steves is pretty spot on. before i bought my house, i was able to chat with a couple neighbors and gauge cost of living in the area(utilities, internet/tv, heating, etc), maybe try that.
in general, i've always found oil to be more involved, and if it's traditional style oil(tanks on the side of your house, having a tanker come and fill your tank up every so often), it will likely be a bit more expensive to upkeep and more involved(unless you get a contract with a company that will monitor your tank levels and do all the maintenance, but thats expensive as well).
I used to live up north, near ottawa, in a rural area that was heated with oil, and during the 3 winters i was there, we had to replace the tank the second winter, and the next year we had to do it all again because the company we contracted didnt get proper permits for the work, and our insurance threatened to drop us unless we had it redone properly. expensive.
i live near toronto now, and i have electric and will never ever go back to oil. i have 0 maintenance other than cleaning my filter every 3 months. pricing is a bit more, buts thats only been the last year since ontario hydro rates went bananaS.
