Heat Pump Payback in Roanoke, TX
Will a heat pump pay off in Roanoke, TX?
Roanoke technically pencils out, but only past the point the equipment would need replacing anyway. $5,500 is what Roanoke would pay extra to go electric rather than replace the furnace and AC with the same again. Roanoke's residents would see roughly $361 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 15.2 years. Roanoke's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
Checking a different city
Roanoke is one of 3206 cities covered here, each run through the same model. Search another below.
Why Roanoke's climate drives this number
Degree days tell the story here: Roanoke racks up 1801 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, with 3262 cooling degree days on the cooling side. The 99% winter design temperature here, the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average, is 17.1°F, and the coldest daily reading in the 2024 station record was 10°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.11 for the recommended cold-climate unit. The average winter here is gentle, but sizing follows the cold snaps, and 17.1°F is below the 25°F point where a standard unit leans on resistance backup, so a cold-climate unit is what gets priced for Roanoke. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, Fort Worth Alliance Airport, 5.9 miles from Roanoke.
Roanoke's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 1,466 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $686 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 19 Mcf a year at $19.42 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $1,047 a year including the old AC (electricity here runs 16.15¢/kWh). 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 $85 behind.
What would change Roanoke's answer
This result holds unless electricity climbs above 1813.1¢/kWh (it is 16.15¢ now) or gas drops below $0.17 per Mcf (now $19.42); past either point, gas becomes the cheaper fuel in Roanoke. When quotes arrive, compare the heat pump price with a like-for-like furnace and AC replacement: at $361 a year saved, a difference under $2,527 pays back within 7 years here, and under $3,610 within 10.
The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with
Plenty of homes in Roanoke heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Roanoke's answer improves. Switching saves about $733 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 13.6 years.
How Roanoke compares nationally
Among 3206 cities, Roanoke's winter puts it at rank 2542 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 3004 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.
Deciding what's next in Roanoke, TX
About 10,895 people live in Roanoke, Texas, 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 Roanoke's 3.11 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. Roanoke's 17.1°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.