New Jersey Propane Price 2026: Cost Per Gallon, Suppliers & Delivery

New Jersey residential propane runs $3.82/gal in 2026, second-most-expensive in the Northeast behind Connecticut and roughly +43% above the national average. This is the no-spin breakdown: how to find a licensed dealer via the NJ DCA LP-Gas Safety Unit, fill-by-tank-size math, the NW NJ rural premium, the Atlantic Shore generator playbook, and what the NJ Energy Master Plan electrification policy means for propane households.

Latest EIA residential propane price

Source: EIA New Jersey residential propane price survey. Current data is the final release of the 2025/26 heating season (week ending 30 March 2026). EIA pauses weekly publication April-September; next release expected October 2026. Refreshed 26 May 2026.

New Jersey Propane Pricing Snapshot (2026)

New Jersey residential avg

$3.82/gal

EIA 2026 SHOPP survey, full-service residential delivery

vs national average

+43%

National avg $2.67/gal. NJ pays $1.15 more per gallon.

vs Northeast region avg

+4%

Region avg $3.69/gal. NJ runs above the regional norm.

Annual fuel cost (1,000 gal)

$3821

Typical NJ propane-heat household uses 800-1,200 gal/year

500-gallon refill (400 usable)

$1528

Most common residential tank size in rural NW NJ and Pine Barrens routes

Pre-buy savings (May-Aug)

$300-$600/yr

NJPGA-member dealers run cap-price programmes through summer off-season

New Jersey ranks behind only Connecticut among Northeast residential propane markets in the 2026 EIA SHOPP dataset. The spread inside the state is wide: rural Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon, and the Pine Barrens propane belt in Burlington and Ocean counties run materially above the statewide $3.82/gal average, while the dense North Jersey suburbs see a smaller propane base because PSE&G and Elizabethtown Gas natural-gas service dominates the residential mix.

Why New Jersey Propane Prices Sit Where They Do

NJ is structurally one of the more expensive US residential propane markets despite sitting close to Marcus Hook, Linden, and Camden refining and rail infrastructure. The drivers are a mix of geography, residential heating mix, and policy.

1. Bifurcated geography, rural NW NJ + Pine Barrens vs natural-gas suburbs. Sussex, Warren, and Hunterdon counties in the northwest, plus the Pine Barrens belt across Burlington and Ocean counties, are propane country. Low household density, longer bobtail routes, and limited dealer competition push per-gallon margin up. North Jersey by contrast is dominated by PSE&G and Elizabethtown Gas natural-gas service, leaving propane as a smaller niche concentrated on off-main-line homes.

2. Refining proximity does not equal cheap retail. Marcus Hook (PA, Mariner East 2 propane terminal), Linden (Bayway), and Camden are all within bobtail range of NJ households, which should compress the supply-chain cost layer. In practice the wholesale-to-retail margin in NJ runs above the national norm because the residential customer base is diluted across heating oil, natural gas, and propane, leaving each fuel's per-route economies thinner than in single-fuel-dominant states.

3. Heating-oil legacy at the Shore and South Jersey. Older Shore towns (Monmouth and Ocean counties) and parts of South Jersey still carry a meaningful heating-oil installed base from the post-war housing era. As those systems retire, propane competes head-to-head with electric heat pumps and natural-gas extension, fragmenting the residential propane growth story and leaving NJ propane suppliers structurally smaller per-route than peers in propane-dominant states like Maine or Vermont.

4. Energy Master Plan electrification policy. The NJ Energy Master Plan and Clean Energy Equity Act target 100% clean energy by 2050, with the building sector required to electrify. Existing oil and propane homes are the explicit priority conversion segment. Suppliers face a long-run customer-base contraction, which in the near term supports retail margin (no incentive to compete on price for a shrinking segment) and accelerates dealer consolidation.

