Furnace or heat pump, which is cheaper to run in the Lower Mainland?

For most Lower Mainland homes, a modern inverter heat pump costs less to run than a gas furnace, often by a meaningful margin, though the gap depends on your home's size, insulation and the current price of electricity versus natural gas.

Why Heat Pumps Win on Running Costs Here

The physics works in our favour. A heat pump moves heat rather than burning fuel to create it, delivering roughly 2 to 3 units of heat energy for every unit of electricity consumed (a coefficient of performance of 2 to 3, or higher on mild days). Metro Vancouver's climate sits between about 0°C and 10°C for most of the heating season, which is exactly where inverter heat pumps are most efficient. A gas furnace, even a high-efficiency condensing model at 96%, converts fuel to heat at a fixed ratio and cannot beat that.

The financial comparison comes down to energy prices. Electricity from BC Hydro is billed per kWh and natural gas from FortisBC per gigajoule, so compare your own recent bills rather than published averages. At current rates, the effective cost of heat from a well-sized heat pump is typically lower than from a gas furnace for most of the heating season. The carbon tax on natural gas, which has risen steadily, widens that gap further. On the coldest nights, below about -5°C, heat pump efficiency drops and a backup element or gas furnace kicks in, which narrows the advantage briefly, but those nights are rare in Richmond, Delta or Vancouver proper and somewhat more common on the North Shore or in the eastern Fraser Valley.

The one situation where gas still wins on running cost is a home with a very old, undersized electrical panel that would need a $3,500 to $6,000 service upgrade before a heat pump can be installed. That upfront cost changes the payback calculation significantly.

For homes currently heated by electric baseboards, the running-cost case for a heat pump is even stronger. A ductless mini-split replacing baseboards typically uses far less electricity for the same heat, and BC Hydro offers a rebate of up to $4,000 for replacing all-electric heat with a qualifying heat pump installed through their Home Performance Contractor Network.

If you heat with gas today and are not income-qualified, there is currently no general CleanBC fuel-switching rebate available in Metro Vancouver, so the decision rests on the running-cost difference and your own timeline for payback on the installation cost ($10,000 to $22,000 for a ducted system, $4,500 to $8,000 for a single-zone ductless). A dual-fuel setup, pairing a heat pump with your existing gas furnace as backup, costs $8,000 to $14,000 and lets you run on electricity most of the season while keeping gas for the coldest days.

Before getting quotes, have a contractor do a proper heat loss calculation rather than sizing off the old furnace. Ask whether permits are included in the price, confirm refrigerant certification for heat pump work, and for any gas connection or disconnection, verify the contractor holds a Technical Safety BC gas contractor licence.

Putting real numbers to your own house takes one site visit, and Vancouver HVAC Pro can line up a no-obligation quote.