Client: HEET
Authors: Joshua R. Castigliego, Sagal Alisalad, Tanya Stasio, and Liz Stanton, PhD
January 2021 (Updated March 2021)
On behalf of the HEET, Researcher Joshua Castigliego, Assistant Researcher Sagal Alisalad, Research Assistant Tanya Stasio, and Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD compared the annual energy cost of heating the average-sized home in Massachusetts using either a gas furnace or electric heat pumps. This analysis focuses exclusively on a home’s annual heating bill as it is the most relevant measure for Massachusetts households. Home heating bills influence fuel choice and put a disproportionate burden on low- and moderate-income families that spend a larger share of their income on energy bills. In this white paper, AEC finds that while today’s gas heating bills are less expensive than the electricity needed to run an air-source heat pump (ASHP), this relationship will reverse. Heating with ASHPs will become less expensive than heating with gas, with an inflection point occurring at some point between 2026 and 2030.