The number everyone wants
How much does air conditioning cost to run?
The single thing stopping most people is the fear of the bill. Drag the sliders to your setup and see the real £/hour and £/summer, then what a solar array takes off it.
Your setup
What it costs
Per hour
£0.24
Per day
£1.46
Per summer
£131.22
kWh / summer
486
With solar covering ~70% of daytime load
£39.37
Solar produces hardest exactly when your AC runs. A 3 to 4 kWp array typically covers 60 to 80% of daytime summer cooling, here modelled at 70%. Your real figure depends on roof, orientation and usage.
How the maths works
A modern inverter wall split draws around 0.8 to 1.0 kW while cooling. At the 2026 UK price cap of roughly 27p/kWh, that's about 22 to 27p per hour. Run it 6 hours a day through a 90-day summer and you land near £120 to £150, before solar. A 3 to 4 kWp array covering daytime load typically removes 60 to 80% of that.
The honest takeaway: AC running cost is smaller than people fear, and solar makes it close to nothing. That's the whole SunCooled argument in one calculation.
Make that number zero
Bundle AC with solar and the sun covers your cooling. Get free quotes and a grant check.
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