Heat Pump vs Baseboard Calculator
| Monthly bill ↓ · COP → | COP 3 | COP 2.5 | COP 2 | COP 1.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $150 bill | $100 | $90 | $75 | $50 |
| $300 bill | $200 | $180 | $150 | $100 |
| $450 bill | $300 | $270 | $225 | $150 |
| $600 bill | $400 | $360 | $300 | $200 |
Enter your electric rate, a realistic season efficiency for the heat pump and what your baseboard-heated home spends in a winter month. The calculator shows the same heat delivered at that COP, the share it cuts from the bill and the dollars that stay with you each month.
This comparison is unusual because both machines draw the same electricity: a baseboard is resistance heat and turns every kilowatt-hour into exactly one unit of heat, while a heat pump moves two to three units per kilowatt-hour from outside air. The rate cancels out - the entire savings is set by the COP, which is why the verdict never flips and only the size of the cut changes.
How to use
- The electric rate comes off the bill; baseboard homes have it memorized.
- Set the COP honestly: 3 in a mild winter, 2.5 temperate, 2 in cold snaps and 1.5 in deep cold - output and efficiency slide together as it freezes.
- Use a real winter month for the baseboard bill, not the shoulder season. The savings update live.
Frequently asked questions
Is a heat pump cheaper to run than electric baseboard?
Always - by 1 minus 1 over the COP: a 2.5 season COP cuts the heating share of the bill by 60 percent, COP 3 cuts 67, and a frigid 1.5 still cuts 33. No rate combination flips it, because the two machines buy identical electricity and only differ in how much heat each extracts from it.
Why is electric baseboard so expensive to run?
Resistance is the ceiling of simple: every kilowatt-hour becomes exactly one unit of heat, no multiplier, and whole-home resistance is the most expensive common heat per BTU. It earns its keep in zoned rooms and backup strips, not as a primary whole-house system.
What COP should I plan for?
The seasonal honest number, not the brochure one: 2.5 to 3 across a temperate winter, sliding to 2 in cold snaps and 1.5 on the coldest nights for standard cold-climate units. Sizing the strips or the backup matters most on those nights, which is where the calculator lets you stress-test the choice.
Does replacing baseboard with a heat pump also handle cooling?
Yes - a minisplit is also the air conditioner, and baseboard homes otherwise live on window units. The avoided window units, their summer draw and the open windows they replace stack on top of the winter savings that the calculator prices.
Will one minisplit replace every baseboard in the house?
Rarely all at once: one head heats one open zone well, and closed bedrooms want heads of their own. The common path is hybrid - heat pumps carry the main zones and the existing baseboard stays wired as backup strips for the deep-cold nights the COP 1.5 setting is warning you about.