It has turned out to be one of the hottest summers on record here in Texas. Until just last week, the DFW area had not had a day where the recorded temperature sunk back into double digits since early June, when the first post on this subject came out. Since then I’ve been steadily tracking my electric bill, and the results have been eye opening.
To my utter surprise, a pair of small, window-mounted a/c units positioned in the bedrooms plus the sharp control over the central air unit has almost cut our bill almost in half for the entire summer. Last year’s bill for the same months shows that my household ran somewhere in the neighborhood of 2500 to 2800 kWh (Kilowatt hours). Compare that with this year for the same three months with warmer temperatures, and running with the window units and a different cooling plan on the central unit — it ran 1350 to 1800 kWh.
Now of course to get the “real” savings numbers, one would have to track the price of energy over the studied period plus the ambient temperature of the the outside air, central a/c unit efficiency over time, and myriad other variables to say with scientific accuracy what was gained or lost. However, for me, just a few changes in my a/c program and $200 in window units pocketed close to $450 over three months’ time, which puts me $250 ahead of the game in one of the hottest summers on record.
It may not be much, but I’m calling that a win.