Written October 2026 with our current installed prices and this winter’s Northern Virginia utility rates.
In summer, a heat pump and an air conditioner are the same machine. Both use a compressor and refrigerant to pull heat out of your house and dump it outside, and at the same efficiency rating they cool the same and cost the same to run. The difference is winter. A heat pump runs that cycle in reverse and heats the house too. An air conditioner sits idle and leaves the heating to a furnace.
So the real question is how you want to heat. A heat pump system, the outdoor unit plus the air handler inside, runs $8,499 to $21,650 installed from us, by size and efficiency. From about $142 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. An air conditioner on its own, keeping the furnace you have, runs $5,942 to $14,450. From about $99 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit.
If your house has gas, there’s a third answer most people never hear about: put a heat pump where the air conditioner sits and keep the furnace for the coldest nights. That’s dual fuel, and if Washington Gas is your gas company, it pays a rebate for exactly that swap.
Heat pump vs air conditioner, side by side
| Air conditioner | Heat pump | |
|---|---|---|
| Cools the house | Yes | Yes, the same way |
| Heats the house | No. A furnace or electric heat does that | Yes, by running the cooling cycle in reverse |
| The indoor half | A coil on top of your furnace | An air handler with backup heat strips, or a coil on a gas furnace (dual fuel) |
| Efficiency ratings | SEER2 for cooling | SEER2 for cooling, plus HSPF2 for heating |
| Federal minimum in Virginia | 14.3 SEER2 (13.8 for systems of 3.75 tons and up) | 14.3 SEER2 and 7.5 HSPF2 |
| ENERGY STAR label | None. ENERGY STAR stopped labeling central air conditioners on February 1, 2026 | Yes, at 15.2 SEER2 and 7.8 HSPF2 or better |
| Runs | Cooling season | All year |
| Typical life | 15 to 20 years | 10 to 15 years |
| Federal tax credit in 2026 | None | None. The 25C credit ended with 2025 |
| Washington Gas rebate | None | $1,400 or $2,000 when it replaces a central AC in a gas house (dual fuel) |
If you remember one row, make it the first: the cooling is identical. Everything that separates them happens once you turn the thermostat to heat.
Is a heat pump the same as an AC?
Mechanically, almost. ENERGY STAR describes a ducted heat pump as a central air conditioner that also runs in reverse to heat the house in winter, and that’s the right way to picture it. Both have a compressor, an outdoor coil, an indoor coil and a loop of refrigerant between them. In cooling mode the refrigerant soaks up heat at the indoor coil and lets it go at the outdoor one, which is why the air blowing off the outdoor unit on a July afternoon is hot.
A heat pump adds a part called a reversing valve. Switch it and the refrigerant flows the other way: the outdoor coil pulls heat out of the winter air, and the indoor coil hands it to your house. There’s heat in outdoor air even at 20°F, and a heat pump moves it instead of making it. That’s why it can deliver more heat than the electricity it uses: on a 47°F day, the variable-speed heat pump in our numbers below puts out about 3.9 units of heat for every unit of electricity. Add a defrost cycle to melt the frost that builds on the outdoor coil in cold, damp weather, and that’s the whole difference.
The difference is winter: how a heat pump heats here
Every heat pump makes less heat as it gets colder outside, right when the house wants more. At some point on a cold night a house needs more heat than the heat pump can make on its own, and something fills the gap. In an all-electric house that’s the electric heat strips in the air handler, the “aux heat” on your thermostat (aux vs emergency heat, explained). In a gas house set up for dual fuel, it’s the furnace.
How much of a Northern Virginia winter is that cold? Less than people think. We pulled every hourly temperature at Dulles for the last five heating seasons from NOAA and weighted each hour by how much heat a house needs at that temperature. About 30% of a normal winter’s heating happens below freezing, and only 3% below 17°F. More than half, 56%, happens between freezing and 50°F, the weather a heat pump handles best.
Not every heat pump fades at the same rate. A variable-speed model holds its output in the cold far better than a basic single-stage one, and the cold-climate models go further: Trane’s new 20 TruComfort Cold Climate is rated to hold its full heating capacity down to 5°F and keep running to -20°F. Which ones hold up best, brand by brand, and more on heat pumps in a Virginia winter.
