How to calculate the energy consumption by air conditioner?

An air conditioner is one of the most power-consuming electrical appliances in an Indian home. The more the number of ACs installed in your house, the more inflated your electricity bill can be. However, in today’s day and age, brands are increasingly paying heed and producing AC units that are energy efficient. Its power-saving capacity is based on the Indian seasonal energy efficiency ratio (ISEER) star rating provided by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in India.

ISEER is defined as the total quantity of hotness that an AC can extract from a room in a year, divided by cooling seasonal energy consumption (CSEC) or power consumed during this process. This system takes Indian weather conditions into account and calculates how energy efficient your air conditioning unit is when the outside temperature is between 24 to 43 degrees. So if you have just bought a window, split or standing air conditioner at zero down payment, read on to know how to determine its power usage.

Power consumption

The amount of electricity that an air conditioner utilises is dependent on its type. Here is a table detailing the same: 

Star rating	Tonnage	Split AC	Window AC
5	1 ton	0.98 Kw/hr	N.A
1.5 ton	1.49 Kw/hr	N.A
2 ton	1.73 Kw/hr	N.A
3	1 ton	1.09 Kw/hr	1.15 Kw/hr
1.5 ton	1.56 Kw/hr	1.67 Kw/hr
2 ton	1.93 Kw/hr	N.A.
2	1 ton	1.15 Kw/hr	1.25 Kw/hr
1.5 ton	1.7 Kw/hr	1.74 Kw/hr
2 ton	2.21 Kw/hr	N.A

Calculating the electricity cost of running the AC

In order to compute how much electricity your air conditioner consumes in a month, you will need:

1. Kilowatt rating of the unit detailing the number of watts consumed per hour
2. Number of hours for which the AC is switched on in a day
3. The cost of a unit of electricity in your state

Let us suppose you have a 3 star AC of 1.5Kw that runs for 8 hours every day. The number of units that it consumes in a month is 1.5 x 8 x 30 = 360 units. 

To know the cost of electricity used by the AC that would be reflected in your monthly power bill, you need to multiply the number of units per month with the cost of 1 unit of electricity in your area. For calculation purposes, if we assume that 1 unit of electricity costs ₹5, your AC usage bill would come to 360 x 5= ₹1,800 for the month.

Conclusion

You can further reduce your monthly power bill by choosing an inverter AC which is more energy-efficient and carefully reading the ISEER rating on the model. The higher the rating of an air conditioner, the more power it saves and the more monthly savings you can benefit from. So that’s the reason it will be better if you are aware of the difference between 3 star and 5 star ac or the concept of star rating for this electronic appliance. For instance, a 5 star AC can help you save ₹737 per month as compared to a 1-star unit.

The size of the area to be cooled, the temperature of the place, number of windows and how long the AC runs in a day also play a crucial role in deciding the power consumed by the unit. Each model also has a different energy efficiency rating (EER) which is a reflection of how efficiently it consumes a unit of power. So keep the above pointers in mind when you purchase an air conditioner on zero down payment and enjoy cool air in the summers!