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 with 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.

Cousin's Air, Inc.'s 6 Tips for Keeping Yearly Air Conditioner Costs Down

• Clean or replace your air filters at least once a month. Dirty air filters make your air conditioner work harder to cool off your home. Keeping the air filters clean saves you money on your air conditioner yearly operating costs, reduces the energy expelled by your air conditioner unit, removes allergens and dust particles from the air, and can extend the life of your AC.
• Schedule regular maintenance on your air conditioner. Regular maintenance can help ensure that your AC system is working properly and at its highest level of efficiency. It can also alert you to potential problems with the parts or mechanics of the AC and prevent a problem before it happens. Regular maintenance also checks the pipes and coils to make sure they are flowing and not blocked. Blockages can also reduce your level of efficiency.
• Install a programmable thermostat. Programmable thermostats can be set by the clock to turn off or raise the temperature when you are not home and begin cooling off the home just before you are scheduled to come back home. This reduces the usage and also your bill.
• Insulate your home. Insulation is something that you might hear about when it comes to keeping the cold out, which is not a concern here in South Florida. However, insulation also can keep the heat out and will not make your AC work as hard to keep your home cool.
• Tint your windows. Along the same lines as insulation, tinting the windows prevents the sun from heating up your home while your AC is working hard to keep it cool. The less hard your AC has to work, the more money you save.
• Build an air conditioner fence around outside part of your air conditioner. This will prevent animals, leave, branches, and other debris from getting inside the unit causing parts to break.