Heat Pump Payback in London, OH
Should London switch to a heat pump?
London technically pencils out, but only past the point the equipment would need replacing anyway. Swap a failed furnace and AC for a heat pump rather than buying like-for-like, and the extra cost here runs $5,500. That premium is recovered through $2 of lower running costs every year, landing the payback clock at roughly 2441.8 years. London's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
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Why London's climate drives this number
Degree days tell the story here: London racks up 4552 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, with 1069 cooling degree days on the cooling side. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 6.8°F here (coldest 2024 reading 5°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.86 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. London 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, Bolton Field Airport, 16.2 miles from London.
London's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 4,030 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $909 a year. That compares with roughly 47 Mcf a year of gas at London's $13.85 per-Mcf rate, about $912 a year with the old AC included, against a local electricity rate of 18.40¢/kWh. Priced as a standalone purchase, with a working furnace ripped out early, payback would take longer than the 15-year equipment life. Measured against the like-for-like replacement instead, a household here ends 15 years $5,466 behind.
What would change London's answer
This result holds unless electricity climbs above 18.5¢/kWh (it is 18.40¢ now) or gas drops below $13.80 per Mcf (now $13.85); past either point, gas becomes the cheaper fuel in London. When quotes arrive, compare the heat pump price with a like-for-like furnace and AC replacement: at $2 a year saved, a difference under $14 pays back within 7 years here, and under $20 within 10.
Electric resistance heat in London, compared
Plenty of homes in London heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and London's answer improves. The saving here runs about $1,466 a year, which recovers the extra $10,000 spent going electric in roughly 6.8 years.
London against the rest of the country
Among 3206 cities, London's winter puts it at rank 1135 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 3041 for population, 1 in both cases being the extreme. That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
What to do with this number in London
About 10,743 people live in London, Ohio, 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.
Reading further on this page's numbers
The methodology guide walks through exactly how London's 2.86 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. London's 6.8°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.