Heat Pump Payback in Bogalusa, LA
Bogalusa, LA: the heat pump payback math
This one's marginal in Bogalusa: it only clears if you stay long enough. Against a like-for-like gas furnace and AC swap, going electric costs $3,000 more up front here. Bogalusa's residents would see roughly $270 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 11.1 years. Whether that's worth it in Bogalusa depends on how many years you expect to own the place.
Compare against another city
Landed on Bogalusa by mistake, or want to compare it against somewhere else? Search the other 3206 cities below.
The climate behind Bogalusa's payback figure
Degree days tell the story here: Bogalusa racks up 1473 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, with 2877 cooling degree days on the cooling side. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 26.6°F here (coldest 2024 reading 15.6°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.99 for the standard class of unit this climate calls for. A standard ducted system is enough here; Bogalusa's design temperature doesn't justify the cold-climate premium. Source: NOAA station George R Carr Memorial Air Fi, 2.9 miles from Bogalusa, the closest one on record.
The yearly running costs in Bogalusa
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 1,247 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $500 a year. Bogalusa's gas rate of $17.38 per Mcf, applied to the 15 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts the current furnace-and-AC running cost near $771 a year, against 13.52¢ per kWh for electricity. Priced as a standalone purchase, with a working furnace ripped out early, payback would take longer than the 15-year equipment life. Measured against the like-for-like replacement instead, a household here ends 15 years $1,056 ahead.
What would change Bogalusa's answer
Because the heat pump's better air conditioning saves more electricity than its heating uses, it stays cheaper to run than the current furnace and AC in Bogalusa at any electricity price. When quotes arrive, compare the heat pump price with a like-for-like furnace and AC replacement: at $270 a year saved, a difference under $1,890 pays back within 7 years here, and under $2,700 within 10.
Electric resistance heat in Bogalusa, compared
Not every home in Bogalusa has gas service. Compared with baseboard or electric-furnace resistance heat, the numbers shift in the heat pump’s favor. The saving here runs about $508 a year, which recovers the extra $7,500 spent going electric in roughly 14.8 years.
Where Bogalusa ranks in this dataset
Bogalusa lands at position 2700 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 3114 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). That's the mildest third of cities covered, where utility rates carry more of the answer than climate does.
Next step if you live in Bogalusa
About 10,367 people live in Bogalusa, Louisiana, 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Bogalusa's 2.99 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. Not every home in Bogalusa has gas; the guide comparing a heat pump against electric baseboard covers that case separately.