Heat pump vs AC running cost: a tie in summer, a utility question in winter
Cooling is a tie. A heat pump and an air conditioner with the same SEER2 rating use the same electricity to cool the same house, so your summer bill doesn’t care which one you pick.
Heating is where they split, and in Northern Virginia the answer turns on who sends your electric bill. Here’s what heat costs over a real winter, worked out by the calculator behind our dual fuel guide from this October’s Washington Gas, Dominion and NOVEC rates and those five winters of hourly Dulles temperatures:
| Heating with | Dominion customer | NOVEC member |
|---|---|---|
| A new 95% gas furnace (the usual partner for an AC) | $1.48 | $1.48 |
| An older 80% gas furnace | $1.76 | $1.76 |
| A variable-speed heat pump, heat strips below what it can carry | $1.67 | $1.30 |
| Dual fuel: that heat pump with a 95% gas furnace | $1.38 | $1.17 |
| Electric heat strips alone (an AC with electric heat) | $4.73 | $3.68 |
What it costs to put 100,000 Btu of heat into the house, averaged over five real winters (2021-22 to 2025-26) at October 2026 rates: every usage charge, rider and tax on one more therm or kilowatt hour, the monthly customer charges left out. Gas from Washington Gas.
What that means for the choice in front of you:
- No gas at the house: a heat pump is the easy call. Against an air conditioner with electric heat strips, it heats for about 65% less, with either electric company.
- Gas, and Dominion sends your electric bill: a heat pump alone costs about 12% more to heat with than a new 95% gas furnace, because Dominion’s winter power costs more per unit of heat than Washington Gas’s gas. Dual fuel beats both: about 7% less than the furnace alone, with the heat pump handing off to gas below about 38°F.
- Gas, and you’re a NOVEC member: NOVEC’s power is cheaper, so a heat pump alone heats for about 13% less than a new gas furnace, and dual fuel about 21% less, handing off only below about 16°F.
- An older 80% furnace you’re keeping: a heat pump in the AC’s spot does the most good here, cutting the cost of heat by about 16% on Dominion and 33% on NOVEC, because the gas it saves is the gas that old furnace was wasting.
Rates move. These are October 2026’s, re-checked at the utilities the day we wrote this, and the dual fuel guide shows the math and how to run it on your own bills. If your gas bill says Columbia Gas, which serves parts of Chantilly and Herndon, your gas costs more than Washington Gas’s, and the heat pump comes out further ahead.
Heat pump vs AC with a gas furnace: the dual fuel option
If your house heats with gas and the air conditioner is the thing that died, this is the case dual fuel was made for. The heat pump goes on the pad where the AC was and cools exactly like it. The furnace stays. All winter the thermostat runs whichever one makes heat for less at that outdoor temperature, and the two never heat at the same time.
You pay the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner, not for a second system. And Washington Gas pays toward it: $1,400 if you keep a furnace that’s 90% efficient or better, $2,000 if a new 95% furnace goes in with it. The fine print: the heat pump has to replace a central air conditioner, not another heat pump, and rate at least 15.2 SEER2 and 7.5 HSPF2; you have to be a Washington Gas customer; and a contractor in Washington Gas’s network files it within 30 days of the install.
Where the handoff sits is the setting that matters most, and it depends on your electric company: about 38°F in a Dominion house and about 16°F in a NOVEC house, with a variable-speed heat pump and a 95% furnace. How we worked that out, and how to check yours. Dual fuel isn’t on our online estimator; we price it at the house, because it depends on the furnace and ductwork you already have.
Heat pump vs air conditioner cost, installed
Straight from our price book, the same one our free estimator runs on. Each range runs from a small, basic system to a big, high-efficiency one.
| What you’re buying | Installed, our price book | Monthly, from |
|---|---|---|
| Air conditioner alone (outdoor unit and coil; your furnace stays) | $5,942 to $14,450 | $99/mo at 0% APR for 60 months |
| Heat pump system (heat pump and air handler, all electric) | $8,499 to $21,650 | $142/mo at 0% APR for 60 months |
| Gas furnace and air conditioner together | $8,898 to $23,000 | $148/mo at 0% APR for 60 months |
| Heat pump with your gas furnace (dual fuel) | Priced at your house; Washington Gas pays $1,400 or $2,000 toward it | With your quote |
Monthly figures: 60mo @ 0% APR on each starting price, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Longer plans lower the payment and cost more in total. The lender sets the final terms.
