Most people save on their summer cooling bills when they switch to a heat pump. But this usually is because they've switched out an old (inefficient) A/C with a brand new (more efficient) heat pump. Put more directly: a new high-end A/C and a new heat pump will probably cost about the same to run in the summer months.   If you want to lower your summer cooling bills, the most important thing to think about is the efficiency rating (called the SEER rating) of the appliance you’re buying. The higher the SEER rating, the lower your bills will be. Of course, as you move up in efficiency rating, the upfront cost rises, too!  You have to find the right balance between lowering upfront and ongoing costs for you. A contractor or Retrofit Advisor can run the numbers across different models to help you make an informed choice for your home and wallet.  Finally, since heat pumps both heat and cool, you have to think about heat pump costs over the whole year. So, will you save money by switching to a heat pump? To answer whether you'll save or not, we collected the before and after utility bills of 10 Toronto homes that switched to heat pumps. Our big finding? It depends! We're not hiding anything by saying that: most houses did save money, but some houses saw (small) increases in their bills. To get into the weeds and to make sure you end up on the right side of the savings equation, read our findings here.

We won't sugarcoat it: a heat pump will probably cost more upfront than an A/C. But that's not the whole picture. With a heat pump, you buy two appliances in one. Heat pumps can replace both your A/C and your furnace. In other words, comparing heat pump prices to A/Cs is not an apples-to-apples comparison. Also, part of the challenge with estimating how much a heat pump will cost you is that it's kind of like asking, "How much does a car cost?" It depends! How fancy a car do you want? How often do you drive? Those types of questions are perfectly relevant for heat pumps, too, which makes it quite difficult to give an accurate cost estimate without some info on your home, needs, and behaviour. There are incentives and financing to help bring the upfront cost of a heat pump down, too. More info on that in the next question 😊

Yes! Torontonians usually get $1K-$2.5K back on their heat pump through the Home Renovation Savings Program. There are no incentives for A/Cs. The Home Renovation Savings Program makes the cost of a heat pump comparable to the cost of a mid to high-end A/C.    There are heat pump financing options through contractors and the City of Toronto’s Home Energy Loan Program. You should never have to take on another mortgage or accept a lien to get financed for a heat pump!   We did a whole webinar on the Home Renovation Savings Program! The recording is here if you'd like to get into the weeds of what's covered and how to make sure you're eligible.

Yes! A heat pump works efficiently all summer long. Heat pumps are becoming the go-to choice for cooling in Asia, where “really hot” means something very different than Canada.

Not necessarily! Your heat pump can team up with your furnace in what’s called a hybrid system. Like a hybrid car, a hybrid system switches between electric and gas-powered systems. The typical hybrid HVAC system looks like this: your cold climate heat pump handles all of the cooling and most of the heating. When winter temperatures drop below a certain point (usually below –15C, but your heat pump installer will decide the exact temperature), the system automatically switches over to your gas furnace or boiler as backup.   Fair warning: a hybrid setup works best if your furnace or boiler is relatively new (roughly 5 years old or newer). An aging furnace paired with a shiny new heat pump is like putting a brand-new engine into a rusted-out frame! Before going hybrid, two things are worth knowing: Your furnace's age matters. If it's getting up there in years, it might make more sense to replace the whole system at once. Your home needs a quick evaluation. A Retrofit Advisor can tell you whether your heat pump can handle the coldest Toronto nights on its own, or whether keeping your furnace or boiler around as backup is the right play. Since your furnace or boiler uses most of the gas your home burns in a year (by a mile!), fully replacing your gas appliances with electric ones is the most impactful thing you can do to reduce your carbon pollution. Homes that go electric can reduce their carbon pollution by 1.5-4 tons of CO2 every year.

Heat pumps are quieter than A/Cs (in general!). To give you a sense of what we mean, the cheaper A/Cs can be as loud as a vacuum cleaner running in the next room. Mid-range A/Cs sound more like the background hum of a busy restaurant, and only the most expensive A/Cs get close to the gentle sound of light rain.   Heat pumps flip that range. Even a budget-friendly heat pump sits around that restaurant-chatter level. A mid or higher-end model? You might not even realize it's on—that's a real upgrade for most homes. If your current A/C sounds like a vacuum firing up, switching to a heat pump could bring some much-needed peace and quiet to your deck or porch.

Researching heat pumps probably isn’t your ideal Saturday afternoon! We hear you. The questions can feel overwhelming:  How does a heat pump work?  What about my existing furnace, ducts, or electrical panel?  Do I need someone to come check out my home first, and if so, who do I even call?  How do I make sure the whole process goes smoothly?  You don't have to figure this out alone. We put together a free Guidebook that walks you through all of this. It's written in plain language, and we made sure there is zero confusing HVAC jargon. From understanding the basics to avoiding the most common installation headaches, the Guidebook is your roadmap to getting your first heat pump, stress-free.