Switched from a gas furnace to a heat pump this winter and here's what shocked me about our electric bill

So we finally bit the bullet back in October and swapped out our old 1990s gas furnace for a ducted heat pump. I was real nervous about it because everyone in my neighborhood group kept saying heat pumps can't handle Cleveland winters. But we got a Mitsubishi Hyper Heat unit and honestly? Our December electric bill was $145. Last year with gas it was $210 plus the $80 gas delivery fee. The house stays at 68 just fine even when it was 10 degrees out. I know not everyone has the same experience but has anyone else made this switch and seen a big drop in their total heating costs?

3 comments

3 Comments

torres.grant26d ago

...and that's the thing people don't get about the "heat pumps can't handle cold" thing, it's really just the older models that struggled. I got a similar Hyper Heat unit last year and my electric bill was actually less than what I was paying for gas plus the delivery fees. The delivery fee is the real killer with gas, it's like they charge you just for the privilege of having the pipe in your house.

eva_thompson26d agoMost Upvoted

I swapped my old gas furnace for a Daikin Fit cold climate heat pump a couple winters back and my bills dropped by about $70 a month even with the higher electric rates here in Vermont. The delivery charge on my gas bill was like $45 a month just for having the line connected even when I barely used any gas. That alone adds up over a year. Plus the heat pump keeps the house way more consistent than the on/off blast from the furnace ever did.

theagibson26d ago

And that's just one example of how we get stuck paying for stuff we don't even think about. Like, people focus on the price of gas or electricity per unit, but they forget about all the fees tacked on top. Same thing happens with cable and internet, you see the advertised price then your bill has a bunch of random charges. It's like the whole system is designed to hide the real cost until you're already locked in. Just another way we get nickel and dimed to death for basic stuff.