Monday, February 04, 2019

What is the cost to run the air conditioner?

Melbourne recently sweltered with high temperatures in the 40s. Often in the high temperatures we head out for the day to the shopping centre, the movies, or the beach. But this time we decided to stay home and turn on the air conditioner.

The question I had is just how much did this cost.

The air conditioner was on from around 10 am on the morning of the 25th of January 2018, until after  7pm at night. At 10 am the temperature was around 37 degrees and peaked around 2 pm at 44 degrees. Certainly exceptional weather.

The following graph shows our electricity usage on the 25th of January 2019.


Our electricity usage for the day was 39 kWh at a cost of $8.68. Our normal average daily electricity use is around 5 kWh.

On an hourly basis our energy usage is often under 0.2 kWh per hour. With the air condition on usage was between 3.1 and 3.3 kWh per hour. The air conditioner thus uses around 3 kWh per hour of electricity.

In terms of usage, if we assume our average usage of around 5 kWh per day, we used around 34 kWh or extra electricity over the 9-10 hours. In terms of cost, if we assume 34 kWh or the 39 kWh was due to the air conditioner, the cost was around $7.56 to keep cool for the day or around 75 cents per hour.

The following graph shows our electricity usage for the month of January. Even though there were other hot days, we often try to keep our usage of the air conditioner low if we can.


For some time I'd wondered how much the extra electricity would cost compare to going out. Going out is OK, but often you end up buying things, or eating out. Staying home and paying for the extra electricity really isn't a bad option. It's probably the most cost effective option.

I hope you find this information as useful as I have.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au




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