Room Air Conditioners ranked by annual energy cost

Which room air conditioner is cheapest to run?

Among the 80 room air conditioners compared here, the MAW05R1VWBL-T (Midea) is lowest at $44.27/yr and the KCVL36B30B (K�hl) is highest at $313.99/yr - a difference of $269.72 per year, meaning the highest costs 609% more than the lowest.

What is a typical yearly running cost for room air conditioners?

The median across 80 sampled room air conditioners is $90.70/yr, with the middle half between $72.59/yr and $110.08/yr. These figures apply the site-wide rate assumption of $0.17/kWh to the certified annual kWh reported by each manufacturer.

Do ENERGY STAR Most Efficient room air conditioners cost less to run?

Not in this sample. Median running cost by certification status is ENERGY STAR Most Efficient: $96.39 across 48 models, ENERGY STAR Certified: $72.59 across 32 models, so the label order does not match the absolute cost order. Certification measures efficiency relative to product class, which means a large Most Efficient unit can still use more electricity than a small certified one.

How are the running costs for these room air conditioners calculated?

Each of the 80 room air conditioners listed here uses the annual kWh reported for that exact model in the EPA ENERGY STAR certified dataset, multiplied by a flat $0.17/kWh. For this category that produces a range of $44.27/yr to $313.99/yr around a $90.70/yr median. Nothing here is measured or estimated by this site and no external benchmark is mixed in, so if your local rate differs you can scale every figure by the same factor - the ranking between models does not change.