Major Cost Savings When Converting to Electric from Oil

Thank you to Michael M. for sharing his story!

Now that we have had our heat pumps running for 2.5 years, I thought I would share an update for those considering switching to air-source heat pumps in their homes. Here is the initial article I wrote in April 2024 which has more background info. This is a good time to consider it as the Town of Wellesley and the State of MA offer incredible rebates and incentives for things like energy audits, insulation, heat pumps, and EVs — often more than the federal government.

I have been tracking our electrical, water, and sewer costs for over 5 years.  Having this data enabled me to verify that the investment we made to switch to heat pumps made financial sense. 

Above you will see two graphs that I hope you will find to be of interest. 

The first graph shows our Electric costs (Green) and our Oil costs (Orange) from 2021 through 2024. If you compare the total costs of 2022 (electricity + oil) your will get a total of $7,201 ($1,490 in electricity plus $5,711 in oil costs) for the year. 

If you then look at the cost of only electricity in 2024 (since our oil furnace was removed) you get a total cost of $2,606. 

The ratio of these two costs is $2,606 / $7,201 you get a ratio of 36%. That means that our 2024 costs were $36% of our 2022 costs, or the 2024 costs were 64% less than the costs in 2022. 

The second graph shows the same story but using our costs per square foot. You’ll notice in 2022 the cost per square foot for oil + electric was $4.06 ($0.84+$3.22) and the cost in 2024 for all electric was $1.47. That cost ratio is also 36%. 

Overall, we have had a great outcome from switching to air-source heat pumps.
This experience has compelled me to become an “energy coach” in Wellesley to assist other residents considering making a switch from oil or gas to an all-electric solution. 

One final note, the cost of electricity in Wellesley is ~$0.16/kWh largely due to the presence of our Municipal Light Plant (MLP). Other towns in Massachusetts without an MLP have costs of $0.32/kWh and higher.