5. Atlantic Shore generator demand sets a floor. Post-Sandy, propane standby generators became standard at the Shore. Cape May, Long Beach Island, and Ocean / Monmouth coastal towns drive a meaningful baseline year-round propane demand for generator readiness, which keeps tanker capacity tight in hurricane-warning windows and supports premium pricing on emergency deliveries.

New Jersey Propane Fill Costs by Tank Size (at $3.82/gal)

Propane tanks fill to 80% of stated capacity (NFPA 58 thermal-expansion rule, enforced in NJ via NJAC 5:18). Below is what each fill costs at the NJ 2026 average. Real-world quotes vary 10-15% above or below the EIA average depending on county, supplier, contract type, and delivery frequency. Rural NW NJ and Pine Barrens routes typically quote at the upper end.

Tank size	Usable gallons (80%)	Fill cost at $3.82/gal	vs national ($2.67/gal)
100 gal	80 gal	$306	+$92
250 gal	200 gal	$764	+$229
500 gal	400 gal	$1528	+$459
1000 gal	800 gal	$3057	+$918

Compare to the national refill cost guide or check pricing in other states.

New Jersey Heating Season & Annual Use

New Jersey's residential heating season runs roughly five months, November through March, with peak demand in January and February. Inland NW NJ (Sussex, Warren) sees the longest and coldest stretches; Cape May and the Shore run 1-2 weeks shorter on average. Spring and fall shoulder seasons see modest space-heating draw; June-August is essentially water-heating, cooking, and pool/generator load only.

Typical NJ propane-heat households consume 800-1,200 gallons per year, depending on house size, insulation, and the share of load on propane versus electric or oil. A 2,400 sqft Colonial in Hunterdon County with propane handling space heat, water heat, range, and dryer averages 1,000-1,100 gallons. A propane-only-for-cooking-and-water-heating household, with electric heat pump or oil for space heat, runs 150-300 gallons annually. At the NJ 2026 average that is $3821 per year for a 1,000 gal household before tank rental, delivery surcharges, or service contracts, roughly $$1147 more than a national-average market.

LIHEAP / USF assistance via NJ DCA. The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is administered in NJ by the Department of Community Affairs, Division of Housing and Community Resources, and is paired with the Universal Service Fund (USF) for utility-billed assistance. Propane-heated households apply for both via a single application at dcaid.dca.nj.gov, by calling 1-800-510-3102, or via NJ 211. Eligibility is income-tied; households with seniors, children under six, or persons with disabilities receive priority processing. Apply early, the propane crisis-fuel queue tightens sharply in January-February.

Summer pre-buy is the single biggest lever. Pre-buying or capping in May-August routinely saves $300-$600 per year on a 1,000 gal household versus paying winter spot rates. Most NJPGA-member dealers run pre-buy enrollment between May 1 and August 31. Read the fine print: cap-price contracts let you keep savings if wholesale falls; flat pre-buy locks the per-gallon rate either direction.

How to Find a Licensed Propane Supplier in New Jersey

Buying propane from an unlicensed dealer is both a safety risk and a consumer-protection risk: licensed dealers must comply with NJAC 5:18 and NFPA 58 storage and delivery standards, carry insurance, and follow NJ-specific consumer rules on tank ownership and contract disclosure. The licensing authority in NJ is not the Division of Fire Safety, it is the DCA LP-Gas Safety Unit.

NJ DCA LP-Gas Safety Unit, the actual regulator. Maintains the official "Current List" of licensed LP-gas marketers as a published PDF, enforces NJAC 5:18 and NFPA 58, and handles registration, plan submittal, inspections, and customer rights disclosure forms. Contact 609-984-4257 or lpgas@dca.nj.gov; the licensed-marketers list lives on nj.gov/dca/codes. If a company quoting you is not on this list, do not sign.
New Jersey Propane Gas Association (NJPGA), the state trade body, headquartered in Trenton, in operation 60+ years. Runs CETP safety training, NJPERF education programmes, and quarterly industry meetings. NJPGA membership is a useful credibility signal but is not the legal license. njpga.org.
NJ Office of Weights and Measures (within Division of Consumer Affairs), handles meter accuracy enforcement on bobtail trucks. If you suspect your delivery truck is short-filling, file a meter-accuracy complaint via the Division of Consumer Affairs.
National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) directory at npga.org cross-references NJ members but is not a substitute for the DCA licensed-marketers list.

