Should Alexandria switch to a heat pump?
In Alexandria, the math is close enough that it comes down to how long you plan to stay. Swap a failed furnace and AC for a heat pump rather than buying like-for-like, and the extra cost here runs $3,500 after a $2,000 federal tax credit. Alexandria's residents would see roughly $281 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 12.4 years. It's a genuine toss-up here — Alexandria's numbers don't point clearly either way.
Alexandria's weather, in the numbers that matter
1531 heating degree days pile up here every year, so Alexandria has a mild winter by US standards; the cooling side runs to 2759 cooling degree days, where summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill. The 99% winter design temperature here — the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average — is 23°F, against a record low of 12°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.25 for the recommended cold-climate unit. Below the 25°F line where a standard machine starts leaning on resistance backup, Alexandria sits firmly in cold-climate territory, so that's the class of unit priced here. These numbers come from ALEXANDRIA INTL AIRPORT, the closest NOAA station, 6 miles out.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 1,193 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $479 a year. That compares with roughly 16 Mcf a year of gas at Alexandria's 17.38 per-Mcf rate — about $761 a year — against a local electricity rate of 13.52¢/kWh. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 48 years, leaving the 15-year total $719 ahead.
The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with
Gas isn't universal in Alexandria — many houses run on electric heat already. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Alexandria's answer improves. The saving here runs about $528 a year, which recovers the extra $8,000 spent going electric in roughly 15.1 years.
How Alexandria compares nationally
Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, Alexandria comes in at 2674 for heating severity — 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset — and 951 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.
Deciding what's next in Alexandria, LA
Alexandria, Louisiana is home to about 43,133 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 Alexandria, nothing is lost by holding off until the current equipment genuinely fails.
Line up a few local HVAC quotes before you decide.
Where Alexandria's figure comes from
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind Alexandria's 3.25 seasonal COP and payback figure. Alexandria's 23°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.