Get rid of pricey oil and propane by transitioning your home to ductless air source heat pumps. Heat pumps are cleaner, more energy efficient, more cost efficient, and with them in your home you can lock in a cost for fuel that is equivalent to paying around $1/gallon of heating oil.
Modern heat pumps, which can cool your home in warmer months, are fundamentally more efficient than older technologies like baseboard heating and air conditioning – making them the most cost-effective form of heating and cooling, all in one system.
Heat pumps are even more beneficial when paired with a solar system. Combining the two can lower your cost of heating to $0.84/gallon of heating oil.
Starting in January 2023, you can receive a 30% tax credit for heat pumps capped at $2,000 per year. The credit resets each tax year, effectively becoming available again for additional projects. You can also receive a 30% tax credit up to $600 for an electrical panel upgrade, but only if it’s upgraded in conjunction with another upgrade covered by the tax credit (like a heat pump).
Additionally, there are further credits for low-moderate-income households, thanks to the High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Act (HEEHRA). Home Energy Rebates under HEEHRA are not yet available, but we expect New England states to launch programs available to their residents in 2024.
For low-income households (under 80% of Area Median Income), HEEHRA covers 100% of your heat pump costs up to $8,000. For moderate-income households (between 80% and 150% of Area Median Income), HEEHRA covers 50% of your heat pump costs up to $8,000. Total HEEHRA discounts across all qualified electrification projects are capped at $14,000.
In times of rapidly rising oil costs, heat pumps offer a lower heating cost and greater sense of security. Our fuel cost comparison chart shows just how much you can save with heat pumps, especially when they are powered by solar.
Heat Pumps convert outside air into heat or cooling using electricity, which ranges in price in our region up to 21 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on your utility. That’s the equivalent of paying roughly $2.30/gallon of heating oil – an improvement versus the status quo for sure. Even better, when you combine that heat pump with the locked-in lower rates of solar electricity, that price comes down to 8 cents per kilowatt-hour or roughly $0.84/gallon of heating oil.
The chart below compares average heating costs for different heating sources. Using recent average fuel prices in ME, MA, and NH, we can compare these fuel source by calculating their cost per million BTU (a unit of heat). You can see that it’s a lot more cost-effective for heat pumps to generate the same amount of heat as propane or oil heater, especially when powered by solar.
*Assumes typical oil boiler operating at 65% efficiency, propane at 80% efficiency, and heat pump at 250% efficiency (COP of 2.5). Solar PV kilowatt-hour cost of 8 cents per kilowatt-hour over 25-year timeframe based on typical pricing economics of a 8.5kw + system. Economics are estimates and subject to the local cost of oil, propane, and electricity.
A grid-tied solar electric array is an ideal partner for a heat pump. State law allows you to bank excess solar power in the summertime to earn you bill credits, which can be cashed in for electricity in the wintertime to run your heat pumps.
Think of it like a woodshed that stacks itself – you’re harnessing clean power from the sun and storing it for later, and in the meantime helping reduce peak demand on the grid by producing excess power in the summertime.
The most popular application for heat pumps are in supplemental heating applications, similar to the way wood or pellet stoves are – we review house floor configurations and recommendation installation of one or more heat pumps in common areas of the home that area to a comfortable temperature. In this situation, you would keep an existing oil or propane equipment for backup, but for most of the heating season rely on the heat pump.
The simplicity and reliability of heat pumps also make them a great choice for new homes, where the savings garnered by installing heat pumps instead of a traditional heating system can be used to install solar electricity for the home. By heating and cooling with electricity, and then using solar panels to generate electricity, you end up with a home that fully meets its own energy needs that costs less to operate than a conventional home.
In addition to the 30% Federal Tax Credit, which will apply to stand alone heat pump projects starting in 2023, state specific incentives are also periodically available for air source heat pumps. Our team of Solar Advisors will help you find all the incentives in your state that are available to help reduce the cost of heat pumps. Currently, heat pump incentives include:
ReVision Energy is an employee-owned solar company with as many years experience installing heat pumps as we have installing solar. We offer high-quality, long-term customer service to guarantee your heat pump system runs efficiently for the entirety of its lifetime.
With heat pumps, it’s scientifically proven that quality matters when it comes to their installation. Luckily, we’ve been installing and servicing Mitsubishi Electric Air Source Heat Pumps since 2011 when advances in solar energy and heating technology made it clear that banking solar electric generation in the summertime and using stored solar energy via heat pumps in the winter was the best approach to solar-powered heating.
Since then we’ve installed thousands of heat pumps across Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, earning Mitsubishi Electric’s Elite Diamond Contractor designation that is awarded to installers with the highest level of training and experience. We know Mitsubishi Electric’s products inside and out and we are certain of their ability to reliably provide comfort through all of the highs and lows that New England throws their way.
Their heat pumps come with an industry-leading 12-year part and compressor warranty on single-family, residential installations, and a 5-year parts and 7-year compressor warranty on multi-family and commercial installations.
Between Mitsubishi Electric’s high-performance technology, our technical excellence and our legendary customer service, ReVision Energy can offer you the best solar-powered heating and cooling solutions for you home. On top of that, we’re a 100% employee-owned B Corp, with the most experience installing and maintaining solar and solar technology in the region.
Interested in getting heat pumps installed with ReVision? Contact our team using the Get Started button.
