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When focusing on heating alone (i.e. furnaces), gas tends to be cheaper than electric, but, as suggested, crunch the numbers. Shop around for high-quality units.
My dad has been a "furnace man" (including being considered an oil-burning mechanic amongst other things) since he was 17 (he's now 62) and he's always frowned on electric heat. (He's a bit of a miser, having raised 6 kids with many years on one income as a working-class man.) Then again, oil prices aren't what they used to be. But bear in mind that in the '70s and early '80s, oil prices in real dollars were higher than in recent years. My family grew up during these years, and even then he was frowning on electric heat.
Your answers might lie in the furnaces themselves. Oil furnaces have a different standard of efficiency than do electric. I'd wager a top-of-the-line oil furnace with top efficiency standards would run you cheaper in the long run than would an electric furnace.
But also consider that electric furnaces are safer. No having to worry about cracks and leaks--carbon monoxide and all that. Gas furnaces should be serviced at least once a year.
But, as I'm sure you're tired of reading by now, crunch the numbers.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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