[thackney]

sometimes I believe that the cost is calculated by BTU's

That should be true, Residential Natural gas is often priced by the Therm. (1 therm=100,000 Btu, which is the heat content of about 100 cubic feet of gas)

using electric as a baseline

That part sounds doubtful. I do not understand how (or why) they would do that.

If you are interested, some more information may be found at:

Residential Natural Gas Prices
What Consumer Should Know
http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/brochure/oil_gas/rngp/index.html
Release Date: November 2007
Next Release Date: November 2008

Judging from your home page, you probably already know this stuff, but maybe there is some new info there for you.

[Realism]

Electric heat is 100% efficient, seems like a good place to start? Never looked in to it that closely.

Electricity (MWH) 3,412 BTUs/kilowatt hour

Fuel Oil (gal. 000’s) 138,700 BTUs/gallon

Nat. Gas (cu. feet 000’s) 1,031 BTUs/cubic foot

LPG/Propane (gal. 000’s) 95,500 BTU/gallon

Coal (short ton) 24,580,000 BTUs/short ton

Purchased Steam (BTUs) 1,000 BTUs/pound