That's really not a discussion you want to start with me right now. As a resident of NH I can tell you a couple things:
A: NH produces most of its power internally. Right now Hydro Quebec is trying to run a HVDC swath through NH. I can't tell you how many people in my state that has angered because all it would do would provide Massachusetts power where NH has no need for more power and all it would do it put power lines through our forests (huge resistance to burring the lines as well.)
B: You know what's cheaper? Using power closer to where it's produced! Merrimack station is a 9 minute drive from my house (clean coal, yes, as clean as coal can get as Merrimack station is outfitted with a multi-million dollar scrubber.) Gavin's Falls hydro plant is 5 minutes away from where I live. On top of all of that, only 19% of NH's power is created by alternative means.
C: Don't forget about the Nuclear plant in Seabrook, and the hybrid oil/ng plant, cocoa shell, and bio fuel plants in Portsmouth.
Lets do a little math shall we?
Using this for energy content of fuels:
http://www.hrt.msu.edu/energy/pdf/heating value of common fuels.pdf
Currently the cheapest cost of oil in NH is 2.899 USD a gallon (we'll assume Oil fuel #2 having the smallest energy content to give you the benefit of the doubt.)
Lets say that you have a house where in the middle of winter you have a 300,000 BTU/hr furnace at 91% that runs off oil and electric that runs off... well, electric.
Our constant numbers are:
Oil energy content: 138,500 BTU/gal
Electicity energy content: 3412 BTU/kwh
So instantly we can use some numbers to determine how much electricity is required to do the same job as oil.
138,500 BTU/gal / 3412 BTU/kwh = 40.59 kwh/gal which means for the same job that one gallon of oil does, you need 40 KWH to do the same job not to add that electric costs increase in the winter as well.
So here in NH (which wouldn't be impacted by Hydro Quebec for the reasons I explained above.):
Delivery charge: 0.05977 USD/kwh
Fixed energy cost (variable costs more): 0.15544 USD/kwh
Total cost per kwh: 0.21521 kwh
Conversion ratio: 40.59:1 kwh/gal
Cost per replacement gallon of oil fuel: 0.21521 kwh/USD * 40.59 kwh/gal = 8.7353739 USD gal equiv.
So that's the electric cost. So lets check the cost of oil in NH, shall we?
2.899 USD/gal versus ~8.735USD/gal equiv.
So you're right. It isn't worth while down here. Now up there in Quebec, you electricity does cost a whole lot less (when you use less than 10,000 kwh in one month, or if you are standard domestic not hybrid domestic (DT).
The kicker for you is that oil and electricity costs are almost the same (as of data from October, oil prices have dropped sharply since then.)
So while electricity might make sense for you since Quebec does have a lot of hydro but most places in the world don't have that luxury. It doesn't make sense anywhere else in the world with a similar climate because that's not the case.
Also don't say HydroQuebec gives NH power, because the amount given is incredibly small. In addition to that opposition to Northern Pass in the first place is running rampant in the state. We don't need it, therefore we don't want to see it.
Now also keep in mind that US fuel costs are lower than Canada's, so not only is electricity sometimes more expensive, but fuel is also generally cheaper.
...but remember this, if Canada's fuel prices were the same as the US, oil would be cheaper than electric heating. It's not like electric is a lot cheaper than oil in Quebec, it's about the same.
