If you’ve been on Facebook these past few weeks, chances are you’ve already encountered a post stating that using an inverter air conditioner 24/7 and only turning it off once a week will lessen your electricity bill.
But does it, really?
Just last a month, a Facebook user believed this ‘tipid hack,’ which for him, turned out to be not true at all. Instead of paying a lesser amount, he had to pay thrice his usual bill.
Though it is true that using an inverter air conditioner consumes less power compared to conventional air conditioners, it is still dependent on the usage of the consumer – with even remarkable differences if we factor in the condition of the unit, the settings in place, and the environment in which it is used.
Inverter air conditioners are designed to be more energy efficient, it has a setting where it allows the unit to stay in a significantly lower-power mode without the unit completely turning off – making it much more efficient when used for longer hours than turning the unit on and off frequently. However, it might be wrong to assume that not turning the unit off will save you much more on electricity bills, as the truth is you’re still consuming electricity even when you’re in lower-power mode.
Yes, it is efficient when you use it for longer hours but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll have lower electric consumption when used 24/7, and turning it off only to rest.
Engineer Alfred Iporac, Meralco power lab manager, explained the incident in a morning TV show. “The use of an air conditioner already accounts for 50-60 percent of the total electricity bill,” he stated.
“The longer it is used, the more it consumes. Using an inverter air conditioner for 8-12 hours is more energy-efficient compared to using it for 24 hours,” he added.
What just happened may be inadvertently a reflection of this whole misconception about inverter air conditioners being synonymous with energy saving (it is not). There are many factors to look with regards to air conditioning, but the bottomline is, any appliance that is regularly on and operating will consume electricity, and you’re going to see that reflected on your bill.
So, if you’re planning on trying to turn your inverter air conditioning for a full week and only turning it off once a week, try thinking twice, or thrice, about how it could impact your electricity bill and remember to be responsible for your energy consumption – not only for yourselves but also for the environment.
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