Air conditioner (central) vs Portable AC: which costs more to run? (2026)
Estimates use U.S. average $0.180 $/kWh, typical wattage, and typical hours/day from our catalog. Adjust on each appliance page.
Air conditioner (central)
- Typical watts
- 1500 W
- Hours/day
- 6
- Monthly est.
- $48.54
- kWh/mo
- 270.0
Portable AC
- Typical watts
- 1200 W
- Hours/day
- 8
- Monthly est.
- $51.78
- kWh/mo
- 288.0
Portable AC is estimated to cost more per month at typical use.