Heat Pump Payback in Andrews, TX
Heat pump vs. gas furnace in Andrews, TX
Andrews technically pencils out, but only past the point the equipment would need replacing anyway. Against a like-for-like gas furnace and AC swap, going electric costs $5,500 more up front here. Andrews's residents would see roughly $355 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 15.5 years. That's a technicality, not a recommendation, for anyone actually living in Andrews.
Checking a different city
Andrews is one of 3206 cities covered here, each run through the same model. Search another below.
How cold Andrews actually gets
Degree days tell the story here: Andrews racks up 2494 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, with 2504 cooling degree days on the cooling side. The 99% winter design temperature here, the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average, is 16.7°F, and the coldest daily reading in the 2024 station record was 8.6°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.1 for the recommended cold-climate unit. Mild on average, but the occasional cold snap is what sizes the equipment: at a 16.7°F design temperature Andrews falls just under the 25°F line where a standard heat pump starts leaning on resistance backup, so the model prices a cold-climate unit to be safe. Source: NOAA station Gaines County Airport, 25.2 miles from Andrews, the closest one on record.
Andrews's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 2,037 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $674 a year. Andrews's gas rate of $19.42 per Mcf, applied to the 26 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts the current furnace-and-AC running cost near $1,029 a year, against 16.15¢ per kWh for electricity. Buying outright rather than at replacement time stretches payback to longer than the 15-year equipment life. Over 15 years, compared with a like-for-like replacement, the heat pump leaves you $179 behind.
How sensitive Andrews's result is to prices
Gas would only overtake the heat pump in Andrews if electricity rose past 54.4¢/kWh from 16.15¢, or gas fell under $5.76 per Mcf from $19.42. A useful quote test for Andrews: the heat pump is worth it within a decade if it costs less than $3,550 more than replacing the furnace and AC, and within 7 years if the gap is under $2,485.
Electric resistance heat in Andrews, compared
Gas isn't universal in Andrews, many houses run on electric heat already. Compared with baseboard or electric-furnace resistance heat, the numbers shift in the heat pump’s favor. The saving here runs about $870 a year, which recovers the extra $10,000 spent going electric in roughly 11.5 years.
Where Andrews ranks in this dataset
Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, Andrews comes in at 2187 for heating severity, 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset, and 2561 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.
What to do with this number in Andrews
Andrews, Texas is home to about 13,677 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 Andrews, nothing is lost by holding off until the current equipment genuinely fails.
Ask a local HVAC contractor for a quote before committing either way.
Reading further on this page's numbers
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Andrews's 3.1 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. Andrews's 16.7°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.