Georgetown, TX: the heat pump payback math
This one's marginal in Georgetown: it only clears if you stay long enough. Swap a failed furnace and AC for a heat pump rather than buying like-for-like, and the extra cost here runs $3,500 after a $2,000 federal tax credit. Georgetown's residents would see roughly $342 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 10.2 years. Whether that's worth it in Georgetown depends on how many years you expect to own the place.
The climate behind Georgetown's payback figure
Georgetown barely has a winter to speak of — 1359 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, at 3391 cooling degree days. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 19.4°F here (record low 12°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 3.17 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. Georgetown needs the cold-climate class of unit: past a 25°F design temperature a standard heat pump falls back on resistance backup often enough to eat the savings. Source: NOAA station GEORGETOWN MUNICIPAL ARPT, 1.4 miles from Georgetown — the closest one on record.
Georgetown's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 1,086 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $642 a year. That compares with roughly 14 Mcf a year of gas at Georgetown's 19.42 per-Mcf rate — about $985 a year — against a local electricity rate of 16.15¢/kWh. Priced as a standalone purchase rather than against a like-for-like replacement, equipment payback runs about 39.4 years, for a 15-year net position $1,635 ahead.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Not every home in Georgetown 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 $623 a year, which recovers the extra $8,000 spent going electric in roughly 12.8 years.
How Georgetown compares nationally
Georgetown lands at position 2747 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 333 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 for 101,344 people in Georgetown
About 101,344 people live in Georgetown, Texas, 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
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind Georgetown's 3.17 seasonal COP and payback figure. Georgetown's 19.4°F design temperature is below the 25°F line, which is why a cold-climate unit is the right call here — see what that changes in the cold-climate unit guide.