Same room, same job, different fuel
A gas space heater burns fuel to make heat directly, so a 25 MJ/h heater turns almost all of that gas into warmth in the room it's in. A reverse cycle split does something different: it moves heat already sitting in the outside air into the room rather than creating it from scratch, which is why a 700 W unit can put out several times as much warmth as the electricity it draws. That's the whole reason the numbers below aren't close (see our heater running cost calculator to run your own hours and heater type).
What this costs, state by state
A 25 MJ/h gas space heater against a 700 W reverse cycle split, both heating the one room, at full firing.
| State | Gas rate | Reverse cycle (0.7 kW) | Gas (25 MJ/h) |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 2.7¢/MJ | 23¢ | 68¢ |
| Victoria | 2.6¢/MJ | 21¢ | 64¢ |
| Queensland | 2.5¢/MJ | 22¢ | 61¢ |
| South Australia | 3¢/MJ | 27¢ | 76¢ |
| Western Australia | 4.9¢/MJ | 24¢ | $1.23 |
| Tasmania | 5.5¢/MJ | 20¢ | $1.37 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 4.5¢/MJ | 19¢ | $1.12 |
| Northern Territory * | 3¢/MJ | 22¢ | 75¢ |
Reference rates for 2026–27. Your row is highlighted once you set your location. *Northern Territory: no household reticulated gas, so the typical east-coast rate stands in.
What about heating the whole house?
A whole-home ducted gas system with a 130 MJ/h input, the size used for our heater calculator's ducted gas option, costs roughly $3 to $7 an hour at full firing depending on the state, since it's burning more than five times the gas of the space heater above to warm every room at once rather than one. That's not a fair one-to-one match against a single reverse cycle split, which only heats the room it's in, but the underlying gap doesn't shrink with scale: room for room, moving heat still costs less than making it. Matching that whole-home job with reverse cycle means several splits or a ducted reverse cycle system; we haven't priced either at the whole-home level, but the underlying per-room numbers above give no reason the running-cost edge would close, since the same heat-moving-versus-heat-making gap applies at any scale.
Two things do favour gas at the margin. A ducted system heats every room from one thermostat without buying a split for each one, which some homes value over the running-cost gap. And the burner cycles down once the house reaches temperature, so a real evening averages well under the full-firing number above, the same point our calculator makes.
Try it with your own hours
The table above prices a full-firing hour. A real evening runs for a set number of hours in your own state, not one hour at full blast everywhere. Set both below and watch the cheaper side get the stamp.
Common questions
Why is the gap between gas and reverse cycle so different from state to state?
Because gas prices vary far more than electricity ones do across Australia. The table above prices the identical 25 MJ/h heater at 61¢ an hour in Queensland's cheap gas market against $1.37 in Tasmania's dear one, more than double, while the reverse cycle side moves in a much narrower 19–27¢ band. Whichever state you're in, look up your own gas rate rather than assume the national ratio applies.
Are there any situations where gas still makes more sense despite costing more to run?
Two, both about convenience rather than running cost. A ducted gas system heats every room from one thermostat, no split to buy and mount in each one, which some households value on its own. And a burner cycles down once a room reaches temperature, so a real evening runs well under the full-firing number this page's table uses, narrowing but not closing the running-cost gap.
What's the cheapest electric heater if I'm not switching to reverse cycle?
A fan heater, oil column and panel heater all cost the same to run at the same wattage, since every resistive heater turns 100% of its electricity into heat. See our companion guide on the cheapest way to heat a room for how to size one correctly.
Sources
Electricity rates: AER Default Market Offer and each state's regulated reference tariff, current for 2026–27. Appliance draw: the energyrating.gov.au registration database (July 2026 snapshot).
Gas rates: EnergyPlans state-average published market plans (June 2026, NSW/VIC/QLD/SA), the WA Government regulated gas tariff and Origin ATCO plan (July 2026, WA), Solstice Energy Tasmania (January 2026) and a WATTever market scan (2026, ACT estimate). The Northern Territory has no household reticulated gas, so the typical east-coast rate stands in for it.