ball and see what the utility rates are going
to be over the next 20 years. In my area, both have increased, but gas
has increased more. You should also find out the source of your
electricity; my sister lived in upstate NY and their electricity was
from the falls; I don't see the cost of that increasing as much as in my
area, where it is virtually all from generating plants. Incidentally,
I've read that many electrical power suppliers are building new plants
that use gas; that should increase the cost of both.

If your home now is all electric, you should find out how much it will
cost you to have the gas hooked up; if that is thousands of dollars, for
example, that could eat up a lot of savings from making the switch.

My understanding is that heat pumps are more efficient, but need a
supplementary source of heat in areas where the winters are quite cold.
On the other hand, the good cooks that I know all prefer gas for
cooking, and I have never heard of the gas being knocked out by a storm
around here.

Steven Andrade wrote:
Just bought a house that's all electric and has a heat pump for heating.
Is that a good choice for the Midwest region? We're installing a gas line for a
fireplace and I wonder if I shouldn't replace the heat pump with a gas unit when
it dies. It's 18 years old now so I don't see many more days of life in it.

How about the water heater? Gas or electric?