Is a heat pump worth it in Kenner?

A heat pump earns back its extra cost in Kenner within a sensible timeframe. $1,000 is what Kenner 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. Kenner's residents would see roughly $278 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 3.6 years. The window here is reasonable, and it's specific to what Kenner actually pays for power and gas.

Kenner's weather, in the numbers that matter

Kenner barely has a winter to speak of — 853 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, at 3604 cooling degree days. 32°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here — the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day — with a record low of 24.1°F on file. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 3.15 on the standard unit fit for this climate. Kenner's winters don't get cold enough to need the cold-climate premium — a standard unit holds up fine. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, LOUIS ARMSTRONG NEW ORLEANS I, 1.7 miles from Kenner.

Kenner's running-cost comparison, in dollars

Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 686 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $508 a year. That compares with roughly 9 Mcf a year of gas at Kenner's 17.38 per-Mcf rate — about $786 a year — against a local electricity rate of 13.52¢/kWh. Buy it outright, not incrementally, and payback stretches to 39.6 years; over 15 years the net position sits $3,166 ahead.

If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas

Plenty of homes in Kenner heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Kenner's answer improves. The saving here runs about $415 a year, which recovers the extra $5,500 spent going electric in roughly 13.2 years.

Kenner against the rest of the country

Among 3206 cities, Kenner's winter puts it at rank 2947 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 608 for population — 1 in both cases being the extreme. 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 Kenner

Kenner, Louisiana is home to about 64,650 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. Given the math above, Kenner is a place worth lining up quotes ahead of a breakdown, not waiting for one.

Line up a few local HVAC quotes before you decide.

Reading further on this page's numbers

The methodology guide walks through exactly how Kenner's 3.15 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. The $2,000 federal credit baked into Kenner's number is explained, with the before-and-after math, in the tax credit guide.