Heat Pump Driving Up Your Electric Bill in Vermont?

May 10, 2026

A heat pump that has driven up your Vermont electric bill is almost always one of five things: dirty coils reducing efficiency, dirty filters reducing airflow, low refrigerant, backup electric heat strips running too often, or aggressive thermostat settings. Dirty system is the most common and cheapest to fix. Annual cleaning typically saves 10-20% on heat pump operating costs.

The five causes ranked

1. Dirty coil and filter (~40% of cases). Biofilm and dust restrict airflow and heat transfer. The system runs longer to hit setpoint. The longer runtime is the cost increase. Fix: $199 cleaning, recovers most of the loss immediately.

2. Backup electric heat strips running (~25%). Many Vermont heat pumps have electric backup heat for cold snaps below -5°F. The backup uses 3-4 times more electricity per BTU than the heat pump itself. If your unit triggers backup heat frequently or unnecessarily, your bill spikes. Fix: check that the auxiliary heat threshold is set correctly (typically -5°F to 5°F), and verify the system is not falsely calling for backup heat.

3. Low refrigerant (~15%). Reduced capacity means more runtime to deliver the same heat. Slow leaks can build over months without other symptoms. Fix: diagnostic visit ($129), refrigerant leak repair if confirmed.

4. Aggressive thermostat setpoints (~10%). Setting heat at 73°F instead of 68°F can increase consumption 30-40%. Setting cool at 68°F instead of 73°F same story. Fix: reduce setpoint aggressiveness by 2-3 degrees and observe.

5. Sizing or insulation issue (~10%). Some Vermont homes have heat pumps undersized for the load. Fixed by adding more heads, upgrading to higher-capacity units, or improving air sealing/insulation.

How to diagnose your own bill

Compare your bill to:

Last year, same month. Should not have changed more than 10% absent a rate change.
A neighbor's bill (with similar home size). If significantly higher, your system is the problem.
The previous quarter. Heat pumps draw more in deep winter and summer; shoulder season bills should be much lower.

If your bill has jumped without any of these explanations, book a diagnostic.

What we can fix

In a single cleaning visit, we can resolve cause #1 (dirty system) and confirm or rule out cause #3 (low refrigerant, though we cannot recharge ourselves). Causes #2 and #4 are setting adjustments. Cause #5 is structural and outside our scope.

What you can do today

Wash your filters
Rinse your outdoor coil with a garden hose (low pressure, from inside out)
Check that aux heat is set to trigger only below your typical winter low
Reduce setpoint by 2 degrees and watch the next bill

Book a cleaning

Book in 60 seconds. $199 first indoor unit, typically pays back within a few billing cycles.