Will a heat pump pay off in Broussard, LA?

In Broussard, a heat pump pays for itself within a reasonable window. $1,000 is what Broussard would pay extra to go electric rather than replace the furnace and AC with the same again, once the $2,000 federal credit is applied. Broussard's residents would see roughly $276 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 3.6 years. The window here is reasonable, and it's specific to what Broussard actually pays for power and gas.

How cold Broussard actually gets

Broussard barely has a winter to speak of — 1014 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, at 3442 cooling degree days. 28.9°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here — the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day — with a record low of 18°F on file. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 3.06 on the standard unit fit for this climate. Broussard's winters don't get cold enough to need the cold-climate premium — a standard unit holds up fine. These numbers come from LAFAYETTE REGIONAL AIRPORT, the closest NOAA station, 5 miles out.

The month-to-month numbers for Broussard

Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 839 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $510 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 11 Mcf a year at 17.38 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $787 a year (electricity here runs 13.52¢/kWh). Buy it outright, not incrementally, and payback stretches to 39.8 years; over 15 years the net position sits $3,146 ahead.

Electric resistance heat in Broussard, compared

Not every home in Broussard has gas service. Compared with baseboard or electric-furnace resistance heat, the numbers shift in the heat pump’s favor. About $440 a year comes back this way, enough that the 12.5-year payback clears the $5,500 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.

Broussard against the rest of the country

Broussard lands at position 2900 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 2361 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.

Deciding what's next in Broussard, LA

Broussard, Louisiana is home to about 15,312 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. Given the math above, Broussard is a place worth lining up quotes ahead of a breakdown, not waiting for one.

Line up a few local HVAC quotes before you decide.

Reading further on this page's numbers

Every constant behind this page — the 3.06 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. The $2,000 federal credit baked into Broussard's number is explained, with the before-and-after math, in the tax credit guide.