Will a heat pump pay off in Hobart, WI?

In Hobart, a heat pump would cost more to run each year than what you have now. $3,500 is what Hobart 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. Running costs here land $366 a year HIGHER than the furnace it replaces, so that premium is never recovered. That's Hobart's own climate and rates talking, not a hedge or a caveat.

Hobart's weather, in the numbers that matter

Degree days tell the story here: Hobart racks up 5968 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers add a moderate cooling load, with 605 cooling degree days on the cooling side. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: -2.9°F here (record low -9°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.63 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. Hobart 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. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, AUSTIN STRAUBEL INTERNATIONAL, 1.5 miles from Hobart.

Hobart's running-cost comparison, in dollars

Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 5,746 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $1,182 a year. That compares with roughly 62 Mcf a year of gas at Hobart's 10.74 per-Mcf rate — about $815 a year — against a local electricity rate of 18.87¢/kWh. Buy it outright, not incrementally, and payback stretches to beyond the 15-year equipment life; over 15 years the net position sits $8,991 behind.

If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas

Not every home in Hobart has gas service. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Hobart's answer improves. About $1,818 a year comes back this way, enough that the 4.4-year payback clears the $8,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.

Hobart against the rest of the country

Hobart lands at position 253 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 3012 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). That's the coldest third of the dataset, where climate does most of the work behind this figure.

Deciding what's next in Hobart, WI

Hobart, Wisconsin is home to about 10,876 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 Hobart, nothing is lost by holding off until the current equipment genuinely fails.

Get quotes from local HVAC contractors before deciding.

Where Hobart's figure comes from

Every constant behind this page — the 2.63 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. At a -2.9°F design temperature, Hobart sits in cold-climate territory; the guide to that class of unit explains why.