Should Choctaw switch to a heat pump?

The payback math works in Choctaw on paper, past the equipment's own working life. $3,500 is what Choctaw 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. That premium is recovered through $221 of lower running costs every year, landing the payback clock at roughly 15.8 years. Choctaw's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.

Why Choctaw's climate drives this number

Choctaw has a mild winter by US standards — 2629 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, at 2332 cooling degree days. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 9.5°F here (record low 0.5°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.93 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. Below the 25°F line where a standard machine starts leaning on resistance backup, Choctaw sits firmly in cold-climate territory, so that's the class of unit priced here. Source: NOAA station TINKER AFB AIRPORT, 7.9 miles from Choctaw — the closest one on record.

The month-to-month numbers for Choctaw

Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 2,272 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $558 a year. That compares with roughly 27 Mcf a year of gas at Choctaw's 13.99 per-Mcf rate — about $779 a year — against a local electricity rate of 13.10¢/kWh. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 61.1 years, leaving the 15-year total $187 behind.

The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with

Not every home in Choctaw has gas service. Against electric-resistance heat — baseboard or an electric furnace, both 100% efficient but still just resistance — the case for switching gets stronger here. The saving here runs about $710 a year, which recovers the extra $8,000 spent going electric in roughly 11.3 years.

How Choctaw compares nationally

Among 3206 cities, Choctaw's winter puts it at rank 2083 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 2757 for population — 1 in both cases being the extreme. That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.

Next step for 12,358 people in Choctaw

About 12,358 people live in Choctaw, Oklahoma, 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.

Ask a local HVAC contractor for a quote before committing either way.

Where Choctaw's figure comes from

The methodology guide walks through exactly how Choctaw's 2.93 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. At a 9.5°F design temperature, Choctaw sits in cold-climate territory; the guide to that class of unit explains why.