Should Washington switch to a heat pump?
In Washington, a heat pump would cost more to run each year than what you have now. $3,500 is what Washington 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. The heat pump would cost about $69 more a year to run than the furnace it replaces — a premium with no payback. There's no spin on that: Washington's numbers say wait.
Why Washington's climate drives this number
Washington has a real but manageable winter — 4067 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, at 1213 cooling degree days. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 0.3°F here (record low -0.6°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.71 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. A cold-climate unit is the right call in Washington — below 25°F design temperature, a standard heat pump leans hard on electric-resistance backup, which erases most of the savings. Source: NOAA station DAVIESS COUNTY AIRPORT, 3.3 miles from Washington — the closest one on record.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 3,800 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $823 a year. That compares with roughly 42 Mcf a year of gas at Washington's 11.49 per-Mcf rate — about $754 a year — against a local electricity rate of 17.03¢/kWh. Priced as a standalone purchase rather than against a like-for-like replacement, equipment payback runs past the 15-year equipment life, for a 15-year net position $4,533 behind.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Plenty of homes in Washington heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Against electric-resistance heat — baseboard or an electric furnace, both 100% efficient but still just resistance — the case for switching gets stronger here. About $1,198 a year comes back this way, enough that the 6.7-year payback clears the $8,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
Washington against the rest of the country
Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, Washington comes in at 1480 for heating severity — 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset — and 2670 by population, where 1 is largest. That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
Next step for 12,881 people in Washington
About 12,881 people live in Washington, Indiana, 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
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind Washington's 2.71 seasonal COP and payback figure. Washington's 0.3°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.