Heat Pump Payback in Hemet, CA
Is a heat pump worth it in Hemet?
Hemet technically pencils out, but only past the point the equipment would need replacing anyway. Against a like-for-like gas furnace and AC swap, going electric costs $3,000 more up front here. Hemet's residents would see roughly $126 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 23.8 years. Hemet's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
Not the city you meant?
Hemet is one of 3206 cities covered here, each run through the same model. Search another below.
The climate behind Hemet's payback figure
Hemet has a mild winter by US standards, 2170 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base, and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, at 1594 cooling degree days. The 99% winter design temperature here, the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average, is 26.6°F, and the coldest daily reading in the 2024 station record was 24.6°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 2.99 for the recommended standard unit. A standard ducted system is enough here; Hemet's design temperature doesn't justify the cold-climate premium. Source: NOAA station Hemet Ryan, 1.2 miles from Hemet, the closest one on record.
The yearly running costs in Hemet
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 1,838 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $1,050 a year. That compares with roughly 23 Mcf a year of gas at Hemet's $22.01 per-Mcf rate, about $1,176 a year with the old AC included, against a local electricity rate of 32.83¢/kWh. If the current system still worked and you replaced it anyway, the full cost would take longer than the 15-year equipment life to earn back; against buying a new furnace and AC regardless, the 15-year total lands $1,108 behind.
What would change Hemet's answer
This result holds unless electricity climbs above 44.0¢/kWh (it is 32.83¢ now) or gas drops below $16.43 per Mcf (now $22.01); past either point, gas becomes the cheaper fuel in Hemet. When quotes arrive, compare the heat pump price with a like-for-like furnace and AC replacement: at $126 a year saved, a difference under $882 pays back within 7 years here, and under $1,260 within 10.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Plenty of homes in Hemet heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Compared with baseboard or electric-furnace resistance heat, the numbers shift in the heat pump’s favor. About $1,433 a year comes back this way, enough that the 5.2-year payback clears the $7,500 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
How Hemet compares nationally
Hemet lands at position 2351 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 376 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 Hemet, CA
About 92,912 people live in Hemet, California, 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.
Line up a few local HVAC quotes before you decide.
Where Hemet's figure comes from
Every constant behind this page, the 2.99 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs, is documented in the methodology guide. Hemet's case is the "pays back too slowly to count" kind covered in the guide to cities where the math never really works.