Yearly AC Operating Costs

Reducing Your Yearly AC Operating Costs

Air conditioner efficiency is vital to keep your cooling costs down. According to the Energy Star website, almost half of your energy bill is spent on cooling your home. The average homeowner will spend about $1,000 per year on heating and cooling. For us here in South Florida, we of course do not use the heater too often; however, our air conditioners run all year long. This can create a lot of wear and tear on our AC units. It is important to keep up with regular air conditioner maintenance to ensure that your AC unit is running as efficiently as it can.

Calculating Your FPL Bill Charges

Your bill is calculated by measuring the kilowatt hours (kWh) used each month. The kWh used each month is determined with a meter reading. The energy usage portion of your bill then lets you know how many kWh you have used for that month, the service days in the month, and the kWh per day. It also gives you a comparison to the same month last year. In addition to the charges for electricity, you will notice other charges including: storm charge, gross receipts tax, franchise charge, and a utility tax; some of those are fixed charges and some charges (like taxes) are variable depending on the electricity charges. The bill also breaks down fuel and non-fuel charges for you.

Purchasing a Newer, More Energy Efficient Air Conditioner Saves on Your Monthly Cooling Costs

Newer and more efficient air conditioners are being developed all the time. When you purchase one of these new air conditioners with a high SEER rating and an Energy Star approved unit, they can pay for themselves in less than 4 years. Considering that the average air conditioner lasts for 18 years, you will enjoy substantial savings for many years to come. SEER stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. Air conditioner efficiency and rating is governed by U.S. laws and regulated by the Department of Energy. New air conditioners must have a SEER rating of 13 or higher. If you have an older air conditioner, and you are not ready to purchase a new one yet, there are steps that we can take to upgrade an older air conditioner and improve the SEER efficiency rating.

How Much Will a New Air Conditioner Save on Your FPL Bill?

FPL has a SEER Rating Calculator that will allow you to calculate how much a new air conditioner will save you on your yearly air conditioner operating costs. It is a simple form that does the calculations for you. All you need to know is the size of the air conditioner in tons or BTUs, the SEER rating of your current air conditioner, and the SEER rating of the new air conditioner. In addition to the annual savings, it also lets you know what your FPL air conditioner rebate amount will be.