New Hampshire Pays $2,000 a Ton to Rip Out Baseboard Heat

New Hampshire's average power price reached 26.6 cents a kilowatt-hour in July, up 16.7% in a year, and Eversource raised its default supply rate another 23.94% on August 1. In a White Mountains chalet heated by baseboard, the bill goes to whoever holds the meter. On a lease that's the tenant. A short-term rental leaves it with the owner for booked nights and empty ones alike.

So the heat pump is a host's renovation and nobody else's. NHSaves pays $2,000 a ton to replace working resistance heat on systems installed by December 30. A three-ton system in Bartlett nets out near $9,000, and at roughly $1,100 a year of saved power it repays in about eight years of hosting.

The spreadsheet misses two ways to lose this deal. The resistance bonus needs pre-verification, so the baseboard has to be working when the inspector comes. A demo crew that strips it in week one costs $5,250. And the Kearsarge Lighting Precinct, which covers part of Bartlett, admits paying guests only in owner-occupied homes. Our bid is $385,000, under the ZIP's $420,000 median, on a three-bedroom that still runs its original baseboard, outside the precinct line and on Eversource's wires. We'd have both maps in hand before the inspection contingency ends.

NHSaves puts a typical baseboard home's heat-pump saving at $1,000 a year. Scaled to August's supply price, that is about $1,100, which implies a baseboard bill near $2,200 at NHSaves' 50% ceiling. The Energy Department's 10% setback figure on that bill is $220. Paybacks run before service visits and give the cooling nothing. A full winter calendar shortens the heat pump's clock and lengthens the thermostats'. We modeled every row from NHSaves, DOE, a published installed-cost range and Mysa's price.

Minut — A sensor that watches a rental's noise, crowding and climate without a camera.

One wall-mounted device reports noise levels, a crowding signal from the number of devices on the premises, cigarette smoke, motion, temperature and humidity, and it records no audio. Alerts reach the host's phone in real time. The climate readings matter most in a house nobody checks between stays, where they flag a pipe heading for a freeze or humidity building toward mold. However, echo-prone rooms fool the microphone into false noise alerts. With no door sensors or video, it supplements a security system and replaces nothing. The sensor is a separate one-time purchase the plans page doesn't price.

Starter covers one property for $5 a month, billed at $60 a year. Standard runs $10 a month per home and adds the Airbnb connection. Pro, at $15, adds PMS integrations and unlimited data history. Paid only.