Heat pump vs. gas furnace in Wildwood, FL
A heat pump earns back its extra cost in Wildwood within a sensible timeframe. Against a like-for-like gas furnace and AC swap, going electric costs $1,000 more up front here (already netting out a $2,000 tax credit). That premium is recovered through $326 of lower running costs every year, landing the payback clock at roughly 3.1 years. That's a real payback, built from Wildwood's own climate and utility rates, not a national guess.
Why Wildwood's climate drives this number
Wildwood barely has a winter to speak of — 605 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, at 3480 cooling degree days. 36°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here — the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day — with a record low of 34°F on file. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 3.27 on the standard unit fit for this climate. A standard ducted system is enough here; Wildwood's design temperature doesn't justify the cold-climate premium. These numbers come from LEESBURG REGIONAL AIRPORT, the closest NOAA station, 12 miles out.
Wildwood's running-cost comparison, in dollars
A 2000-square-foot house here would pull roughly 468 heating kilowatt-hours annually on top of cooling, totalling about $530 a year on electricity. That compares with roughly 6 Mcf a year of gas at Wildwood's 25.48 per-Mcf rate — about $856 a year — against a local electricity rate of 15.43¢/kWh. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 33.7 years, leaving the 15-year total $3,895 ahead.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Gas isn't universal in Wildwood — many houses run on electric heat already. 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 $402 a year, which recovers the extra $5,500 spent going electric in roughly 13.7 years.
Wildwood against the rest of the country
Wildwood lands at position 3032 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 2012 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.
What to do with this number in Wildwood
About 19,031 people live in Wildwood, Florida, 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, it's worth getting quotes before your current system fails, not after.
Get quotes from local HVAC contractors before deciding.
Where Wildwood's figure comes from
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind Wildwood's 3.27 seasonal COP and payback figure. See what Wildwood's figure looks like without the $2,000 federal credit in the guide to how that credit moves the payback window.