Always get a written quote that itemises per-gallon price, delivery fee, tank rental (if applicable), minimum-delivery surcharge, hazmat fee, and any monthly tank fee. Compare two or three quotes, within Sussex County, per-gallon spreads of $0.40-$0.60 are common between regional family operators and national chains.

Tier-1 supplier list coming. A hand-curated list of named New Jersey propane suppliers (with HQ, coverage area, and notes on contract types) is in our editorial pipeline. We publish supplier lists only once each name has been verified against the DCA LP-Gas Safety Unit licensed-marketers list and the supplier's active service-area page. We do not generate supplier names from training data; that is a hallucination risk we treat seriously.

New Jersey vs Other Northeast States (2026)

State	Price/gal	500-gal refill (400 usable)	vs national ($2.67)
Connecticut	$4.12	$1646	+54%
New Jersey (this page)	$3.82	$1528	+43%
New Hampshire	$3.78	$1512	+41%
Rhode Island	$3.76	$1503	+41%
New York	$3.75	$1499	+40%
Vermont	$3.73	$1493	+40%
Delaware	$3.73	$1492	+40%
Massachusetts	$3.65	$1460	+36%
Maine	$3.52	$1409	+32%
Pennsylvania	$3.08	$1233	+15%
Northeast region average	$3.69	$1476	+38%
National average	$2.67	$1070	0%

New Jersey is the second-most-expensive Northeast state, behind Connecticut at $4.12/gal and ahead of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and New York. The full Northeast region averages $3.69/gal, all of which sits well above the $2.67 national mark. Pennsylvania at $3.08/gal is the regional outlier on the cheap side, reflecting Marcellus/Utica supply proximity.

New Jersey Propane FAQ

How much does propane cost per gallon in New Jersey?

New Jersey residential propane is $3.82/gal in the most recent EIA State Heating Oil and Propane Program (SHOPP) survey. That puts NJ +43% above the $2.67 national average and roughly +4% above the Northeast regional average of $3.69/gal. NJ is the second-most-expensive Northeast market behind Connecticut at $4.12/gal, and the spread within the state is wide: rural Sussex, Warren, and Hunterdon counties routinely run $0.30-$0.60/gal above suburban Bergen or Middlesex quotes because of route density and longer last-mile delivery. Always pull two or three written quotes before signing, pre-buy and cap-price contracts in May-August are the single biggest lever on annual fuel spend.

Am I eligible for New Jersey LIHEAP, and how do I apply?

New Jersey's variant of the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is administered by the NJ Department of Community Affairs (DCA), Division of Housing and Community Resources. The program is paired with the Universal Service Fund (USF) for utility-billed assistance, and the same application covers both: LIHEAP funds heating fuel including propane, while USF helps with utility-billed energy costs. Apply online at dcaid.dca.nj.gov, or call 1-800-510-3102 (Utilityhelp@nj211.org / USFHEA-application@dca.nj.gov). The 2025-2026 heating season is active. Eligibility is income-tied (very low income, with household-size thresholds published in the FY2026 fact sheet), and households containing seniors, children under six, or persons with disabilities receive priority processing. Apply early, the propane crisis-fuel queue tightens sharply in January-February.

How do I find a licensed propane dealer in New Jersey?

