Thank you so much for your replies! This quote is from Salesman #3. He is the grandson of the man who started this heating and cooling company in 1945. His dad and 3 brothers all still work there. They were voted "Contractor of the Year" in 2002 and won an "Ethical Business Award" in our area last year or the year before. I thought they would be the most expensive, so I had him come out last, but his quote is the best. (he said he could do gas heat with heat pump,but doesn't recommend it based on our cheap electric. He said you have to set a temp where heat pump turns off and gas kicks in, same as Salesman #2) Last question - Does it seem reasonable that in this area people haven't been spending the money for a higher SEER unit because we only need to cool for 3 months or so? (it takes too long to get back the initial added cost) He said there hasn't been the demand for these units in this area, but I wonder if the stimulus rebate changes that. The $1500 rebate is pretty new, do they just need some time to catch up? Is it worth pushing him to quote me something from Rheem that does qualify? From what I can see on the Rheem website they have a 3 ton system that qualifies, in their high-end systems. It has lots of "bells and whistles" and I can't tell how much more it will cost. This contractor has said that he prefers to "keep it simple". less areas to have problems down the line. Do you think it is worth pursuing this in light of the new rebate?

Also in ATL with a dual fuel HP setup. I would definitely do dual fuel again. Ours is Rheem/Ruud 3.5 ton with 80% 2-stage furnace and VS air handler. Based on the winter this year, I don't know that you can assume a 95% furnace is nuts. But my HP also doesn't put out much heat at or below 30F and is set to shut off there. Newer models do better lower- IIRC ours is only doing 27k BTUs at the low end. The sucky part is getting a big NG bill on top of a $200 power bill. Some part of that is about $30 in pass through cost per month on the NG. So, going 95% would trim that back about ~20%, but you'd have to do the math to see if it was worth the extra up-front cost. The most important thing you can do, IMO, is get a good thermostat. My vote is for the Honeywell Vision Pro or IAQ stats with an outdoor sensor so that the stat can stage the system. Equivalent from one of your listed mfr.s is OK, but I know nothing about them (exc a little about the Carrier Infinity one w/ good dehumidifying setup). I'd also get one of the deep media filters rather than the standard dinky ones- Aprilaire or Honeywell. I'd want to know about the mfr. warranty on the various parts for comparison's sake. I'd also get my ducts blown to test/fix leakage. No point in getting super efficient equipment if the heat's ending up in the attic. I also noticed my hot lineset in the attic on IR photos I took a couple months ago. Haven't concluded yet whether it ought to be fully insulated for HP. I can tell you who originally put in the equipment (douchebag) and who finished the job and has serviced it (good folks) if you want to e-mail me.

Again, thanks guys for the info and site. My seasonal rate posted above was stated on the monthly bill but if I understand you correctly I need to divide my last monthly bill by the number of kWh used for that period : $121.21 / 1096 kWh used = 0.11 cents If so then no need to be too jealous ;) I too understand that today's newer version of HPs are much more efficient and warmer, last month while at a buddies playing poker the terp outside was 45F and his heat pump was too warm for me (therm set up to 76F for cold natured granddad). But how it performs when 25-30F outside is another story and no doubt his ele back-up kicks in then. When my oil man suggested oil back-up he named a "Kurr" (sp?) furnace brand that he says is very oil efficient. New Central AC will most likely be Carrier. You bring up good points about the duct size, these ducts were installed when the house was remodeled back in the late 80s and are well insulated, hopefully the sizes are right for HP. Right now we use 2 oil filled ele radiators in that Fla room at night to save on furnace oil, they do well and not too expensive on the ele bill, probably keep them no matter what route we take. Thanks again for you thoughts and help, have several months to put it all together. I'll save and review your kind advice above. Any particular HP brand you like, Carrier ok?

I'm leaning towards just heat pump with heat strips. That should be fine for your area. If you plan on keeping it that warm in the house as you say in your OP, I would get the Bosch Inverter heat pump as it produces heat clear down to about 5-6 degrees ambient and very efficient at what it does. Then use the strip heat as you need it. I don't know that you'll find a contractor though for this for a new construction job as Bosch just recently came to the Houston market a few months ago. The distributor network for Bosch is in it's infancy... so there are pros and cons for choosing this brand. For what it does / how it does it --- it's a game changer for my market. (Katy, Texas area) As a comparison --- an average run of the mill single speed heat pump will probably struggle once temps drop into the 20's for any significant amount of time. They are efficient when compared to strip heat (utility bill cost wise) but there are higher limitations with those. I've gotten email notifications from my electric provider that they are estimating my next electric bill at less than $50 for November. This may wind up being my lowest electric bill ever for my power rate of 12 cents per KWH. With that said, I keep it quite chilly during the winter and my house is all electric (no gas at all). I shut it off at night and really just use it to take the chill out of the house in the morning. If it gets really cold here, I will probably just heat the main part of the house over night --- as I have it attached to a 4 zone duct system. (This is to explain the how and why my electric bill is so low -- design of the HVAC system is a big part of it.)