Easy Heat Pump vs. Gas Furnace Running Cost Calculator for Canada

Heat pumps are super energy efficient because they gather heat from the outdoor air and move it indoors — instead of generating heat like a gas furnace does. Amazingly this works even in Canadian winters! Better energy-efficiency sometimes doesn’t mean lower running costs though…

Gas Furnace vs. Heat Pump running costs come down to 3 things:

The price you pay for electricity and gas...

Your winter weather...

The efficiency of the equipment you're comparing.

The Heat Pump Savvy calculator has been mothballed.

For Canadians I recommend the Jouleia calculator.

In the U.S. try Heat Pumps Hooray.

Calculator FAQs

How Does the Running Cost Calculation Work?

For heat pump running costs we start from HSPF (Heating Seasonal Performance Factor). This testing is designed by the U.S. Department of Energy to determine how efficiently a heat pump will convert electricity to heat over a typical heating season.

Calculating natural gas cost per MMBTU is fairly simple. A 96% AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) furnace will convert 96% of the available energy in a unit of gas into useful heat.

How Accurate are the Results?

We’ve worked hard to deliver accurate results based on HSPF numbers. However, we’re only using a model of how heat pumps and furnaces perform so we’ll never be 100% accurate.

Does the Calculator Use HSPF2 Ratings?

Yes, we calculate heat pump efficiency using the more conservative HSPF2 ratings.