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A new RMI report finds that 75% of U.S. homes — roughly 109 million — could adopt heat pumps using existing winter grid 'headroom,' cutting electricity bills and emissions without requiring new power plants.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**RMI report** finds that 75% of U.S. homes — roughly 109 million — could adopt heat pumps using existing winter 'headroom' in the grid without overloading it.

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**Ryan Shea**, manager on RMI's buildings team, said winter grid capacity exists because gas-heated homes relieve summer-peak strain, letting heat pumps add load without new buildout.

A new report just busted another myth about heat pumps — SkimNews

By Grist · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-10-15

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RMI report finds that 75% of U.S. homes — roughly 109 million — could adopt heat pumps using existing winter 'headroom' in the grid without overloading it.
Ryan Shea, manager on RMI's buildings team, said winter grid capacity exists because gas-heated homes relieve summer-peak strain, letting heat pumps add load without new buildout.
Adopting heat pumps at that scale would slash electric bills by over 20% in some states and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, per RMI.
Heat pumps run three to four times more efficiently than electric resistance heating, and households switching from resistance heat could save an average of $1,530 a year, per the think tank's prior research.
Maine blew past its goal of installing 100,000 heat pumps two years ahead of schedule, cited as proof that state-led adoption can move quickly.
Grid headroom is uneven — Phoenix summers demand far more AC than Boston's, and local generation mixes vary — but utilities are pairing renewables with battery farms and experimenting with EV fleets as backup power.

Why it matters: If RMI's analysis holds, roughly 109 million U.S. homes can switch to heat pumps on existing infrastructure, which could cut electric bills by over 20% in some states while displacing fossil fuel furnaces and inefficient electric resistance heaters. That turns a home-energy upgrade into a measurable household-affordability story — exactly the kind of bipartisan win that RMI's Ryan Shea is now urging policymakers to put into affordability plans.