Is a heat pump worth it in Chico?

A heat pump earns back its extra cost in Chico within a sensible timeframe. Swap a failed furnace and AC for a heat pump rather than buying like-for-like, and the extra cost here runs $1,000 after a $2,000 federal tax credit. Lower bills claw that back: about $220 saved annually, for a payback of roughly 4.5 years. The window here is reasonable, and it's specific to what Chico actually pays for power and gas.

Chico's weather, in the numbers that matter

Degree days tell the story here: Chico racks up 2573 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, with 2125 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 32°F, against a record low of 28.4°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.15 for the recommended standard unit. Chico's winters don't get cold enough to need the cold-climate premium — a standard unit holds up fine. Source: NOAA station CHICO MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, 3.3 miles from Chico — the closest one on record.

The month-to-month numbers for Chico

Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 2,068 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $1,274 a year. That compares with roughly 27 Mcf a year of gas at Chico's 22.01 per-Mcf rate — about $1,494 a year — against a local electricity rate of 32.83¢/kWh. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 50 years, leaving the 15-year total $2,301 ahead.

If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas

Not every home in Chico has gas service. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Chico's answer improves. The saving here runs about $1,769 a year, which recovers the extra $5,500 spent going electric in roughly 3.1 years.

Where Chico ranks in this dataset

Among 3206 cities, Chico's winter puts it at rank 2099 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 327 for population — 1 in both cases being the extreme. That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.

What to do with this number in Chico

Chico, California is home to about 102,911 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, Chico is a place worth lining up quotes ahead of a breakdown, not waiting for one.

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 Chico's 3.15 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. The $2,000 federal credit baked into Chico's number is explained, with the before-and-after math, in the tax credit guide.