Mequon, WI: the heat pump payback math
Mequon is a place where a heat pump genuinely costs more to operate than the alternative. $3,500 is what Mequon 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 $356 a year HIGHER than the furnace it replaces, so that premium is never recovered. There's no spin on that: Mequon's numbers say wait.
The climate behind Mequon's payback figure
Degree days tell the story here: Mequon racks up 5878 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers add a moderate cooling load, with 552 cooling degree days on the cooling side. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: -2.2°F here (record low -9.4°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.65 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. Mequon 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. Source: NOAA station LAWRENCE J TIMMERMAN AIRPORT, 7.1 miles from Mequon — the closest one on record.
Mequon's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 5,617 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $1,149 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 61 Mcf a year at 10.74 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $792 a year (electricity here runs 18.87¢/kWh). Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is longer than the 15-year equipment life, leaving the 15-year total $8,843 behind.
Electric resistance heat in Mequon, compared
Plenty of homes in Mequon 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 $1,795 a year comes back this way, enough that the 4.5-year payback clears the $8,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
Mequon against the rest of the country
Mequon lands at position 269 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 1582 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 Mequon, WI
About 25,329 people live in Mequon, Wisconsin, 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Mequon's 2.65 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. Mequon's -2.2°F design temperature is below the 25°F line, which is why a cold-climate unit is the right call here — see what that changes in the cold-climate unit guide.