Use the NJ Department of Community Affairs LP-Gas Safety Unit's "Current List" of licensed LP-gas marketers. The unit (within DCA's Division of Codes and Standards) is the actual licensing authority in NJ, enforcing NJAC 5:18 plus NFPA 58 standards for design, installation, and delivery. Reach the unit at 609-984-4257 or lpgas@dca.nj.gov; the licensed-marketers PDF is published on nj.gov/dca/codes. If a company quoting you is not on that list, walk away, unlicensed delivery is a safety risk and a consumer-protection risk. The trade body, the New Jersey Propane Gas Association (NJPGA, njpga.org), is a separate organisation that represents marketers and runs CETP safety training; NJPGA membership is a useful credibility signal but is not the legal license. Always cross-check both.

Why is propane more expensive in northwest New Jersey than in the suburbs?

Sussex, Warren, and Hunterdon counties are rural, low-density propane country, and the Pine Barrens propane belt in the south runs the same dynamic. Three drivers stack: (1) fewer customers per delivery route means each gallon carries more fixed truck and labour cost, (2) limited supplier competition, many NW NJ townships have only two or three active residential propane dealers actively quoting, leaving margin headroom, and (3) longer drive times from the Marcus Hook, Linden, and Camden refining and rail terminals push fuel and driver hours into the per-gallon math. North Jersey suburbs run cheaper because PSE&G and Elizabethtown Gas natural-gas service is dominant, leaving propane as a smaller, more competitive niche where suppliers have to fight for the bobtail-route households that don't have a gas main on the street. Expect a $4.12-$4.42/gal quote in rural NW NJ versus the $3.82/gal statewide average.

Should I stockpile propane before hurricane season at the Jersey Shore?

Yes, if you have a generator. Atlantic Shore towns (Cape May, Long Beach Island, Ocean and Monmouth counties) face a real and recurring grid-outage risk from coastal storms, and propane-fuelled standby generators are the workhorse of post-storm power continuity. The tactical play is to enter June with your tank at 90%+ capacity, lock a cap-price contract in May for any winter top-ups, and keep your supplier on auto-fill rather than will-call so you are in the route queue if a storm warning triggers a regional pre-delivery surge. Cape May / LBI second-home owners face an additional risk: dormant tanks accumulate stale fuel and corrosion, and post-Sandy the NJ DCA tightened inspection enforcement on coastal residential systems. Schedule a system inspection and tank pressure check before each season; budget $150-$300 for a full inspection.

How does the NJ Energy Master Plan affect propane households?

The NJ Energy Master Plan and the Clean Energy Equity Act target 100% clean energy by 2050, with electrification of the building sector as the central lever. The plan explicitly identifies existing oil and propane homes as the priority conversion segment, ahead of natural gas, because electrification economics are most favourable where the incumbent fuel is highest-cost. State-funded heat pump rebates and weatherization programmes run through the NJ Clean Energy Program, and propane households at $3.82/gal already see one of the strongest payback windows in the country (typically 7-12 years on a cold-climate heat pump retrofit at NJ rates). This does not mean tear out your propane system tomorrow, it means if your boiler or furnace is already nearing end of life, run the heat pump math seriously before another 15-year propane equipment cycle. For now, propane remains essential for cooking, generators, pool heat, and supplemental space heat across NJ.

When is the cheapest time to fill my propane tank in New Jersey?

Late spring through midsummer (May to August). NJ wholesale propane bottoms when refinery output is high (Marcus Hook, Linden, and Camden all swing into peak summer production) and residential demand is near zero. NJ suppliers running pre-buy or cap-price programmes in May-August have offered $0.30-$0.60/gal below winter spot in recent years; on a 1,000 gal/year household, that is $300-$600 annual savings. Read the contract type before signing: cap-price contracts let you keep savings if wholesale falls further, while strict pre-buy locks the per-gallon rate either direction. Avoid will-call top-ups in December-February if you can, that is when NJ spot prices spike $0.40-$0.80/gal above summer lows, and crisis-fuel demand competes for tanker capacity. Tactical play: arrive at November with a 75-80% tank from a September shoulder-season top-up.