Heat Pump Payback in Broussard, LA
Will a heat pump pay off in Broussard, LA?
In Broussard, the math is close enough that it comes down to how long you plan to stay. $3,000 is what Broussard would pay extra to go electric rather than replace the furnace and AC with the same again. Broussard's residents would see roughly $276 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 10.9 years. It's a genuine toss-up here, Broussard's numbers don't point clearly either way.
Compare against another city
Broussard is one of 3206 cities covered here, each run through the same model. Search another below.
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 low of 18°F in the 2024 station record. 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 yearly running costs in 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 including the old AC (electricity here runs 13.52¢/kWh). 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 $1,146 ahead.
How sensitive Broussard's result is to prices
In Broussard the cooling savings outweigh the extra electricity for heating, so no plausible change in the electricity rate would make the old furnace and AC cheaper to run. A useful quote test for Broussard: the heat pump is worth it within a decade if it costs less than $2,760 more than replacing the furnace and AC, and within 7 years if the gap is under $1,932.
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. The gap still doesn't close: the $7,500 incremental cost outlasts the 15-year equipment life here even against resistance heat.
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. In Broussard, nothing is lost by holding off until the current equipment genuinely fails.
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. Homes in Broussard without gas service should read the electric-resistance comparison instead, the numbers there differ from the gas case above.