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Ever wonder how much of your total energy bill is from your air conditioning unit? According to a study performed by eia.gov, about 12% of your energy bill is from your air conditioner.
About 87% of Americans own and use an air conditioner. 60% of those homes have central AC while 23% have window units (4% have both). The average cost of using AC was $265/year or roughly 12% of the total yearly energy costs.
As you can imagine, this cost varies greatly depending on what region of the US you are in. Those in the hot an humid southeastern US had an average AC cost of $525. While those in the marine region of the northwest had an average cost of $60.
In the hot-humid region, where air conditioning was used by 94% of households, air conditioning made up 27% of home energy expenditures. By comparison, in the marine region, where nearly half of households did not use air conditioning at all, air conditioning made up just 2% of home energy expenditures.
The type of AC used can effect costs as well. Those with central AC had an average cost of $299 while those with window units had an average cost of $156. However, since homes with central AC were typically much larger, the average cost per square foot of a window unit was twice that of central AC.
Some households stay comfortable in the summer by using evaporative coolers, dehumidifiers, or ceiling fans instead of or in addition to air-conditioning equipment, and in 2015, households using these devices spent $161, $128, and $36 on average to operate them, respectively.
