Heat pump vs. gas furnace in Washington, UT
In Washington, the extra upfront cost technically comes back, just not before the equipment wears out. Against a like-for-like gas furnace and AC swap, going electric costs $3,500 more up front here (already netting out a $2,000 tax credit). Lower bills claw that back: about $194 saved annually, for a payback of roughly 18 years. Washington's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
The climate behind Washington's payback figure
Washington has a real but manageable winter — 3006 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, at 3290 cooling degree days. The 99% winter design temperature here — the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average — is 19°F, against a record low of 17.1°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.16 for the recommended cold-climate unit. Below the 25°F line where a standard machine starts leaning on resistance backup, Washington sits firmly in cold-climate territory, so that's the class of unit priced here. These numbers come from ST GEORGE MUNICIPAL ARPT, the closest NOAA station, 6.5 miles out.
Washington's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 2,409 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $684 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 31 Mcf a year at 10.19 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $878 a year (electricity here runs 13.12¢/kWh). Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 69.5 years, leaving the 15-year total $585 behind.
The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with
Not every home in Washington has gas service. Against electric-resistance heat — baseboard or an electric furnace, both 100% efficient but still just resistance — the case for switching gets stronger here. The saving here runs about $874 a year, which recovers the extra $8,000 spent going electric in roughly 9.2 years.
How Washington compares nationally
Washington lands at position 1925 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 1157 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
Deciding what's next in Washington, UT
About 35,501 people live in Washington, Utah, 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.
Line up a few local HVAC quotes before you decide.
Reading further on this page's numbers
Every constant behind this page — the 3.16 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. Washington's 19°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.