Line them up the right way. If only the cooling half of a gas house is due, compare the air conditioner alone with a heat pump in its place: what you’re weighing is the heat pump’s premium over the AC, less the Washington Gas rebate. If everything is due, compare the furnace and AC together with a heat pump system. Those two ranges sit close, and an entry heat pump system starts a little below an entry furnace and AC. The bigger difference then is what each costs to heat with, above.
These ranges cover every brand, size and efficiency we carry. Your price comes in writing, for your house, before anything’s decided. Get a range for your own house in a couple of minutes, or see a heat pump and a gas furnace priced side by side. How financing works. Deals we’re running now are on our offers page.
How long does a heat pump last vs an air conditioner?
Plan on 10 to 15 years for a heat pump and 15 to 20 for an air conditioner. The heat pump usually goes first, and for a plain reason: it works all year, so it piles up winter hours an air conditioner never sees. Trane says exactly that. Here’s what the people who build them, and the Department of Energy, say:
| Source | Heat pump | Central air conditioner |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Energy, federal buying guide | 15 years | 18 years in the Southeast, Virginia included |
| Trane | 12 to 15 years | About 15 years |
| Carrier | 10 to 15 years, often 20 for a high-quality unit | 15 to 20 years |
In a gas house the air conditioner isn’t alone: the furnace is a second machine on its own clock, and the same Department of Energy guide plans on 21 years for one. ENERGY STAR’s rule of thumb is to start weighing a replacement once a heat pump or air conditioner passes 10 years, or a furnace passes 15.
What shortens it here: a refrigerant charge that’s off or too little airflow, which makes the compressor work harder every hour it runs; a unit sized too big, which short-cycles; a clogged filter; leaves, mulch and snow packed against the outdoor coil, which a heat pump needs clear to defrost; and skipped tune-ups. What stretches it: a load calculation before the install, the charge set by measurement, a check every spring and fall, and dual fuel, which hands the coldest, hardest hours to the furnace.
When we’d pick a heat pump, and when an air conditioner
- No gas in the house: a heat pump, every time. An air conditioner with electric heat strips is the costliest way on this page to heat a house.
- Gas, a furnace with years left in it, and the AC just died: a heat pump in the AC’s spot, if you’re staying. You get the same cooling, cheaper heat for the mild half of the winter, and the Washington Gas rebate if the furnace is 90% or better.
- Gas, and the furnace and AC are both old: replace them together. Usually that’s a new furnace with a heat pump (dual fuel). If you’d rather drop gas, a heat pump system does the whole job, and when the furnace is the only thing burning gas, going all electric also ends Washington Gas’s $15.50 monthly system charge.
- An older 80% furnace that still runs fine: a heat pump in the AC’s spot, so the furnace only works the coldest nights. It won’t get the Washington Gas rebate, which wants a 90% furnace.
- A house you’re selling soon, or a rental: an air conditioner, like for like. It’s the cheaper swap, and the next owner won’t count it against you.
Whichever it is, the install matters more than the badge: sized to the house with a real load calculation, refrigerant charge and airflow set at your house, and the thermostat set up for the system you have. Comparing quotes? Our rankings of the best heat pump brands and best HVAC brands go brand by brand.
Heat pump vs AC: questions people ask us
What’s the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
A heat pump can run its refrigerant cycle in reverse, so it heats your house in winter as well as cooling it in summer. An air conditioner only cools, and a furnace or electric heat does the heating. In cooling mode they work the same way and, at the same SEER2 rating, cost the same to run.
Does a heat pump cool as well as an air conditioner?
Yes. Same size and SEER2, same cooling, same summer bill, and it takes humidity out of the air the same way. Nothing about the reversing valve costs you comfort in July. The cooling difference you might notice comes from the model, not the type: a variable-speed unit of either kind runs longer at low speed and dries the air better.
