Jesup, GA: the heat pump payback math
Jesup clears a genuine payback here, inside a reasonable stretch of years. Against a like-for-like gas furnace and AC swap, going electric costs $1,000 more up front here (already netting out a $2,000 tax credit). That premium is recovered through $298 of lower running costs every year, landing the payback clock at roughly 3.4 years. That's a real payback, built from Jesup's own climate and utility rates, not a national guess.
The climate behind Jesup's payback figure
Degree days tell the story here: Jesup racks up 1429 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, with 2588 cooling degree days on the cooling side. 28.4°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here — the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day — with a record low of 26.6°F on file. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 3.05 on the standard unit fit for this climate. A standard ducted system is enough here; Jesup's design temperature doesn't justify the cold-climate premium. Source: NOAA station JESUP WAYNE COUNTY AIRPORT, 2.9 miles from Jesup — the closest one on record.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 1,186 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $506 a year. Jesup's gas rate of 20.42 per Mcf, applied to the 15 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $804 a year, against 14.90¢ per kWh for electricity. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 36.9 years, leaving the 15-year total $3,472 ahead.
Electric resistance heat in Jesup, compared
Plenty of homes in Jesup 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 $533 a year comes back this way, enough that the 10.3-year payback clears the $5,500 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
Where Jesup ranks in this dataset
Jesup lands at position 2718 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 3143 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.
What to do with this number in Jesup
About 10,235 people live in Jesup, Georgia, 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, it's worth getting quotes before your current system fails, not after.
Ask a local HVAC contractor for a quote before committing either way.
More on how this number was built
Every constant behind this page — the 3.05 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. See what Jesup's figure looks like without the $2,000 federal credit in the guide to how that credit moves the payback window.