Heat Pump Payback in Pullman, WA
Pullman, WA: the heat pump payback math
Pullman technically pencils out, but only past the point the equipment would need replacing anyway. $5,500 is what Pullman would pay extra to go electric rather than replace the furnace and AC with the same again. Lower bills claw that back: about $250 saved annually, for a payback of roughly 22 years. Pullman's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
Compare against another city
This runs the same numbers for 3206 US cities, not just Pullman. Look one up here.
Why Pullman's climate drives this number
Degree days tell the story here: Pullman racks up 6235 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers add a moderate cooling load, with 459 cooling degree days on the cooling side. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: -11°F here (coldest 2024 reading -20.9°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.44 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. A cold-climate unit is the right call in Pullman, below 25°F design temperature, a standard heat pump leans hard on electric-resistance backup, which erases most of the savings. These numbers come from Pullman/Moscow Regional Airport, the closest NOAA station, 2.9 miles out.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 6,470 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $979 a year. Pullman's gas rate of $17.62 per Mcf, applied to the 65 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts the current furnace-and-AC running cost near $1,229 a year, against 14.27¢ per kWh for electricity. Buying outright rather than at replacement time stretches payback to longer than the 15-year equipment life. Over 15 years, compared with a like-for-like replacement, the heat pump leaves you $1,752 behind.
What would change Pullman's answer
This result holds unless electricity climbs above 18.3¢/kWh (it is 14.27¢ now) or gas drops below $13.77 per Mcf (now $17.62); past either point, gas becomes the cheaper fuel in Pullman. When quotes arrive, compare the heat pump price with a like-for-like furnace and AC replacement: at $250 a year saved, a difference under $1,750 pays back within 7 years here, and under $2,500 within 10.
The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with
Not every home in Pullman has gas service. Compared with baseboard or electric-furnace resistance heat, the numbers shift in the heat pump’s favor. Switching saves about $1,359 a year here, a heat pump moving heat rather than generating it needs far less electricity than resistance coils, so the extra $10,000 spent up front comes back in about 7.4 years.
How Pullman compares nationally
Pullman lands at position 142 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 1225 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.
Next step if you live in Pullman
About 33,543 people live in Pullman, Washington, 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.
Where Pullman's figure comes from
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind Pullman's 2.44 seasonal COP and payback figure. Pullman's -11°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.