Is a heat pump more expensive than an air conditioner?
To buy, size for size, yes, because it does two jobs. Swap a heat pump in for the AC in a gas house and you pay the difference, less any Washington Gas rebate. Replacing a whole system, an entry heat pump system starts a little below an entry furnace and AC in our price book. Our installed prices are in the table above.
Is a heat pump more efficient than an air conditioner?
For cooling, no: at the same SEER2 they use the same electricity. For heating, a heat pump moves heat instead of making it, so on a 47°F day a good variable-speed one delivers about 3.9 units of heat for every unit of electricity. Over a winter here that’s about 65% cheaper heat than electric strips. Against a gas furnace it depends on your electric company.
Is a heat pump worth it?
With no gas at the house, yes, without question. With gas, as dual fuel, usually yes: in our five-winter numbers it heated for less than the furnace alone with either electric company, and Washington Gas pays toward it. Dropping gas entirely pays off on NOVEC; on Dominion a heat pump alone costs a little more to heat with than a new gas furnace. Moving within a year or two? Replace the AC like for like.
How long does a heat pump last?
About 10 to 15 years, a little less than an air conditioner’s 15 to 20, because a heat pump runs all year. The Department of Energy’s buying guide plans on 15. A good install, a check every spring and fall and an outdoor coil kept clear push it toward the long end.
Can I replace my air conditioner with a heat pump and keep my gas furnace?
Yes. That’s dual fuel. The heat pump goes where the AC was, its coil sits on the furnace like the AC’s did, and a thermostat set up for dual fuel decides which one heats. It’s the setup Washington Gas’s $1,400 rebate is built for, if your furnace is 90% or better.
Do I need new ductwork or electrical work for a heat pump?
Usually not new ducts: a central heat pump uses the same ducts as your AC. The ducts matter more, though, because heat pump air comes out warm rather than hot, so a leaky or undersized run that a furnace could push through shows up as a cold room. An all-electric system’s heat strips need a big electrical circuit, so we check the panel before we quote.
How can I tell if I have a heat pump or an air conditioner?
Three quick checks. In winter, with the heat on, a heat pump’s outdoor unit runs and an AC’s sits still. A heat pump’s thermostat usually has an Emergency Heat or Aux Heat setting. And the model number on the outdoor unit’s nameplate, looked up on the maker’s site, will say which it is. Read it to us when you call and we’ll tell you.
Is there still a tax credit for a heat pump or an air conditioner?
No. The federal 25C credit ended for anything placed in service after December 31, 2025 (what’s left, in more detail). The money now is local, led by Washington Gas’s dual fuel rebate, and whatever we’re running is on our offers page.
Does a heat pump need more maintenance than an air conditioner?
A little. An air conditioner needs a check before summer. A heat pump works both seasons, so it gets one before summer and one before winter. Keep leaves, snow and shrubs off the outdoor unit so it can breathe and defrost, and change the filter on schedule.
Do you service heat pumps and air conditioners you didn’t install?
Yes, every major brand, whoever put it in. The diagnostic visit is $99, and you get the problem and the price in writing before any work starts. What common heat pump repairs cost.
Still deciding? Bring us the question, or the quote
The short version: no gas, get a heat pump. Gas, and the AC is what’s due: a heat pump in its place, for a house you’re keeping. Selling soon: an AC like for like.
Holding someone else’s quote? We’ll give you a free second opinion on it. Ready for yours: call (703) 997-9757 or book online. Our heating page covers the furnaces and heat pumps we install, and deals we’re running now are on our offers page.
More straight answers from our crew: how long a water heater lasts, how long a furnace lasts, how long an AC unit lasts and what size AC unit you need.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing installs Trane, Carrier, Rheem and Mitsubishi Electric heat pumps and air conditioners across Northern Virginia. SwiftPro is a Trane Comfort Specialist, a Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Contractor and a Rheem Pro Partner, and we’re Carrier experts. Family owned, BBB Accredited with an A rating, 24/7 emergency service, Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276, two years of our labor included on installs, and rated 5.0 stars across 1,131 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook. Read the reviews.
