Is a heat pump cheaper to run than gas in Findlay?
It depends on one number: how many times more your electricity costs than your gas. Below the break-even ratio the heat pump is cheaper to run, above it the boiler is. Because a heat pump loses efficiency in the cold, the break-even is different in Findlay than anywhere else — and here it is computed from Findlay’s own thirty-year record.
The figures above assume a heat pump rated COP 4.2 at +7 °C and 2.4 at −7 °C — a mid-range air-to-water unit on 45 °C flow — and a gas boiler at 90 %. All three can be changed below.
The break-even ratio
Electricity costs this many times more than gas before the boiler becomes the cheaper way to heat. Above the line, gas wins; below it, the heat pump does.
Why the climate changes the answer
A manufacturer publishes one seasonal efficiency figure for one standardised European climate. What matters is the efficiency where you live: the colder the hours a pump has to work through, the lower its seasonal COP and the lower the price ratio it can beat. The figure above is that calculation run against this city’s own temperature record, band by band.
Your prices, your machine
Take the two COP figures from your heat pump’s datasheet and the unit prices from your bills. Standing charges are excluded on both sides — they are paid either way.
- Measured: the design temperature, the degree days and the monthly means. All of it from one station, Findlay Airport, over 30 complete years.
- The ratio is what decides this, not either price on its own. Prices moved by a factor of three across 2022 and the ratio moved far less, which is why the ratio is what this page leads with.
- National prices are Eurostat household averages, all taxes included, for the median consumption band. They are averages of a whole country and are not your tariff — the figures update every six months and the period is shown with them.
- Running cost only. Installation, servicing and the price of the machines are not included, and they are usually what decides whether a heat pump pays back at all.
- This is a calculation, not a survey. Before spending money, have the building assessed.