How much will I really save from getting a heat pump?

Almost everybody knows that heat pumps use less energy than other forms of hot water systems. 

Heat Pumps will use less energy than traditional electric systems and gas systems. Heat pumps even beat out gas or electric boosted solar systems. The cheapest form of heating is a completely solar powered heat pump or electric system.  

A lot of people have come at me with a very valid question, which is how much money will I save swapping from an Off-Peak Electric Resistance system to a Heat Pump? 

The answer actually is about 40%. 

If we compare an off-peak system and a heat pump, assuming they are supplying the same amount of hot water each day, we can see that a heat pump uses only 2.78 kWh of energy per day versus the old electric system using 14.66 kWh. Even if the old system is using off-peak (meaning the price of power halves), old electric system uses the equivalent of shoulder 7.33 (14.66 kWh but costs half), a heat pump costs 40% of what an old electric system costs!

Put more simply in the image below, an off-peak electric would cost $641.94 a year to run while a heat pump would cost only $253.29. 

Over a 10 year time frame, assuming the price of electricity stays constant (which it won’t), that’s $3886.5 saved!

And if you have an old electric system that isn’t off-peak the savings literally double to $7773.

I’ve included the spreadsheet below for you to play around with to see what the savings would be in your unique circumstance. 

As always let me know if you have any questions :). 

Calculator