Claims by Mr. Carrione and the New England Fuel Institute regarding the messages they used to convince survey participants about the downsides of installing heat pumps don’t hold up.

Three of the messages pushed by Mr. Carrione and NEFI in the article – that heat pumps are expensive ($20,00 or more), don’t work well in extreme cold, and will burden the electric grid – are significantly misleading.

• The cost: In October 2021, we had a high efficiency Mitsubishi h2i model heat pump installed in our home. The installation cost, with three heads (36,000 btu), was $12,558, $,1,500 of which was for a 12-year, full-service/product coverage warranty.

• Heat pumps don’t work well in extreme cold: The h2i model claimed to provide heat down to 15 below zero. I admit, I was somewhat skeptical. One 18,000 btu head not only provided heat to the first floor on a night when the outside temperature was 11 below zero, it kept the upstairs bedrooms comfortable with no supplemental heat. Our first floor temperature was 66 when we woke in the morning with the heat pump set at 70 degrees.

• Electricity supply: We signed up with a solar farm last fall and all of our kwh in April and May came from a solar farm in China, Maine. We are billed at a 15 percent discount from what CMP would have billed us if the power was coming from them.

Facts Matter.

Bernie Filieo
Raymond


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