Is a heat pump worth it in Shreveport?

Shreveport sits right on the fence — how long you'll own the house decides this one. Swap a failed furnace and AC for a heat pump rather than buying like-for-like, and the extra cost here runs $3,500 after a $2,000 federal tax credit. Shreveport's residents would see roughly $309 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 11.3 years. Whether that's worth it in Shreveport depends on how many years you expect to own the place.

The climate behind Shreveport's payback figure

Degree days tell the story here: Shreveport racks up 1468 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, with 3308 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 23°F, against a record low of 12.9°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.25 for the recommended cold-climate unit. Shreveport 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. These numbers come from SHREVEPORT REGIONAL AIRPORT, the closest NOAA station, 2.3 miles out.

What it actually costs to run, year to year

Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 1,144 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $536 a year. That compares with roughly 15 Mcf a year of gas at Shreveport's 17.38 per-Mcf rate — about $845 a year — against a local electricity rate of 13.52¢/kWh. Buy it outright, not incrementally, and payback stretches to 43.6 years; over 15 years the net position sits $1,141 ahead.

The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with

Not every home in Shreveport has gas service. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Shreveport's answer improves. Switching saves about $546 a year here — a heat pump moving heat rather than generating it needs far less electricity than resistance coils — so the extra $8,000 spent up front comes back in about 14.6 years.

Shreveport against the rest of the country

Shreveport lands at position 2703 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 153 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). That's the mildest third of cities covered, where utility rates carry more of the answer than climate does.

Next step for 176,578 people in Shreveport

About 176,578 people live in Shreveport, Louisiana, 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

Every constant behind this page — the 3.25 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. Shreveport's 23°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.