As you might guess, heat pumps won't perform nearly as well in New
England as they will in Washington state given the colder climate and
significantly higher electricity costs. Boston's heating degree-days
number 6,371 whereas Seattle clocks in at 4,624 (higher numbers =
colder climate). In addition, NStar's residential customers pay
$0.174 per kWh or about three times that of their Washington state
counterparts.

That said, heat pumps still could be a good choice for homeowners
without access to natural gas. Heating oil is currently selling for
about $3.20 a gallon. One gallon of heating oil provides 139,000 BTUs
and assuming an AFUE of 82 per cent, you net about 33.4 kWhs of heat
per gallon -- the cost per kWh, in this case, is about $0.096.

At $0.174 per kWh, a heat pump with a HSPF of 8.5 is going to provide
heat at a cost of just under $0.07 per kWh. That makes oil heat about
one-third more expensive than our heat pump.

Where natural gas is available and where air conditioning is also
desired, I would be inclined to go with a duel fuel arrangement where
both fuels can be utilized to maximum benefit.

Cheers,
Paul

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:19:44 -0500, lanman wrote:

In the past, a heat pump was not viable for regions with severe
winters such as New England. Has this changed? In what temperature
range will heat pumps perform adequately? I'm looking for alternatives
myself. Thanks...