Heat Pump Payback in Beaverton, OR
Is a heat pump worth it in Beaverton?
Beaverton technically pencils out, but only past the point the equipment would need replacing anyway. $5,500 is what Beaverton would pay extra to go electric rather than replace the furnace and AC with the same again. Beaverton's residents would see roughly $251 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 21.9 years. Beaverton's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
Checking a different city
Beaverton is one of 3206 cities covered here, each run through the same model. Search another below.
Why Beaverton's climate drives this number
4589 heating degree days pile up here every year, so Beaverton has a real but manageable winter; the cooling side runs to 411 cooling degree days, where summers add a moderate cooling load. The 99% winter design temperature here, the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average, is 15.1°F, and the coldest daily reading in the 2024 station record was 12.9°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.06 for the recommended cold-climate unit. Beaverton 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. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, Portland-Hillsboro Airport, 7.7 miles from Beaverton.
The yearly running costs in Beaverton
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 3,797 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $628 a year. Beaverton's gas rate of $16.71 per Mcf, applied to the 48 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts the current furnace-and-AC running cost near $879 a year, against 15.14¢ 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 $1,731 behind.
How sensitive Beaverton's result is to prices
This result holds unless electricity climbs above 22.1¢/kWh (it is 15.14¢ now) or gas drops below $11.45 per Mcf (now $16.71); past either point, gas becomes the cheaper fuel in Beaverton. When quotes arrive, compare the heat pump price with a like-for-like furnace and AC replacement: at $251 a year saved, a difference under $1,757 pays back within 7 years here, and under $2,510 within 10.
Electric resistance heat in Beaverton, compared
Plenty of homes in Beaverton heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Beaverton's answer improves. About $1,212 a year comes back this way, enough that the 8.3-year payback clears the $10,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
How Beaverton compares nationally
Beaverton lands at position 1098 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 348 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
Next step if you live in Beaverton
About 98,302 people live in Beaverton, Oregon, and every number on this page is what a contractor would actually work from when quoting a system here, the point isn't to replace that quote, it's to tell you whether to bother asking for one. Here, there's no cost penalty to waiting until your current furnace or AC actually needs replacing.
Get quotes from local HVAC contractors before deciding.
Where Beaverton's figure comes from
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Beaverton's 3.06 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. At a 15.1°F design temperature, Beaverton sits in cold-climate territory; the guide to that class of unit explains why.