Monett, MO: the heat pump payback math
In Monett, the extra upfront cost technically comes back, just not before the equipment wears out. $3,500 is what Monett 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. Lower bills claw that back: about $226 saved annually, for a payback of roughly 15.5 years. Monett's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
The climate behind Monett's payback figure
3186 heating degree days pile up here every year, so Monett has a real but manageable winter; the cooling side runs to 1427 cooling degree days, where summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating. 10.4°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here — the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day — with a record low of -0.4°F on file. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 2.95 on the cold-climate unit fit for this climate. Monett 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 MONETT MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, 5.2 miles from Monett — 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 2,735 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $507 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 33 Mcf a year at 14.94 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $733 a year (electricity here runs 12.83¢/kWh). Priced as a standalone purchase rather than against a like-for-like replacement, equipment payback runs about 59.7 years, for a 15-year net position $109 behind.
Electric resistance heat in Monett, compared
Not every home in Monett has gas service. Against electric-resistance heat — baseboard or an electric furnace, both 100% efficient but still just resistance — the case for switching gets stronger here. The saving here runs about $765 a year, which recovers the extra $8,000 spent going electric in roughly 10.5 years.
How Monett compares nationally
Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, Monett comes in at 1856 for heating severity — 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset — and 3180 by population, where 1 is largest. That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
Deciding what's next in Monett, MO
About 10,108 people live in Monett, Missouri, 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.
Line up a few local HVAC quotes before you decide.
Where Monett's figure comes from
Every constant behind this page — the 2.95 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. Monett's 10.4°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.