Heat Pump Payback in South Holland, IL
Heat pump vs. gas furnace in South Holland, IL
In South Holland, a heat pump would cost more to run each year than what you have now. $5,500 is what South Holland would pay extra to go electric rather than replace the furnace and AC with the same again. The heat pump would cost about $278 more a year to run than the furnace it replaces, a premium with no payback. There's no spin on that: South Holland's numbers say wait.
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Landed on South Holland by mistake, or want to compare it against somewhere else? Search the other 3206 cities below.
Why South Holland's climate drives this number
4971 heating degree days pile up here every year, so South Holland has a real but manageable winter; the cooling side runs to 864 cooling degree days, where summers add a moderate cooling load. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: -5.3°F here (coldest 2024 reading -10.7°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.57 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. South Holland 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. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, Lansing Municipal AP, 5.4 miles from South Holland.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 4,898 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $1,074 a year. South Holland's gas rate of $11.25 per Mcf, applied to the 52 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts the current furnace-and-AC running cost near $796 a year, against 19.06¢ per kWh for electricity. With running costs higher every year, there is no payback at any purchase price; over 15 years, against a like-for-like replacement, a household here would end $9,671 behind.
The break-even point in South Holland
The heat pump would become the cheaper option in South Holland if electricity fell to 12.9¢/kWh (from 19.06¢) or gas rose above $16.62 per Mcf (from $11.25). At today's prices a cheaper quote cannot rescue the gas comparison in South Holland, since there is no yearly saving to recover it from.
Electric resistance heat in South Holland, compared
Gas isn't universal in South Holland, many houses run on electric heat already. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and South Holland's answer improves. The saving here runs about $1,539 a year, which recovers the extra $10,000 spent going electric in roughly 6.5 years.
South Holland against the rest of the country
Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, South Holland comes in at 768 for heating severity, 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset, and 1860 by population, where 1 is largest. That's the coldest third of the dataset, where climate does most of the work behind this figure.
Next step if you live in South Holland
About 20,775 people live in South Holland, Illinois, 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 2.57 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs, is documented in the methodology guide. At a -5.3°F design temperature, South Holland sits in cold-climate territory; the guide to that class of unit explains why.