Should Addison switch to a heat pump?
In Addison, the math is close enough that it comes down to how long you plan to stay. Against a like-for-like gas furnace and AC swap, going electric costs $3,500 more up front here (already netting out a $2,000 tax credit). That premium is recovered through $361 of lower running costs every year, landing the payback clock at roughly 9.7 years. It's a genuine toss-up here — Addison's numbers don't point clearly either way.
How cold Addison actually gets
Degree days tell the story here: Addison racks up 1620 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, with 3408 cooling degree days on the cooling side. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 18.9°F here (record low 9.5°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 3.15 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. Addison needs the cold-climate class of unit: past a 25°F design temperature a standard heat pump falls back on resistance backup often enough to eat the savings. Source: NOAA station ADDISON AIRPORT, 0.4 miles from Addison — the closest one on record.
The month-to-month numbers for Addison
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 1,302 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $680 a year. That compares with roughly 17 Mcf a year of gas at Addison's 19.42 per-Mcf rate — about $1,041 a year — against a local electricity rate of 16.15¢/kWh. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 37.4 years, leaving the 15-year total $1,920 ahead.
The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with
Plenty of homes in Addison heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Against electric-resistance heat — baseboard or an electric furnace, both 100% efficient but still just resistance — the case for switching gets stronger here. About $696 a year comes back this way, enough that the 11.5-year payback clears the $8,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
Where Addison ranks in this dataset
Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, Addison comes in at 2648 for heating severity — 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset — and 2170 by population, where 1 is largest. That's the mildest third of cities covered, where utility rates carry more of the answer than climate does.
Next step for 17,257 people in Addison
Addison, Texas is home to about 17,257 people, and the figures above are the same ones a local HVAC contractor uses to size and quote a system — this site doesn't guess where a real quote would land, it just tells you whether it's worth asking for one. In Addison, nothing is lost by holding off until the current equipment genuinely fails.
Get quotes from local HVAC contractors before deciding.
More on how this number was built
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind Addison's 3.15 seasonal COP and payback figure. Addison's 18.9°F design temperature is below the 25°F line, which is why a cold-climate unit is the right call here — see what that changes in the cold-climate unit guide.