What air conditioning costs to run in Michigan

What air conditioning costs here

Across 7 plans priced in Michigan, air conditioning adds $172.08 to $300.28 a year — $14.34 to $25.02 a month. The median plan puts air conditioning at $280.62 a year.

Cheapest for air conditioning: Residential Service Secondary Non-Transmitting Meter Rate (RSM), Consumers Energy Co. Dearest: Residential Service Secondary Non-Transmitting Meter Rate (RSM), Consumers Energy Co.

Those 1,223 kWh are billed at 14.1¢–24.6¢, against a 24.2¢ whole-bill average on the median plan: they land in the last tier the household reaches, so the average rate understates them by up to 0.4¢ per kWh.

What Michigan homes use

EIA's 2020 residential survey found 1,223 kWh a year across 343 sampled homes that run one, 47% under the national 2,318 kWh. The middle half spans 531 kWh to 1,654 kWh, so air conditioning varies by 1,123 kWh between one household and another.

All electricity used for cooling — central systems, heat pumps in cooling mode, and window or wall units — plus the air handler that runs with them. That average covers homes with air conditioning — 87% of homes here.

That makes air conditioning about 15% of the electricity a Michigan home uses. The remaining 7,148 kWh is what air conditioning is billed on top of, and on a tiered or time-of-use plan that is what sets the rate it meets.

Light and heavy use of air conditioning

A household in the lighter quarter runs air conditioning for 531 kWh a year and pays $74.64 on the cheapest plan. One in the heavier quarter runs it for 1,654 kWh and pays $232.80 — $158.16 more for air conditioning on the same tariff.

Limits

A 2020 survey average for Michigan, not a measurement of any one home, priced against the 7 Michigan tariffs WattClear has ingested — not every plan sold there.