Heat Pump - Stage 1 vs Stage 2 efficiency question

Feedback & Discussion
1

General info:
New custom home - 2 months old
Fully open celled foam in walls and bottom side of roof
2 Stage Heat Pump with Aux Electric heat - No furnace
Whole Home Dehumidifier installed as well
Location - Central Alabama

I’m seeing long stage 1 run times when outside temps are in the 30’s, like 2-3hrs. I’m also seeing electric bills more than I expected. so I have a simple question.

From a technical perspective, if stage 1 runs at 70% capacity and stage 2 runs at 100% capacity, wouldn’t it be cheaper to run Stage 2 for half the time as stage 1 ?

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2

I think it really depends on a lot of things. I couldn’t answer the energy question - you would need to consult the manual and/or do some analysis of your actual energy usage and capacity.

I looked around and found this article to be helpful: What is Two-Stage Cooling | Heat Pump or Air Conditioner | Goodman